UK transport minister hails heroic train worker as man faces 10 attempted murder charges following mass stabbing on London-bound train
HUNTINGDON: A man has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder following a mass stabbing on a London-bound train.
Transport police confirmed the suspected attacker Anthony Williams also faces a separate attempted murder charge over another incident at a London train station hours earlier.
The 32-year-old appeared in court on Monday and was remanded in custody.
Transport Minister Heidi Alexander praised the critically wounded train worker who intervened to protect passengers during Saturday evening’s attack.
“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,” Alexander stated.
Alexander also commended the driver whose quick thinking enabled an unscheduled emergency stop at Huntingdon in eastern England.
Police are investigating whether Williams was involved in three other knife incidents in his hometown of Peterborough on Friday and Saturday.
Cambridgeshire Police has referred itself to Britain’s independent police watchdog to scrutinise its response to those earlier incidents.
Ten people were wounded in Saturday’s train knife rampage.
The train company employee who was injured remains in hospital in critical but stable condition.
Train driver Andrew Johnson, who served in the Royal Navy for 17 years, said his onboard colleagues were the “real heroes”.
“I’d like to pay tribute to their bravery,” he said in a statement.
Scunthorpe United football club named defender Jonathan Gjoshe as one of the victims receiving inpatient treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.
The train had been travelling from northern England to London’s King’s Cross Station at about 7:40 pm on Saturday.
Passengers described seeing victims with stab wounds fleeing through the train while warning others to escape.
“He asked me, ‘Do you want to die?’,” victim Stephen Crean told the Press Association news agency.
“He repeated it. Then I remember his knife going into my arm.”
Chief investigation officer Stuart Cundy also paid tribute to the injured train company employee after reviewing CCTV footage.
“Having viewed the CCTV from the train, the actions of the member of rail staff were nothing short of heroic and undoubtedly saved people’s lives,” Cundy stated.
Four other people remained in hospital though their condition was not life-threatening.
Alexander announced there would be increased visible police patrols on trains in coming days to reassure the public.
She described the incident as “absolutely horrific” but emphasised that the UK rail network remains among the “safest forms of public transport anywhere in the world”.
The arrested man was not known to counter-terrorism police or the security services, she added.
Interior minister Shabana Mahmood told parliament the incident had been “an isolated attack”.
Her ministry noted that all knife crime had decreased by five percent between September 2024 and October this year.
Williams faces 10 counts of attempted murder, one of actual bodily harm and one of possessing a knife in connection with the train stabbings.
He also faces another charge of attempted murder and possessing a knife following an earlier incident at a train station in east London. – AFP
