Taylor Swift fans behind £300k crowdfunder say Southport rioters should 'hang their heads in shame'

A Taylor Swift fan who set up a viral crowdfunding campaign for the victims of the Southport stabbing has said rioters who sparked unrest in the town on Tuesday night should "hang their heads in shame".

Police officers suffered serious injuries when bricks, stones and bottles were thrown and cars were set on fire during violent unrest following a vigil for three girls killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club on Monday.

Swiftie’ Cristina Jones told Yahoo News: “There's absolutely no justification for what they've done. They are absolutely horrendous, and they should hang their heads in shame.”

Jones and friend Holly Holdring created the JustGiving page - which has raised more than £300,000 for Alder Hey Children's hospital in Liverpool - after Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were all fatally stabbed in what police have called a ferocious attack. A 17-year-old boy remains in custody accused of murder and attempted murder. Five more children were left in a critical condition.

The unrest on Tuesday followed hundreds of people taking part in a peaceful vigil for the stabbing victims outside Southport’s Atkinson arts venue. Merseyside Police said “a large group of people – believed to be supporters of the English Defence League” – began to throw items such as bricks towards Southport Islamic Centre Mosque in the seaside town at about 7.45pm. Four people have been arrested.

False claims had spread online that the suspect was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat. In fact the 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons because of his age, was born in Cardiff and is from the village of Banks, just outside Southport.

Jones said that the rioters who chose violence in response to the attack were “despicable”.

"If your response to this is not to bring attention to the families or not to help the families, but to incite violence or to damage your community and to make property damage, to hurt people who are already hurting... it goes to show that there are people out there that look for any reason to choose violence, and, quite frankly, they do not just deserve a second of anybody's time," she said.

On Wednesday, locals in Southport rallied together with dozens of residents cleaning up outside the mosque with brushes and shovels.

Elsie’s mother, Jenni Stancombe, wrote on Facebook: “This is the only thing that I will write, but please please stop the violence in Southport tonight.

“The police have been nothing but heroic these last 24 hours and they and we don’t need this.”

'We knew that we had to do something'

Jones and Holdring's crowdfunder has topped £300,000 following a remarkable outpouring of grief in response to the tragedy.

Jones said Alder Hey Children’s Hospital - where some of the injured children were treated - had been in touch with the pair and assured them the money will be "spent appropriately".

“When we heard that something had happened, we knew that we had to do something, but we wanted to do something that meant that we could stay at a completely respectable distance." Jones said.

Jones and Holdring met in a group chat of Swift fans and created their own group for fans in the UK and Europe to connect. The community has amassed more than 4,000 other supporters of the US superstar musician and, since the crowdfunder, thousands more fans have asked to join.

Jones said she initially started the crowdfunding campaign with a target of £13,000 and had anticipated fellow ‘Swifties’ to donate - the number 13 is special to ‘Swifties’ as it is widely known as the singer's lucky number.

The influx of donations was “phenomenal”, Jones said, and their target was surpassed within three hours. More than 19,000 people have donated so far.

“It's really lovely when you're scrolling through, and you see people who give a really random number, like £4.17, and you know that they are giving everything that they can afford to give," she said. “It's just absolutely wonderful that people are doing whatever they can to rally around and show the families affected that they really do care.”

Swift posted a statement on Tuesday to convey her shock and give condolences to the families of the victims.