A schoolgirl victim of Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has branded him a coward and declared 'that's all he's ever going to be'.

The teen, who cannot be identified due to her age, was stabbed three times in her arm and back during the attack last July which claimed the lives of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.

She has now spoken out for the first time about 17-year-old Rudakubana's vile killing spree at a Taylor Swift dance class in the Merseyside town.

'He's a coward,' the teenager said. 'That's all he is and all he is going to be.

'It was difficult going back to school. It was just like the elephant in the room because no one really knows what to say and because I didn't see most of my friends in summer, people at school didn't know what to say.