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A mother has praised her 7-year-old daughter's extraordinary courage as she "fought like hell" to escape twice from Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana. The mum shared her story on the second day of the inquiry into the dreadful events that transpired during a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in the coastal town on July 29 last summer. She gave an incredibly emotional testimony to the inquiry, detailing how her little girl managed to escape the killer twice and how she fought to survive despite severe injuries.

The inquiry, led by Sir Adrian Fulford, heard from the parents of four young children who were severely injured in the attack at the Hart Space centre last summer, where Elsie Stancombe, 7, Bebe King, 6, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, tragically lost their lives. The identities of the surviving children and their parents have been kept confidential. The mother of a little girl referred to as C1, who was 7 when she attended the Taylor Swift event, testified.

She described her daughter as "beautiful, articulate and fun loving". She spoke of her "boundless, creative energy" and mentioned that she and her husband called her "our little hippie" because she was always carefree.

Fighting back tears, the mum recounted the heroic actions of her little girl as she tried to save her life and those of other children.

She said: "Documentaries and interviews have shared stories, without our involvement, of how [our daughter] was saved by the adults around her. And they did all play important, crucial parts in her survival.

"But, prior to [our daughter] being picked up off the floor outside the Hart Space, by a wonderful man, who took her to safety, she had fought like hell, to get herself out of that building, twice.

"And that reality is painful - our children fought alone, they shielded each other, comforted each other, and helped each other and that must be remembered."

In her heart-wrenching testimony, the mother revealed her daughter lost over 2.5 litres of blood following the assault and underwent two lifesaving operations at Alder Hey to treat 33 stab wounds.

After spending four days sedated and on a ventilator, the young survivor had to relearn basic movements like sitting, standing, and walking. She underwent intensive therapy and physiotherapy to regain the use of her hands and fingers.

Her mum revealed: "Her injuries were vast and covered so much of her body and organs. Thirty-three stab wounds.

"Her diaphragm, kidneys, lungs, nerves, tendons and muscles that controlled her arms, all had multiple injuries. The damage was catastrophic. The hours and days that followed the attack were a living hell."

The mum said that as the attack continued, her daughter fell forwards and down the stairs before pulling herself up on the middle landing.

She yelled at the other girl she had been shielding to follow her, but the killer started coming after her and she had to run.

The mum says she and her husband tell their daughter how brave she was, how proud of her they are that she was able to help other girls and how important what she did that day was.

Her mum told the inquiry: "It feels that in those moments it was her responsibility to help other girls and get them out of the building ... She is grieving for children she didn't know before that day.

"Her trauma manifests in panic attacks and flashbacks that make her daily life difficult and exhausting. She suffers from extreme separation anxiety, meaning she can't attend school full time, and I need to be available to check in through the day, when she needs me.

"She is trying to make sense of something that makes no sense. She needs us to guarantee her safety in a world where we can't. It is like sucking out poison.