Dance teacher stabbed in Southport attack backs blunted knives campaign
Leanne Lucas is working with the Ben Kinsella Trust on the 'Let's Be Blunt' campaign
Last updated 21st May 2025
A yoga teacher who was stabbed five times while protecting children during the Southport attack has joined a campaign - calling for safer knives in kitchens.
Leanne Lucas was seriously injured during the incident in July 2024, which left three children, Elsie Stancombe, Alice DaSilva Aguiar and Bebe King dead.
After finding herself unable to use blades in her own kitchen, Leanne has now backed calls for rounded knives to be introduced in family homes.
She believes switching traditional sharp tips to blunted ends could help save lives and lower the risk of attacks.
Speaking to Forth 1, Leanne said: "If that can prevent another family from feeling the pain that Southport has felt, we will do that.
"If we can take so many pointed weapons away from our homes, from our streets, it just creates a safer environment to live in."
Leanne organised the dance class that was targeted by teenager Axel Rudakubana last summer.
He was jailed for 52 years for the murders of the three children, as well as the attempted murders of Leanne and nine others.
She said: "One thing that resonates with me is, potentially last year, I had in my head this would never happen to me".
"My whole world was turned upside down and I don't have any of those thoughts anymore, because it came about so unpredictably."
"It's not just about people listening and doing this exchange as quickly as they can, it's about creating a space to talk about knife crime."
Leanne will be taking her campaign to Parliament today (Wednesday 21 May), along with the Ben Kinsella Trust, an anti-knife crime charity.
The move follows a trial by Kent Police, which saw blunted blades given to homes deemed "at risk", such as foster homes.
Since the scheme was introduced last year, knife crime has dropped by 17 percent across Kent.