Southport attack victim accuses trust of ‘cover up’ over care records breach

Hospital staff inappropriately accessed the medical records of victims of the 2024 mass stabbing at a dance class in Southport, HSJ can reveal.

Three young girls – Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar, and Bebe King – were killed in the attack on 29 July 2024, while 10 others were injured. The perpetrator was jailed for life last year.

Some of the injured were treated at University Hospitals of Liverpool Group. HSJ has learned that a “standard” information access audit carried out by the trust in the days after the incident revealed that 48 staff accessed their records without a good reason. However, this information was not given to the patients involved until this week, following HSJ’s inquiries.

Leanne Lucas survived the Southport attack and was one of UHLG patients whose records were inappropriately accessed.

She told HSJ: “I am absolutely devastated and horrified that my privacy has been invaded when I was at my most vulnerable.  Nothing will take away my gratitude to the staff who saved my life, but 48 people not involved in my care abused their position of trust to access the files of victims who have suffered unspeakable trauma. The decision to keep this from me for almost two years is a new low. I am speaking out as I want this scandal and the attempted cover-up by senior management exposed for what it is.”

The trust denies any attempt at a cover-up. Its board had originally planned to tell those involved about the breach. However, HSJ understands its leadership changed their mind sometime in 2025, after trust directors decided that informing the patients would not be in their best interests, as it risked retraumatising them.

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Source: HSJ, 14 May 2026