The Southport attacker initially went down the driveway of Colin’s care repair workshop by mistake on that awful day.
Colin and his colleague confronted Rudakubana before he retreated and headed next door to the Hart Space instead.
It was there, in the midst of a Taylor Swift dance event, that he carried out his murderous knife attack, killing three girls and wounding eight others.
Colin said: “I remember all of it like it was yesterday. It’s stuck in my head.
“He came down here and if I’d have known what was going to transpire after that, he wouldn’t have left his yard.”
Colin said he has struggled with the possibility he could have done something: “We all have. It’s all ifs and buts and it goes without saying had we seen anything or had we known, he wouldn’t have been doing what he did next door.”
As the attack unfolded, Colin raced to the Hart Space and saw the victims running in terror. He called 999.
He still has nightmares and flashbacks.
“You just don’t know what we walked into,” he said.
“I hope we saved some lives that day with what we did and our quick reactions, but there’s devastation that we lost three of them, and they were only young kids – little baby girls really – and no one should do that.”
The fate of six-year-old Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, is now woven into the fabric of Hart Street. The trauma of that day is still palpable.
One woman – who helped shield children that day – spoke for many in questioning why so much focus is now on the attacker.
“Why is it all about him?” she said. “Three girls died. It should all be about them and their families.”
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For Colin, the trauma is ongoing: “If I had a choice, realistically, I wouldn’t come down this road again. I’d stay away from it. But I’ve got to come here. My business is here and I’ve got to carry on.”
There is relief for many that they will not have to relive the horrors in court – Colin was due to give evidence on his birthday.
Like many on Hart Street, he has heard the now national conversion about the attacker’s past. He wants the lessons to be learned but his thoughts are with the families.
“It is all too late,” he said.
