One of the children who survived that day was stabbed 30 times. She was airlifted to hospital and doctors operated on her for six hours to try and save the use of her arms, hands and fingers.
“She watched two of the girls die,” her parents told investigators.
On one occasion during her recovery, the child told her parents: “I don’t know who I am anymore.”
But six months on, she is fighting back. Her mother said: “We could never be more proud of what she has achieved over the last six months.
“He has completely failed to destroy her spirit, her amazing sense of humour, her fierceness and her pure beautiful heart.”
The Southport survivors are slowly rebuilding their lives.
Investigators who dealt with the case said they were staggered by their spirit and resilience.
That was on full display when one girl was asked what she says when her classmates ask if she wishes she had not been there that day.
“In some ways, I wish I wasn’t,” she tells them.
“But also, if I wasn’t there, someone else would have been stabbed and they could have died – so I’m glad I might have stopped someone else getting hurt.”
