Huntingdon knife suspect appears at court charged over horrific train stabbings: Live updates

This is the man accused of a knife rampage on a high-speed train bound for London – and an earlier attack station in the capital earlier that day.

Anthony Williams, 32, of Peterborough, has appeared at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court charged with 11 counts of attempted murder.

Police said today that a passenger was stabbed at Pontoon Dock Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station in east London shortly after 12.45am on November 1.

It is understood the victim suffered facial injuries after being attacked with a knife.

Hours later, Williams is accused of going on a knife rampage on the high-speed 6.25pm LNER service from Doncaster to London’s King’s Cross.

Williams appeared at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court today, accompanied by four prison officers and in handcuffs.

The suspect, who mumbled to the court that he was of no fixed abode, appeared in the dock wearing a grey sweatshirt and tracksuit bottoms. He spoke only to confirm his name and address during the six minute hearing

Scunthorpe United have confirmed one of its footballers was among the victims of the mass train stabbing.

Defender Jonathan Gjoshe, 22, is in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the club said.

Officials said they could not provide any further updates because of ongoing investigations.

A man who was waiting on the platform for the Huntingdon train opened up about how the terrifying event has left him sleepless and so sickened that he can’t eat on Monday’s episode of This Morning.

Transport For London worker Dean McFarlane appeared on the most recent episode of the ITV programme to talk to Ben Shephard, 50, and Cat Deeley, 49, about the incident that happened on Saturday night.

Train driver Andrew Johnson made an emergency stop at Huntingdon station in Cambridgeshire, ahead of the final destination of Kings Cross, at 7:41pm after a knifeman started attacking passengers in coach J.

Nine of the 11 injured people were left fighting for their lives – with five people discharged from hospital as of last night.

Dean was on the way into London for his nightshift, and luckily he was there as he knew what to do, kept people calm and moved them to safety with his work training.

Ben asked how he has been since the attack and if it’s been hard to process, to which Dean said: ‘It did bring in a little bit of shock at the time, but until I left the scene, when the police let me go, that it really did hit me.

According to court documents, Anthony Williams allegedly used a ‘large kitchen knife’ in two attacks.

Williams appeared in the dock in handcuffs with four security officers alongside him, and spoke softly to confirm his name, age and address.

It is understood he is not known to the security services or counter-terrorism policing, and had not been referred to the Government anti-extremism scheme Prevent.

Opposing bail for Williams, prosecutor Olaide Esan told the hearing:

The defendant has attempted to murder 11 people in total. These are serious allegations. These are very serious offences. The defendant is a risk to the trains and to the members of the public.

The assault charge Williams faces relates to him allegedly attacking a male police officer in custody after being arrested, leaving him with a ‘broken nose’, Ms Olaide said.

District judge Ken Sheraton remanded Williams into custody to appear at Cambridge Crown Court on December 1.

Downing Street said it expected the police to examine the events leading up to Saturday’s train attack.

Asked if there were questions for the police to answer following the earlier incident, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said:

Clearly, whenever there is a serious incident of this kind it would be natural to assume that police forces would look at the handling of their cases, and I’m sure that would be the same here.

But he praised the response of the emergency services following the Saturday night incident.

And what’s clear this morning, I think, is that ordinary people showed extraordinary bravery on Saturday to save the lives of others, and the Prime Minister pays tribute to all those who stood firm in the face of this horrific attack. They are heroes in the truest sense of the word.

Anthony Williams, 32, appeared at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Monday charged with 10 counts of attempted murder after several people were stabbed on an LNER train from Doncaster to London on Saturday.

Williams, who wore a grey tracksuit and wore handcuffs as he stood flanked by four security officers in the dock, is also charged with one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He was not asked to enter pleas and when asked his address mumbled ‘no fixed abode’.

He was remanded in custody until a hearing at Cambridge Crown Court on December 1.

The Conservatives are demanding a ‘dramatic’ increase in the use of stop and search to take more knives off Britain’s streets following the Huntingdon train attack.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the ‘hand-wringing weakness’ must end over knife crime and violent criminals.

It comes after police declared a major incident when an LNER service from Doncaster to London came to a stop in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, on Saturday.

In an article for The Telegraph, Mr Philp said the train attack had ‘sent a wave of shock and revulsion through Britain’.

The shadow home secretary added a ‘serious overhaul of how we tackle the scourge of violence and knife crime’ was now ‘long overdue’.

He demanded the Government ‘take urgent action to restore confidence in policing and its ability to keep us safe’.

‘The first thing we must do is ensure that more knife crime offenders are jailed,’ he wrote.

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has pledged financial support to aid club supporters impacted by the mass stabbings.

The Premier League club confirmed several of its London-based supporters had been on the train, as they travelled home from their 2-2 draw against Manchester United.

Nottingham Forest said it was aware of ‘extraordinary bravery’ from individuals, with Marinakis praising ‘courage and selflessness’ shown by their supporters.

Many of our London-based supporters were travelling home on that train following our match at the City Ground, and our thoughts are very much with everyone caught up in such a distressing incident.

Marinakis offered financial support to aid those impacted, adding:

Everyone at Nottingham Forest is shocked and deeply saddened by what happened.

We will make sure any supporter caught up in this incident receives whatever financial support they require to enable them to access the best possible medical care as they recover. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected.

A female passenger on the 6.25 service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross has told how she was confronted by a ‘zombie-like’ knifeman during the Huntingdon train horror.

The woman, who was sat in a window seat in Coach J, asked to remain anonymous but said:

A few minutes after leaving Peterborough, I heard a commotion behind me. At first I thought it was rowdy football supporters coming back from a Saturday game, but then I heard someone shout ‘he’s got a knife’, and other passengers started rushing towards me.

As hordes of terrified people ran through the train, she said an elderly man fell down in the aisle next to the passenger.

I looked up and saw a tall man dressed in all black with a long steel knife staring at me.

The passenger said that the attacker ‘seemed totally calm, almost zombie-like’.

She added: ‘Thank God, he then turned his eyes away from me.’

Here’s the moment the mayor of Huntingdon, Audrey McAdam, was interviewed about the train attack.

Ms McAdam admitted she was ‘too emotional to speak; as she tried to give her reaction.

Here’s our graphic showing how terror unfolded on the train as passengers travelled from Doncaster to London on the 6.25.

Asked about Kemi Badenoch’s comments that the attack shows there is ‘clearly something going wrong with our society’, Mr Healey said:

I don’t see that that helps anyone in the situation of coming to terms with that horrific attack on Saturday night.

I’d rather she talked about the extraordinary response of the train crew, the passengers, the emergency services, all of whom responded in quite a heroic way to what was a very serious attack which could have been so much worse.

In her response, the Conservative leader said:

There’s clearly something going wrong in our society right now, which I believe all politicians of all parties need to have a conversation about.

We cannot be a country where people are innocently going about their business and facing this level of violent crime.

Defence Secretary John Healey has praised the ‘swift’ response of police officers as a man was charged over a mass stabbing on a busy train in Cambridgeshire.

Speaking in Uxbridge, west London, on Monday, he told the PA news agency:

I think the response of the emergency services was swift. The launch of the investigation was swift.

Quite rightly, the reports to the public on the early assessments and the conclusion, giving the public as much information as the police could as soon as they could, was quite right and this is the latest development in that. And if the police have got more to say, they’ll let us know.

The hero train driver who helped save passengers’ lives during a knife attack in Huntingdon is a Royal Navy and Iraq War veteran, it has been revealed.

Andrew Johnson, of Peterborough, rapidly diverted the London-bound train to Huntingdon station after being alerted to the mass stabbing, enabling emergency services to act fast.

The terrifying 15-minute knife rampage on Saturday evening left 11 people hospitalised, with two remaining in a ‘life-threatening condition’ on Sunday.

Two British nationals were being held on suspicion of attempted murder. One has since been released without further action.

Mr Johnson, who has been working as a train driver since 2018, served in the Royal Navy for 17 years, it is understood.

He was deployed to Iraq in 2003 during the second Gulf War.

A man accused of carrying out a stabbing attack on a high speed LNER service will appear in court this morning.

Anthony Williams, 32, will attend Peterborough Magistrates’ Court charged with multiple counts of attempted murder, one count of actual bodily harm and one count of possession of bladed article following the attacks on the service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross on Saturday.

He is also charged with another count of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article in connection to an incident on a train at Pontoon Dock DLR station in east London in the early hours of the same day, where a victim suffered facial injuries after being attacked with a knife.

This is the moment a brave railway worker approaches the suspect in the Huntingdon railway attack – before turning and warning passengers to keep fleeing.

The worker, in a high–visibility jacket, sees the man calmly strolling down the platform in a black hooded jacket after injuring 11 people in a heinous knife attack on an LNER train on Saturday evening.

CCTV footage exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail shows passengers fleeing down the platform shortly after 7.40pm on November 1.

In the footage, passengers on the 6.25 Doncaster to London Kings Cross service can be seen running for their lives after the driver made an emergency stop in Huntingdon.

‘They’re on their way, don’t worry,’ says the orange–clad rail worker, referring to the armed police who would eventually subdue the suspect.

He pleads with passengers: ‘Keep going straight down for me, move away please.’

London Underground worker Dean McFarlane recalled the moment passengers fled the train in chaos after a knifeman started attacking people inside the carriages.

He spoke to Channel 4 News about what he saw:

There are few places where the public are more vulnerable than on a packed train.

The terror and panic on the southbound LNER train on Saturday must have been appalling. The attack escalated quickly, with hundreds of people justifiably afraid for their lives.

In such a claustrophobic situation, amid the blood and the screams of the injured, passengers will have been frantic to get to safety, trampling over one another in the process.

As one of the survivors said, ‘You are in a box and you can’t get out.’ There is nowhere to run and very few places to hide.

Read the full column by former Met Police superintendent Kevin Hurley here:

Speaking in interviews earlier today, Ms Alexander said five people remain in hospital today following the attack on Saturday.

Eleven people were taken to hospital for treatment with many said to be a life-threatening condition but some of those have now left.

Ms Alexander told Times Radio earlier:

There are five people still in hospital, one of whom is the member of train crew… who this morning is in a critical but stable condition.

Some of the other people who had been taken to hospital on Saturday night have now been discharged.

The train where a stabbing attack took place was seen leaving Huntingdon Railway Station in Cambridgeshire this morning.

The London North Eastern Railway (LNER) Doncaster to King’s Cross train made an emergency stop at Huntingdon Railway Station following the train stabbings on Saturday evening.

A driver was seen boarding the train at 8.40am and the train then headed north back up the line.

Huntingdon Railway Station remains closed today and there were long queues for the rail replacement bus services this morning.

The railway line has now reopened so trains are able to pass through to London.

Police officers were also seen around the station this morning as investigations into the train stabbings continue today.

The man alleged to have carried out a stabbing spree on a high-speed train in Cambridgeshire is also accused of a knife attack at a London station earlier that day, police said.

Anthony Williams, 32, will appear at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court later on Monday accused of multiple counts of attempted murder, one count of actual bodily harm and one count of possession of bladed article following the attacks on the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross on Saturday, British Transport Police.

He is also charged with another count of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article in connection to an incident on a train at Pontoon Dock DLR station in east London in the early hours of the same day, where a victim suffered facial injuries after being attacked with a knife.

Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Cundy said:

The criminal investigation and support for the victims is a priority for British Transport Police. Our investigation is also looking at other possible linked offences.

Following the charges authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service, I would stress the importance of not saying or publishing anything which might jeopardise or prejudice ongoing criminal proceedings, or the integrity of the investigation.

Heidi Alexander said there would be an increase in visible police patrols at stations following the LNER attack.

The Transport Secretary insisted public transport was safe despite the measures.

Speaking on the morning broadcast round, Ms Alexander said:

Public transport generally is a low-crime environment – and this incident was absolutely horrific on Saturday night, and I don’t want to take away from that in any way – but generally, our trains are some of the most safest forms of public transport anywhere in the world.

For every one million passenger journeys that are made, there are 27 crimes.

Now for me, one crime is one crime too many, so we will after this review all of our security measures because that is the right thing to do.

When the screaming started on the Saturday night train, some passengers assumed it was a Halloween prank.

But it fast emerged this was nothing to do with the previous day’s festival – a knifeman really was stabbing his way through the carriages of the 6.25pm Doncaster to London King’s Cross service.

However, a series of acts of heroism, in particular from a rail buffet worker now stable in hospital after fighting for his life who undoubtedly saved lives, according to witnesses.

One young woman, Maisie Harrison, was listening to Queen and Oasis through her headphones, and about to be stabbed when an older man threw himself in front of the blade.

Her mother Dawn Duke said last night she ‘owed everything’ to the hero.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said Anthony Williams had been charged with 11 counts of attempted murder, one more than was announced by British Transport Police.

Tracy Easton, chief crown prosecutor for CPS Direct, said:

The Crown Prosecution Service has decided to prosecute Anthony Williams with 11 counts of attempted murder, one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two counts of possession of a bladed article – following a police investigation into an incident on a LNER train from Doncaster to London on Saturday 01 November 2025.

We know the devastating impact the events on Saturday’s train has had and how the incident shocked the entire country. Our thoughts remain with all those affected.

Ms Alexander said the suspect was not known to counter-terrorism police or MI5 but would not say if he had contact with mental health services.

I’m not going to speculate about his motivations or the events that led up to the incident.

What I can tell you is that he was not known to counter-terrorism police, he was not known to the security services, and he was not known to the Prevent programme.

Asked if the suspect was known to mental health services, she said:

I’m not in a position to share any more information about the individual, I’m afraid.

Anthony Williams has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one count of actual bodily harm and one count of possession of bladed article following a knife attack on a train in Cambridgeshire on Saturday, British Transport Police (BTP) said.

Williams, 32, from Langford Road, Peterborough, will appear at Peterborough Magistrates on Monday morning, police said.

BTP said he has also been charged with another count of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article in connection with an incident at Pontoon Dock DLR station on November 1.

Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Cundy said:

The criminal investigation and support for the victims is a priority for British Transport Police. Our investigation is also looking at other possible linked offences.

Following the charges authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service I would stress the importance of not saying or publishing anything which might jeopardise or prejudice ongoing criminal proceedings, or the integrity of the investigation.

Hello and welcome to the Daily Mail’s live coverage following a mass stabbing attack on a London bound train on Saturday night.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has today praised the bravery of a ‘hero’ rail worker who tried to stop the attack on a LNER service.

The man is now in a stable condition after he was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Ms Alexander told Sky News: ‘He went in to do his job and he left work a hero. And there are people who are alive today because of his actions and his bravery.’

Stick with us throughout the day as we bring you the latest developments.