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Passengers aboard a London-bound train initially believed a man was joking after he was stabbed and warned others to flee, a jury at Cambridge Crown Court has heard. The violence occurred on a London North Eastern Railway service travelling from York to London King’s Cross, which was forced to make an emergency stop in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, on November 1 last year.
Chilling Testimony from Train Passengers
Anthony Williams, 33, of Langford Road in Peterborough, denies 10 counts of attempted murder regarding the train knife attack. He also denies four additional attempted murder charges linked to earlier incidents in Peterborough and London. As reported by BBC News, court proceedings established that while there is no dispute over whether Williams carried out the stabbings, jurors must decide whether he intended to kill his victims.
The court viewed CCTV footage of the assault following the train’s departure from Peterborough, along with recorded video interviews of several victims recounting the ordeal.
The first person stabbed, Jonathan Gjoshe, was sitting in carriage J using his phone when Williams approached. Gjoshe explained that he initially mistook the attacker for someone he knew and thought the slow stabbing motion was strange. However, once he felt the shock, adrenaline took over and he jumped across a table to get away.
With his arm drenched in blood, Gjoshe moved through the train telling fellow passengers, “I’ve been stabbed, run”, but noted that some people remained seated, thinking it was a joke. Gjoshe spent four days in the hospital, where he recalled asking staff, “am I going to die today or not? please tell me this”.
Fending Off the Assailant
Another passenger in the same carriage, Sachin Balakrishnan, recalled hearing screaming before seeing people jumping over seats to escape a man wielding a large knife. Balakrishnan stated that he ran as the attacker pursued him, eventually suffering a stab wound to his right arm.
David Presland, 73, described being on his hands and knees on the carriage floor when he was stabbed. He told the court that he thought he was going to die and considered himself fortunate to survive after another passenger, named Kevin, came to help him.
Scott Green, who was traveling in the neighboring carriage alongside his pet cockapoo, Poppy, initially thought a fight was breaking out before feeling a jab in his side. Green tried to disarm the attacker, telling himself, “If I don’t get this knife now I think he’s going to kill me”. His dog then went into attack mode, which startled Williams and caused him to flee down the carriage. A female passenger subsequently pulled Green into a toilet for safety, lightly joking, “I don’t usually get in with men who I just met in the toilet”. Green described the attacker as being “just dead in the eyes, real dead… like he weren’t there”.
Kevin Deely testified that he tried to de-escalate the situation by shouting at Williams, “You don’t have to do this, you don’t have to do this.” Deely attempted to shield a woman and threw luggage at the assailant. After realizing he had been stabbed in the head, other passengers passed items of clothing down the train to help stem the bleeding.
Broader Allegations and Next Steps
In addition to the 10 attempted murder charges on the train involving victims including Raza Aslam, Scott Bletcher, Stephen Crean, Kevin Deely, Michael Paffett, Samir Zitouni, Jonathan Gjoshe, Sachin Balakrishnan, David Presland, and Scott Green, prosecutors allege Williams targeted others prior to the train rampage. He is accused of trying to kill three people in Peterborough on October 31, as well as attempting to murder a teenager on a Docklands Light Railway train in east London during the early hours of November 1.
The trial at Cambridge Crown Court is continuing.
