READERS have described their heartbreak at the deaths of three young girls after the attack in Southport.

In heartfelt tributes, Mail readers paid tribute to the girls killed - Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.

They were fatally stabbed in the Merseyside town on Monday.  

Janet Kelly said: "My heart is broken for these three beautiful young angels and the other people that was effective what a horrible and cruel world we are living in my heart goes out to their families and friends."

Paula Tumelty described the girls as 'three beautiful innocent angels', adding: "I've no words."

John Eccles said: "So sad...they were just little girls having fun at a dance class and brutally attacked.

"I am heartbroken at this senseless attack. RIP my thoughts are with your family and friends at this sad time."

"This is heart-wrenching," Jayne Medley said.

Jacquie Bottomley said: "I can’t imagine the pain those parents are going through."

Dee Humphryes said it was 'absolutely heartbreaking'.

"My thoughts and love are with everyone who is affected by this horrific tragedy," she said.

Lynn Rose said: "Three beautiful girls' lives taken so horrifically, may the angels protect you now and also send comfort to your parents."

Sam Butler said: "Poor little souls, totally devastating."

Sandra Nicholls said: "My heart breaks. So very very sad. How do people get through something so horrific as this?

People gathered in Southport on Tuesday night to pay their respects in a tearful vigil.

Riots also broke out in the town, with dozens of police officers injured in what Prime Minister Keir Starmer described as 'thuggery'.

The scenes were also condemned by former Barrow MP John Woodcock, who sits in the House of Lords as Lord Walney and has advised the Government on political violence.

He described 'the shame of far-right activists stoking attacks on officers from the same force who tried to save those poor girls, and the lies that made the local mosque a target'.

Jenni Stancombe, the mother of seven-year-old Elsie, who died on Monday, appealed on social media for the violence to end.