We first met Leanne in January. She had endured six months of waiting for her attacker to be tried. But on the day his trial was due to begin, Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty to three charges of murder and 10 of attempted murder. For Leanne, this was another act of malice.

“I found out he pleaded guilty on the news,” Leanne recalled. “I felt so angry. We knew he did it. He knew he did it. Every single person knew he did it. And he waited until the day of trial to say guilty and put every single family, victim, witness – everyone in that position.”

For many witnesses in the case, Rudakubana’s last-minute guilty plea – however manipulative in its timing – was a relief. Many were dreading the prospect of sitting in a courtroom with their attacker while lawyers pored over the details of the injuries he had inflicted.

Sarah, however, wanted her day in court, saying she’d had all the “stress and anxiety” without the “closure”.

Rudakubana was sentenced to 52 years in prison, the maximum sentence allowed because he was 17 years old when he carried out the attack.

Leanne said she wanted to speak out now because, even after the court proceedings, she still did not feel the “absolute trauma” of that day had been understood. “I just feel like I am able to be the voice of people you can’t hear who are involved in the story,” she said.

On the day her attacker was sentenced, Leanne spoke about the survivor’s guilt she lives with. “I cannot give myself compassion or accept praise, as how can I live knowing I survived when children died,” she told the court. She said she was struggling to trust others and trying to see the goodness in the world. “For Alice, Elsie, Bebe, Heidi and the surviving girls, I’m surviving for you,” she said.

She told us about treasured moments with each of the girls who died. She described Bebe’s “pure excitement” at holding a puppy during a puppy yoga session. The day of the attack was the first time Leanne had met Alice, and the “beautiful smile” of this “confident ballerina” left an impression. And she recalled Elsie’s enthusiasm for the weekly reading and writing lessons they had together.

It is clear that their memory is what keeps her going.

“These children represent goodness, I think. Just pure goodness,” she told us. “Happiness. How genuine they were. Positive. The love of life and just making the best out of every single moment. That’s how I remember them.”