The dance club was full of laughter and excitement,” is how one girl, 14, described the atmosphere as a group of 26 children gathered for a Taylor Swift-themed class in Southport.Their summer holidays had just begun, and the sun was shining down on the town as they were dropped off by their parents. As the class got under way, 29 July 2024 had all the markings of a good day.The attack that unfolded next saw Axel Rudakubana given a minimum of 52 years in prison. At his sentencing on Thursday, details of how the incident played out from the perspectives of those involved were revealed to the public for the first time. Initially, Axel Rudakubana could not figure how to get into the studio and was caught on CCTV struggling with a locked door—but then he spotted another entrance and stepped inside.Accounts from inside the dance class confirm that Rudakubana moved calmly and purposefully.He had been planning this moment for some time. He did not hesitate, grabbing and stabbing the girl nearest to the door as soon as he walked in.As Rudakubana attacked, he did not say a word.For those inside the room, it took a moment to comprehend what was happening.I thought the man who stabbed me was a cleaner,” one of the child victims recounted.It must be a practical joke, she thought, but later said, “I realised it wasn’t a prank when I saw blood coming out of me.”. Her memories of what happened next are “fuzzy”, but the child said she