By Ben Haslam,Charlotte Fisher

Copyright manchestereveningnews

The village where Southport killer Axel Rudakubana lived has revealed how it is trying to rebuild following the horrific attack last year. The village of Banks still faces crime -obsessed visitors disturbing the town and many neighbours have relocated, according to residents. Banks – a coastal village in Lancashire near Southport – was put on the map in 2024 when one of its residents attacked a children’s Taylor Swift-themed workshop in Southport, killing three schoolgirls and injuring a further eight. Although rarely seen, with many not recognising him or his family despite them living on the tight cul-de-sac for seven years, the village was thrown into the spotlight as the world’s media descended on the leafy village, reports the ECHO . Neighbours from Old School Close soon sold up and left, with internet ghouls visiting the street daily to take photos of the attackers home and threatening neighbours. But, following the sentencing of the teenager in January this year, most had expected the dust to settle, allowing the community to move on. Never miss a story with the MEN’s daily Catch Up newsletter – get it in your inbox by signing up here Annie Ives, trustee of The Hub, the village’s community centre run by volunteers and nestled away down a country lane close to the Tarelton Bypass, told the ECHO that Banks still has crime-obsessed visitors making daytrips to the area to see where the attacker and his family lived an unremarkable life. But she, and her team of dedicated volunteers, are set on moving forward, leaving behind any feeling that the village has been tainted by the horrific and unimaginable acts of one individual. She said: “A lot of people in the village feel it’s been tainted by what’s happened, understandably, but we want to show the other side of it. The great community spirit, how lovely it is to live here, and the community feeling that we have. “The Hub is the community and leisure centre which should have shut down in 2019 because the accounts were going to shut but we felt it was such a fantastic amenity that it needed to be saved. This is when the volunteers and trustees came together and it has just gone from strength to strength. “We were successful in getting a lottery grant and we’ve just developed a community café because there is nowhere in the town you can just get a coffee. It’s a meeting place for the village, it’s been completely refurbished all by our volunteers in four weeks flat which is amazing.” Annie, 64, spoke out as the Southport Inquiry continues at Liverpool Town Hall, with witnesses being called daily in hope of establishing how Rudakubana was able to carry out the heart-wrenching attack. Having been a trustee at The Hub since 2021, she explained how the village remains close-knit in the face of adversity. She said: “It’s a close-knit village and there’s a good community feel. “We’ve always got something on at Christmas and the volunteers who are working in the centre are motivated to make sure this place doesn’t close down. Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE “We’re moving on from the attack, but I know the headteacher at one of the local schools and the kids are unsettled each time there is something on the TV about it. “I continue to speak with him about how the kids are feeling and it helped us get the lottery grant to help with mental health and wellbeing activities for the children.” Following the sentencing of the teen killer, the ECHO revealed how his next door neighbour, Caroline, had moved out, relocating to a different area in Lancashire . Caroline told the ECHO in the weeks that followed how neighbours had heard people going past the cordon shouting threats, resulting in fire safety checks being done on houses in case the murderer’s home was targeted. She added: “The fact that I’ve moved out the area means I feel so much more relieved and settled because even though the events of the day don’t affect me, they kind of did because of what’s gone on next door. “We were constantly questioned by police, constantly having police there, constantly having people coming down making threats. My son didn’t want to live here so he lived with his grandma for months. “I had to deal with the trauma of having a gun pointed in my face when police first came to the close, that’s upsetting, and then finding out there were chemicals next door, I don’t want to have that anymore. They’re not the memories I want to remember, I don’t want that.” She said: “It’s not Old School Close anymore, it’s the forgotten close. No crime was committed there but our lives were turned upside down.” Other neighbours have since relocated from the close off the back of the attack last year, the ECHO reports. While people have left, Annie is determined to ensure those who want a quiet, leafy life, are able to have one. She said: “People are moving here wanting a quiet village lifestyle for their children. There are two fantastic primary schools here. Banks offers the sort of childhood that you had years ago, we have rounders on the playing field in the summer every week, and all sorts of people come out. I don’t know many places that do that type of thing. “People are moving into this village because they wan this rural lifestyle, but yet we’re still so close to Southport. There is a very different feel here than to Southport.”