The parents of one of the three girls murdered at a Taylor Swift-themed event in Southport have sent a painful message to the UK rioters who have taken to the streets in the wake of the incident.
Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, and two other girls died and eight were injured after being stabbed in an attack at the event at the seaside town of Southport two weeks ago.
Weeks of riots followed in the north west and in towns and cities across the United Kingdom, triggered by false online posts wrongly identifying the suspected killer as an Islamist migrant.
A teenager, born in Britain, has since been charged and police say the incident is not being treated as terrorism.
At Aguiar’s funeral, the area’s police chief told the congregation that her grieving Portuguese parents, Sergio and Alexandra, had asked her to deliver a public appeal for calm.
“You have shown great courage in asking me to be here today … to give a message from you, Alice’s family, to say that you do not want there to be any more violence on the streets of the United Kingdom in the name of your daughter,” Merseyside Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said.
“I am ashamed, and I’m so sorry that you had to even consider this in the planning of the funeral of your beautiful daughter Alice.
“And I hope that anyone who has taken part in the violent disorder on our streets over the past 13 days, is hanging their heads in shame at the pain that they have caused you, a grieving family.”