Southport stabbing latest: Alice da Silva Aguiar’s family honours ‘angel’ at funeral as final photo released

Hundreds of mourners have lined the streets of Southport for the first of three funerals for the young girls who were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift dance class .

Dressed in white, Alice da Silva Aguiar’s parents Sergio and Alexandra were joined by up to 300 mourners at St Patrick ’s Catholic Church in Merseyside on Sunday, including the paramedics, police officers and firefighters who tried to save her life.

Following the service, Alice’s grieving family released a photo of the nine-year-old eagerly waiting to get into the Taylor Swift dance class on 29 July, smiling with a life-size cardboard cut-out of the singer in the doorway of the Hart Space studio on Hart Street.

In a tribute given at her funeral, Alice’s father Sergio and mother Alexandra described the nine-year-old as their “perfect dream child” and “beloved angel” and told of how she was dedicated to dance.

The youngster – who is pictured wearing leggings, trainers and a T-shirt with the slogan Vacay Vibes – was killed alongside Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, near the start of their summer holidays.