Police detectives on Tuesday were questioning the 17-year-old male from Cardiff arrested on suspicion of murder to try and establish the motive behind a “ferocious” stabbing attack at a children’s dance workshop in Southport, north-west England, that claimed the lives of two young kids.

Merseyside Police said nine other children sustained serious injuries and two adults who were trying to protect the children were also among those hospitalised after the attack on a community centre on Hart Street. The children, believed to be aged between six and 11 years, were attending a summer holiday workshop themed around singer Taylor Swift’s music.