Trial of the Huntingdon train attacker: prosecution describes a series of attacks

The key facts

Anthony Williams denies 14 counts of attempted murder
The attacks spanned Peterborough, an LNER train and Pontoon Dock station in London
The judge ruled that the defendant will take part in the trial by video link from Rampton Hospital
The judge ruled that the defendant will take part in the proceedings by video link from Rampton Hospital

What is happening in court

The case of 33-year-old Anthony Williams, of Langford Road in Peterborough, who denies 14 counts of attempted murder, is being heard at Cambridge Crown Court. This is reported by BBC News. According to the prosecution, on the evening of Saturday 1 November 2025 he attacked passengers and staff with a knife on an LNER train travelling from Peterborough to London; the train made an emergency stop at Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. Ten people are named as victims on the train: Jonathan Gjoshe, Sachin Balakrishnan, David Presland, Scott Bletcher, Scott Green, Kevin Dilly, Stephen Crean, Razwan Aslam, Michael Puffett and Samir Zitouni.

A series of attacks over one weekend

According to prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC, the series began the day before, on 31 October, in Peterborough: there, the prosecution says, Williams tried to kill a 14-year-old teenager and David Taborski on a footbridge near Henry Penn Walk, and then William Ogelby in the Railworld car park. After that, holding a knife, he walked into the Ritzy barbershop in the Fletton area, and in the early hours of 1 November in east London he attacked a 17-year-old on a Docklands Light Railway train at Pontoon Dock station in Silvertown. A witness to that attack, according to the court, heard the defendant repeatedly say: 'Are you trying to have a go with the devil?' Paxton described what happened as 'marauding through cities, through streets and trains, armed with a knife'.

Testimony about the course of the attack on the train

The prosecution says passengers fled 'in sheer terror': some locked themselves in toilets, some tried to fight back with improvised means, including a toaster from the buffet car. Train crew member Samir Zitouni tried to stop the attacker with a frying pan but, according to the court, received multiple stab wounds. 73-year-old David Presland, the prosecutor says, was attacked after falling to the floor — 'defenceless and posing no threat'. Stephen Crean, according to the prosecution, lunged at Williams, who asked him: 'Do you want to die?' Paxton called this phrase 'clear evidence of intent to kill', emphasising that minor injuries or their absence in some victims does not rule out such intent. In his words, the attack was stopped only by the train driver, who took the decision to make an unscheduled stop.

What is disputed and how the trial is organised

The parties agree that the attacks themselves are not disputed: a jury of three women and nine men must decide whether Williams intended to kill the victims. Mr Justice Calver said the defendant is taking part in the proceedings by video link from Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire — this, in the court's view, will ensure his effective participation and spare him a four-hour round trip. The trial continues; there is no verdict yet, and the question of motives is not directly addressed in the court materials — the prosecution merely noted that even if the defendant perceived the victims as 'the devil', this provides no lawful grounds for the attacks.

A man in dark clothing and black woolly hat carries a small black bag under his right arm. He is outside glass doors at a railway station and is walking past yellow cones that say 'CAUTION WET FLOOR' on them. — Image caption,
The jury has been shown this image of Anthony Williams at Peterborough railway station, where he boarded the train

Emergency services personnel, wearing protective gear and many in high-visibility clothing, near an Azuma train. They are standing on the platform to the left of the train, which has its front lights on. — Image caption,
Anthony Williams is accused of attempting to murder 10 people on the train that made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon

An image of a man in black clothing, including a hood pulled up, brandishing a knife at waist height in his right hand. A purple triangle has been added to the image pointing down just above his head. He is standing between four hairdressing chairs in a barbershop. The front window and door are behind him. Reversed writing on the door window says 'www.ritzybarbers.com'. — Image caption,
The jury has also been shown this image of the defendant brandishing a knife in the barbers shop in Fletton