Crisis Actor Jonathan Hayes - The Southport Strong Hoax

Video Transcript:

At the end of the darkest week, many in Southport have ever known. Tonight we bring you two accounts from the tragedy, which demonstrates the best of the community. The stories of two men who did good in the face of unthinkable evil. One, a grandfather who sheltered terrified children in his home. The other, a man who put his own life on the line. And that's where we start tonight. John Hayes ran towards danger from a neighbouring office and came face to face with a knife attacker accused of murdering three little girls. He tried to stop him, but was himself stabbed in the leg. He's now recovering at home from where he agreed to speak to ICV News. John told us he's no hero, but just wishes he could have done more to help the young victims taken from their families. The tightest risk... John Hayes was at work in his office on what was a regular Monday morning. I heard lots of children running out the buildings, screaming shouting. And that itself isn't unusual because kids are very excitable, normally when they come out of these classes. So that alone didn't surprise me or strike me as unusual. But that didn't then die down, which it normally does. And some of my colleagues got up to look out of the window. And it was only at that stage when one of them witnessed a young girl on the floor. I assume by the front door of the entrance to our building and said, worst, the effect, there's a girl outside bleeding out. And as soon as I heard that, I ran. I basically ran the full length of our office to go and find out, you know, if I could help, what was what was happening to her. And I never got as far as her because she was outside. So still on the first floor, when I opened the of our office door, I was confronted by another girl on the floor who looked like she had multiple stab wounds and was heavily blood-souped. And this guy infront of me with a knife, who then came towards me in a pretty menacing way. And I thought, is it going to kill me, too, or I didn't rationalise or you don't have time to risk assessment. I just put my arm up when this knife was coming towards me. And I didn't even realise I'd been stabbed initially until I looked down the saw, blood came out of my leg. And I tried to kick in with my right leg, and then that's when I fell over. A colleague put a tourniquet on his leg shortly before the paramedics arrived. I didn't see anything of the horror show outside when I was carried out on a stretch, because I'm horizontal and I had three guys on either side of me carrying me out the building. And they took me strangely, I thought they'd be taking me into an ambulance, but they took me right down the car park. And it's about 100 metres and put me in the road, which would become a makeshift holding area, because there was a lovely sunny day. I'm lying on my back in the road on a stretcher, looking up at Blue Sky with sirens and flashing lights and people shouting and it was surreal, the what was unfolding it. But I wasn't really taking much attention of what was going on around me and having a little QLs as injured as I was just in quite a lot of pain and wanted to get into that ambulance and away. But I was probably in the road for, I don't know, it felt like perhaps 20 minutes or more, it could have been longer, it could have been shorter, but I was kind of waiting my time to get in the ambulance. And glad I didn't, please, that person there, I didn't have to witness all the anguish those parents arriving onto that scene. Yeah, it must have been horrific for them. And I don't know how they'll come to terms with that, particularly the three parents of lost children. But others have had a lucky escape, including me. How do you feel when people say to you, you are a hero? I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I was brave about the whole thing and confronting a knife man. That's not the story at all. And as I've said to everybody that's asked, I don't want this to be about me and want this to be about the families of those three little girls. I'm really, really saddened to know what's happened. And it's going to take me a while to come to terms with that. Really is. How are you doing on that journey? Not great. I had a last night, a few flashbacks, which were pleasant. I'm still in quite a lot of pain, but I can get around and hobbling around, learning how to use crutches. Helen's been hugely supportive. It was really nice to see that my guys from the office came around this morning. I wanted to see them and give them a hug. I also wanted to make sure that they were OK to try and assess how they were dealing with it. And I think by and large, they're all coping. John was discharged from hospital yesterday, and he's relieved that others are recovering, too. The parents of Leanne Lucas, I think, her surname is who was running the class, came to see me while I was in hospital. Obviously, I was concerned about her, and they were concerned about me, but it was nice to meet and talk to them. We didn't really discuss what had happened, but they just wanted to come and say hello to me. It was nice to see them. Are you able to share with us how Leanne is doing? I believe she's going to be OK. I can't wait to see what she was doing with shielding children. So if you want to talk about real heroes, you know, that's her, definitely. John Swipe Helen told me off camera that a police officer said he undoubtedly saved someone's life, but he says the focus should be on the three-dohy girls who couldn't be saved. Would you like to say anything to the parents of those children that they're going on? Well, only my thoughts are with them. I can't imagine what they're going through. And there's nothing I can say that will lessen their grief. I'm sure only that I'm sorry I couldn't have done more to stop it.