A taxi driver who was the last person to see Southport suspect Axel Rudakubana before the teen allegedly stabbed three children to death says he is ‘traumatised’ to have dropped him off.

Local driver Gary Poland picked up the 18-year-old shortly before he is said to have attacked children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class at a community centre in the Merseyside town on July 29.

The incident claimed the lives of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, while ten others were seriously injured.

Rudakubana, a Welsh native who lives in Banks, Lancashire, has been charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and one count of possessing an offensive weapon.

It has now emerged the teenager was dropped off by Mr Poland early on the day of the attack – and that the cabbie had been ‘very shocked and upset’ by what had allegedly been done by the person he had driven around.

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Axel Rudakubana, 18, is charged with murdering three little girls and attempting to kill 10 others

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Alice Dasilva Aguiar, aged nine, was one of three children killed at a Taylor-Swift themed dance class in Southport

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Police at the scene of the Southport stabbings on July 29. Axel Rudakubana, 18, has been charged with murder

In comments to The Sun, his wife Lynn said: ‘He’s unable to talk about it at the moment. He feels terrible. All he’s thinking about is what happened to those children.’

Neighbours told the newspaper Mr Poland was a kindly man who had offered to give them lifts during the coronavirus pandemic.

However, his car has been seized by police investigating the attacks at the Hart Space Community Centre last month, leaving him unable to work.

Southport has reacted with kindness – as it has in the days since the heartbreaking events of July 29 unfolded, as the parents of the victims begged for an end to riotous scenes that have since spread across the UK, fuelled by far-right misinformation.

A friend has launched a GoFundMe page that tonight smashed through its £2,000 target in a bid to help Mr Poland get a new car so he can continue his trade.

The fundraiser, launched by friend Liam Rice, reads: ‘Gary, like all of us, is very shocked and upset by what happened.

‘The police have seized his vehicle for forensics. They cannot give him a release date for the vehicle, but from experience, this process can take anywhere from three weeks to six months or even a year.

‘Once the car is released, he will have to pay the impound fees to retrieve it.

‘Gary only recently bought the car, so he has car payments to make, along with all the usual bills. He is quite traumatized by what happened and, like everyone involved that day, he thinks he could have done more.

‘However, no one could have known what was going to happen, so he couldn’t have done anything differently.

‘We don’t know how long his car will be impounded or how long he will be out of work, so £2,000 is just an estimate of how much he will need. All help is greatly appreciated.’

Rudakubana remains in custody after being charged with murder, attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon. He appeared in court to hear the charges on August 1 and will next appear in court in October.

In the meantime, an inquest has opened into the deaths of young victims Bebe, Elsie and Alice, who a senior coroner said had ‘cruelly lost their young lives in such horrific circumstances’.

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool confirmed on Tuesday all the children who admitted to its site with injuries linked to the attack had now been discharged.

The Southport attacks sparked a wave of angry anti-immigration protests that led to rioting in cities across the UK, fuelled by inaccurate claims about Rudakubana’s identity, such as that he is an asylum seeker.

Early posts shared online by far-right figures included a fake name for the alleged attacker and suggestions that he is Muslim – despite neighbours describing him as a ‘quiet choir boy’ from a devout Christian family.

Despite the false claims being widely disproven, the far-right has continued to engineer protests across Britain – leading to riots.

Matters came to a head on Wednesday when thousands of ordinary people turned out to see off rumoured far-right protests outside immigration centres across the country.

Up to 100 protests had been planned across the UK – but what small ‘anti-immigration’ protests were there were outnumbered by anti-racist campaigners.