Alice, nine, was killed alongside Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class

The grieving mum of a little girl who was killed at a dance class has spoken out for the first time since her senseless murder.

Alice da Silva Aguiar was just nine years old when she was fatally stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed event in Southport.

Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, were also killed in the violence on July 29 last year.

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Axel Rudakubana, aged 17 at the time of the attack, has since been jailed for a minimum term of 52 years for the murder of the girls and attempted murder of ten others.

Alice’s mum, Alex Aguiar, has now sat down with our sister publication, The Liverpool Echo, to pay tribute to her daughter.

Joined by her friend Sarah Radley-Buck, 34-year-old Alex said: “Alice started baby ballet when she was 16 months old and then just carried on.

“When she was four, she went to Southport Dance Academy and from then on Heidi [Liddle] was her ballet teacher.

“She started doing street dance two years ago in the same dance academy but then she stopped after Heidi went off on maternity leave. She was fuming.

“She kept on doing ballet on Saturdays and then she used to street dance. On Thursdays she would do cheerleading at the YMCA and the choir in the school every Tuesday.”

Alice enjoyed spending quality time with her mum and dad, Sergio, who are originally from Portugal but now call Southport home.

Alex said: “On the weekends we would spend time together, we would go to friends’ houses, go out for meals.

“We were always happy to be us three, we had everything so what else could we have asked for.”

Heidi, Alice’s dance teacher, was one of the two adults present during the attack along with Leanne Lucas.

She managed to protect a child while hiding in the toilet, while Leanne was injured trying to protect children.

John Hayes, a businessman working next door was also injured after he came running in as the sounds of screams echoed through the area.

Eight other children were injured in the attack.

Now, Alex is focusing her efforts on building a legacy for Alice, with projects to memorialise her which she said she will share in coming weeks and months.

Sarah, 33, has been helping Alex in the aftermath of the attack with one-on-one fitness sessions at her gym, PWR BOX, in the town centre free of charge.

The mum, whose daughter Briar was best friends with Alice, said: “I have lots of memories of Alice beaming out of school, telling me lots of stories.

“She was so happy and so funny. Things like parties, the school disco where Alice would have the longest hair.”

Alex continued: “Alice and Briar would do a video call before the disco saying what they were going to wear. They all had to be the same.”

Sarah and Alex said that their daughters would often wear the same costumes for Halloween, most recently going as Wednesday Addams together, with Alice “not needing the fake hair”.

Alex and Sergio moved to Southport in 2010 due to Sergio’s brother living in the area, settling in Marshside where Alice was raised.

Alice enrolled at Churchtown Primary School where “her class was her family” due to her being an only child, Alex explained.

Now, Alex sees Southport as home, with no need to return to her native countryl where much of her family reside.

She said: “Everyone has been incredible, people who don’t know us and we’re not from here and we’ve got so much help.

“People have been very kind, wanting to help us, we didn’t expect that. We feel at home and we don’t feel like we have to go back.”

Sarah, a mum-of-two to Briar and her sister Amora, seven, is set to compete in her third ever boxing match at The Grand in Southport on Saturday, February 22, in Alice’s memory.

She has launched a JustGiving page where she has already raised more than £2,300.

Sarah said: “I remember lots of happy memories. We used to walk out the same way of the school where we would have all our conversations and Alice would be talking about things that she was doing and what was coming up.”

Click here to view the JustGiving page.