The key facts

  • Milan Campion told the jury he initially took the attack for the actions of a suicide bomber
  • Witnesses described the attack on footballer Jonathan Gjoshe, the first victim on the train
  • Williams denies ten counts of attempted murder; the question is whether he intended to kill

Passenger testimony in court

The trial of 33-year-old Anthony Williams from Peterborough is continuing at Cambridge Crown Court. He denies ten counts of attempted murder of passengers on an LNER train travelling to London. According to BBC News, the train made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon during the attack on 1 November last year. Williams also faces charges of four further attempted murders following incidents in Peterborough and London.

'I thought it was a suicide bomber'

Passenger Milan Campion, who boarded at Grantham, said in a police interview video shown to the jury that he opened a toilet door and found Williams inside, who 'was just sitting, staring at the floor', which struck him as strange because the door was not locked. Later he heard shouts of 'there's a man with a knife in the carriage' and ran down the aisle along with others. 'I thought it might be a suicide bomber, so I needed to get as far away as possible to maximise my chances of survival if everything blew up,' the BBC quotes him as saying. According to Campion, Williams 'was threatening everyone indiscriminately', looked angry, and the witness concluded that he was 'not of sound mind'. Campion himself is not among those Williams is alleged to have tried to kill.

The first victim and other witnesses

The court also heard from Dinaria Soares, who was sitting opposite footballer Jonathan Gjoshe — said by the court to be the first person Williams attacked on the train. She said she was 'surprised and confused' when she saw the blow to his shoulder, and only later realised the attacker was stabbing 'with great force'. People in the front part of the train, she said, were 'packed in like sardines', as there was nowhere to retreat. Witness Malani Ranawake, from carriage J, where the prosecution says the attack began, said she saw Williams stabbing a man and heard him say 'I'm not leaving anyone'; she later hid in a toilet.

What the jury must decide

As the BBC notes, the fact of Williams's attacks is not disputed — the jury must determine whether he intended to kill. In the prosecution's opening statement, the jury was told that the defendant 'has mental health issues which may or may not become significant during the trial'. In addition to the ten incidents on the train, the prosecution alleges that on 31 October he tried to kill three people in Peterborough, and in the early hours of 1 November a teenager on a DLR train in east London. Earlier in the trial, witnesses said passengers at first took what was happening for a joke, and the teenager who was injured considered the attacker 'not of sound mind'; CCTV footage was also released showing the attacker being stopped with a frying pan. The trial continues.

CCTV image of Anthony Williams on an LNER train, in the aisle of the carriage. He is dressed in dark clothing and holding an object in his hands. There are rows of red cushioned seats either side of him.Image source, British Transport Police/Press Association
CCTV still of the London-bound LNER train. Anthony Williams, dressed in a black cap and black jacket, is holding a blurred knife in the walkway of a near empty carriage.CCTV image of a man holding a knife on a docklands light railway train. He is wearing dark clothing and the knife is in his right hand.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.A CCTV image of Anthony Williams on a train. He is wearing a dark jacket and has his hood up.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.