EXCLUSIVE: Youtuber Wesley Winter has revealed how he became caught up in the Middlesbrough riots after the Southport stabbings where Axel Rudakubana killed three young girls
A YouTuber has described the horrific moment that his wife was surrounded by violent rioters in Middlesbrough in the wake of the Southport killings in July last year. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died after being stabbed by Axel Rudakubana at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in Southport last July.
The mass stabbing resulted in widespread protests and riots across the country – explored in Channel 4’s new documentary One Day in Southport airing tonight at 9pm. Wesley Winter, who contributes to the documentary, has opened up in an exclusive chat with The Mirror about filming the riots in Middlesbrough on 4 August.
Wesley Winter contributes to the Channel 4 documentary One Day in Southport
What was meant to be a peaceful protest in light of the fatal Southport stabbings turned into riots which were fuelled by anti-Islamophobic and racist misinformation around the killer’s identity. Over 1,000 people attended the riot, which saw some smash shop windows, attack homes and burn cars.
“We saw a car get burnt down. For me, the most shocking thing was that there was a car trying to get through and people were saying, ‘If you’re not white, you can’t go through,’” says Wesley – who is half Korean. “That was really to see because Middlesbrough was quite a diverse area.
“It did seem like it was an excuse for just anyone to break houses and smash windows and target anyone and everyone. It was unfair.”
For Wesley’s wife Cailin – a Chinese national – the experience proved to be traumatic. While waiting in their car for Wesley to film, she was surrounded by masked rioters who began attacking the vehicle.
“They were like monkeys, yelling, shouting and jumping around, jumping on the car one-by-one,” she says. “They kicked the windows, smashed the windows and celebrated. I realised that they didn’t fear anything.
The Middlesbrough community cleaning up the streets after the riots last year(Image: Getty Images)
“My brain was empty. I didn’t know what to do because I thought if they see me, they’re going to kill me because they were so excited. My husband called and told me to get out of the car and run, but I said, ‘There’s 30 of them and someone is riding a bicycle. If I run, they can so easily chase me and catch me. I felt like, ‘I’m going to die today.’
“I could feel the heat, I could smell the smoke. There was a helicopter in the sky. It was like the Walking Dead. I never thought we would see that in real life.”
Wesley adds, “Stuff was getting thrown. I realised that these aren’t normal people and anything can happen.”
The incident has deeply affected X. “It was really traumatic because she’s not familiar with England that much. Now when she goes to the high street, if people are riding on bikes with masks on, it’s traumatic for her,” he says.
The police arrested 43 people in connection with the violence in Middlesbrough. Wesley thinks that the government could have stepped in sooner to stop the damage from happening.
“There was a lot of damage control that could have been done from the government. There was a lack of information at the time around who the attacker was,” he says.
“There was so much speculation about who he was and I know there are laws around it but for this particular case, I think there should have been more information to reduce the risk.
“People wanted to funnel their anger somewhere and they just chose the streets. It was really unfortunate.”
As for why viewers should watch One Day in Southport, Wesley says that it adds a different perspective to the horrific story.
“First and foremost, it remembers the three girls and the people who were injured at what happened in Southport,” he says. “I think it isn’t spoken about enough that the number of people who died could have been higher.”
