A brave window cleaner, Marcin Tyjon, risked his life to rescue injured children during the tragic events of the Southport attack. Alongside his colleague Joel Verite, Marcin provided CPR to a young victim after the assailant, Axel Rudakubana, carried out a violent incident at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party last July. Responding to screams and chaos, Marcin and Joel rushed to Hart Space, where they found distressed children in need of immediate assistance.
Despite the danger, Marcin and Joel selflessly aided the injured children in Southport, Merseyside, until medical help arrived. Tragically, Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King, and Elsie Dot Stancombe lost their lives in the attack, but other children and adults survived, thanks in part to the quick actions of Marcin and Joel.
Marcin, who works as a window cleaner, cooperated with the Merseyside Police investigation that resulted in Rudakubana facing three murder charges, along with multiple other charges related to the incident. Rudakubana had been reported to the anti-terror program Prevent several times before the attack, but assessments did not identify him as a terrorism threat. Despite this, he eventually pleaded guilty to the charges in court.
In response to the Southport tragedy, Sir Keir Starmer has initiated a review of terror laws to address the issue of extreme violence carried out by individuals acting alone. Security experts caution against broadening terror laws to encompass acts committed by lone attackers like the Southport perpetrator, emphasizing that such threats are not new and require careful consideration to prevent future tragedies.