Police ‘feared they wouldn’t be able to return home’

Police officers injured during violent disorder in Merseyside were “fearful they would not be able to return home” to their families, the chief constable has said.

More than 80 police officers were injured violence broke out in Southport, Liverpool city centre and Walton over the past six days.

THE murder of three children at a holiday club in Southport on July 29 sparked waves of unrest across the country, partly fuelled by Far-right activists and online disinformation.

Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said some officers involved in the response to the stabbing and subsequent disturbances were “completely traumatised”.

Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, died in the attack at a Hart Street studio in Southport, which left ten others injured.

The following day, numerous groups clashed with police in the city, with bricks and other projectiles being thrown and a mosque being damaged.

Further scenes of unrest took place on Saturday in Liverpool city centre and in Walton, where the library on Spellow Lane was set on fire and looted.

Ms Kennedy, accompanied by Liverpool Council leader Liam Robinson, spoke to BBC Radio Merseyside during a walkabout in Liverpool, saying they aimed to reassure visitors and business owners.

Ms Kennedy said police had “more than enough officers” on duty to keep people safe in the coming days and allow them to “go about their normal lives”.

But so far the police response has been successful, she confirmed.

“I spoke to all the officers who were injured Tuesday night, and some of them said they didn’t think they were going to make it home to their own children, to their own families,” Kennedy said.

She said the “hooligans and thugs” involved in the unrest across the country should be “ashamed” of themselves for trying to link their actions to the events of July 29.

“The parents of these three little girls should be able to grieve and not watch the chaos that is going on across the country, and that has nothing to do with what happened last Monday,” she said.

Since the unrest broke out in Southport, police said there had been 36 arrests and 11 people were killed. appear in court face a variety of charges.

Officers are reviewing “hours” of CCTV and social media footage to identify those involved in the violence.

Ms Kennedy said: “If the people who were not arrested on Tuesday night or over the weekend are sitting at home having a cup of tea thinking they have got away with it, rest assured you absolutely have not.”

“We are coming for you.”

Mr Robinson said the community groups and volunteers who joined the effort to clean up the city after the chaos were those who truly represented the “true spirit of Liverpool”.

Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 17, of Banks in Southport, has been charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder in connection with the Hart Street stabbings.

He is due to appear again at Liverpool Crown Court on October 25.