2 weeks Ago By Abbie Bray
BBC Breakfast viewers were "reduced to tears" on Thursday after Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt delivered some heartbreaking news. The presenters confirmed that two parents of the Southport victims would be running the London Marathon this weekend in their daughter's memory. In July 2024, Alice Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, were killed while attending a Taylor Swift dance workshop in Southport.
And now, in memory of the three girls, David Stancombe and Sergio Aguiar are gearing up to tackle the 26.2-mile (42km) race on Sunday. Naga and Charlie opened the programme by announcing the heartbreaking news.
Shortly after, they showed a pre-recorded clip of the girls' parents discussing the marathon. "Our thanks to the parents of Bebe, Elsie, and Alice, we wish you all the best ahead of this weekend's marathon," Naga shared. Charlie chimed in: "Yes, let's hope they can embrace what David said there, that sentiment right there, enjoy the day.
Good luck to all of those running on Sunday." Taking to X to share their thoughts, one viewer wrote: "Put @BBCBreakfast on and at 6:20am reduced to tears watching the Southport families London marathon clip." Someone replied: "It's just so heartbreaking.
" Someone else wrote along with a crying heart emoji: "As a father-& of a daughter too-can't imagine their continual pain, hope they raise loads in honour of those 3 beautiful girls." (sic) "So grateful to the families of Alice Aguiar, Bebe King, and Elsie Dot Stancombe for working with BBC Breakfast," a fourth added. A fifth viewer commented: "Doing something positive to help them cope with their tragic loss.
Others will benefit and their daughters are remembered." During one emotional segment, Elsie's father broke down in tears as he discussed his daughter's plea for him to run the London Marathon. "Elsie would be so happy to see me cross the finish line, especially for the London Marathon," he said.
"She'd just be so proud." David revealed that he had watched the coverage of the London Marathon last year with Elsie, and she told him to run the iconic race one day in honour of her grandmother. "A little bit of me was like, 'oh yeah, alright, Els,'" he added.
"I just never thought I would be running it for these reasons." BBC Breakfast airs daily at 6am on BBC One..
