By Abbie Wightwick,Hollie Bone

Copyright walesonline

The parents of Southport victim Elsie Dot Stancombe have recalled the horrific scenes they faced desperately searching for their seven year- old daughter, as they called for systemic changes to prevent such tragedies. Jenni and David Stancombe told the inquiry how they considered themselves incredibly fortunate with their two young daughters. They described what they had as their “perfect life” – feeling as though they had “won the lottery”. But that “perfect” existence was ‘destroyed’ on that fateful July day last year, leaving them feeling they had ‘lost everything’, said Jenni. Struggling to contain her emotions, the bereaved mother described the moment she let out a piercing scream after receiving a phone call from another parent informing her that young girls at the Taylor Swift dance class had been stabbed. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here. She recalled: “The scream I let out when I was told someone had just stabbed the girls. David ran down the stairs screaming ‘what’s happened’ but I was already out the door. “We drove the car on the other side of the road, screaming at people to get out of the way, holding down the horn as people threw their hands up at us.”, reports the Mirror . “We arrived and left our car in the middle of the road and ran. I was screaming Elsie’s name. David and I both reached the front door to the Hart Space, where two police officers lifted David from his feet and carried him back as he fought to get inside. “We could see the devastation that had been caused. There were injured girls all around us, I went around each of them looking for Elsie. What we saw that day will stay with us for the rest of our lives. It goes without saying: no human being should ever witness what we did that day.” Jenni described how she cried out after being repeatedly questioned about what Elsie was wearing, as officers frantically attempted to establish whether their daughter had been taken to hospital or remained at the location. When the parents discovered that their daughter was still inside and ‘hadn’t made it’, Elsie’s father David collapsed to his knees. Jenni continued: “I kept being asked what Elsie was wearing, I must have had to repeat myself 10 times over, I actually screamed ‘can you not retain information’. “A police officer walked past me and told David someone that matched Elsie’s description was still inside the building and hadn’t made it. David knelt down in front of me and just looked at me. “I didn’t believe them. I didn’t want to believe them. I insisted they had it wrong and they needed to find out where she was. I now know Elsie never left the building. All the time I was there, I thought she was receiving help, Elsie could not be helped. “The life we had worked so hard to build for our girls destroyed in that moment. Our lives to never be the same again… We lost our best friend, the little person who made us ‘Mum and Dad’, her sister lost her forever best friend, we lost Elsie.” After the tragic loss of their eldest daughter, Jenni and David, 36, were faced with the heart-wrenching task of explaining to her younger sister that Elsie was no longer alive. Jenni described it as “the hardest thing we have ever had to do”. Struggling to hold back tears, the mother shared: “She kept asking repeatedly: ‘When is she coming home?’ and we had to tell her: ‘She’s not, it’s not that she doesn’t want too, she can’t’. “As time has passed, she has asked how did he hurt Elsie. I have to say, ‘I don’t know’. She’ll suggest, ‘He must have bitten her or pushed her’. Because to a four year old, that’s what ‘being bad’ means. But one day she will need to be told the truth. One day, she’ll have to know what happened to Elsie. “She persistently asks us: ‘Why did we leave Elsie? How did the bad man get in? Will he get out of jail? Why weren’t we there to help her? Where were we? Where was she?’ We explain to her that Elsie was with adults. That she was in a place that should have been safe, I thought it was safe. But that’s not something a four year old can comprehend. We don’t understand it ourselves, how can she?”. Reliving the horrific memories of that fateful day, Jenni made a plea during an inquiry into the tragedy, stating “this can never happen again”. She said: “Changes need to be made to prevent this from ever happening again. This should never have happened in a safe and just society, this cannot happen, no other parent should feel this pain. I stand here today asking this inquiry to ensure that what happened to our little girl is a genuine ‘line in the sand’ as it has been referred to. “Elsie only went to dance and make bracelets, but we never got to bring her home. I walk past an empty bed every night, I stare into her room praying this nightmare will end, but it never does, we live it every day. “We are good parents, just like so many others across the country on that day, wanting to do something nice for our little girl at the start of the holidays. But instead, we didn’t get to bring her home. We lost everything that day. And I need to understand how this happened.” The parents of Alice da Silva Aguiar, aged nine, and Bebe King, aged six, who were also tragically killed that day, will present their impact statements to the inquiry later today. Axel Rudakubana, now 19, is serving a 52-year life sentence for the murders of the three young girls and the attempted murders of 10 others, including eight children.