Southport has fallen silent to honour the three girls killed in a horrifying knife attack at a Taylor Swift dance class one year ago.
The three-minute silence was held at 3pm on Tuesday, to mark 12 months since Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died after 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana launched his attack in the Merseyside town.
The families of the three girls asked for no flowers to be left at schools or the scene of the killings and for no vigils or large public gatherings to take place. To respect their wishes, public bodies will not call the day an anniversary.
But a crowd quickly gathered in the Town Hall Gardens on Tuesday morning to observe the silence.
And despite being encouraged to donate to special causes, including those set up in the victims' names, instead of leaving tributes, mourners started placing flowers at the site.
