Everything we know about Huntingdon train stabbings and suspect Anthony Williams

A 32-year-old man is facing 11 counts of attempted murder after passengers travelling to London were targeted in a knife attack.

Several passengers remain in hospital after a mass stabbing on a busy train in Cambridgeshire on Saturday night. Ten people received hospital treatment after sustaining knife wounds in the horror attack, with five remaining under care, including an LNER staff member who is in a critical but stable condition. Anthony Williams, 32, was charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of a bladed article at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

He was also separately charged with another count of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article over an incident at Pontoon Dock DLR station in London early on Saturday morning, when a victim suffered facial injuries after being attacked with a “large kitchen knife”. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said this afternoon that Williams was not known to security services, counter-terror policing or Prevent. “For now, there is little I can say about this man and his past, beyond confirming that he is a British national and was born in this country,” she added.

What is the timeline of the attacks?

British Transport Police has launched an investigation into the Huntingdon stabbings alongside several other incidents thought to be linked to the knifeman who terrified passengers on the Doncaster to London train on Saturday.

Here is a timeline of the events on Friday, October 31, and Saturday, November 1, currently under investigation:

October 31, 7:10pm – A 14-year-old is stabbed with a knife in Peterborough city centre and hospitalised with minor injuries. When police arrive at the scene, the suspect has disappeared.

October 31, 7:25pm – A man is spotted with a knife at a barber’s shop in Fletton, Peterborough. Police are only made aware almost two hours later at 9:10pm, by which point he has fled. A crime is recorded.

November 1, 12:46am – Isiah Ishmael Idris suffers facial injuries when he is attacked with a knife on a DLR train at Pontoon Dock, in east London. Anthony Williams, 32, is later charged with attempted murder.

November 1, 9:25am – Police receive a second report of a man with a knife at a barber’s shop in Fletton. When police arrive 18 minutes later, he has once again disappeared. Another crime is recorded.

November 1, 7:30pm – A mass stabbing unfolds on a train from Doncaster to London. Passengers pull alarms on the LNER service, forcing it to stop at Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. Armed officers apprehend two men, one of whom is later released without charge. Williams is charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of possession of a bladed article. Police said there was nothing to suggest the attack was terrorism.

How did the train stabbings unfold?

Witness accounts of the train journey that set off for King’s Cross from Doncaster at 6:25pm on Saturday paint a terrifying picture, with some initially suspecting it to be a late Halloween prank.

Shortly after the train left Peterborough Station at 7:30pm, the chaos began to unfold, with passenger Olly Foster telling the BBC that he heard people shouting “run, run, there’s a guy literally stabbing everyone”.

Other travellers told The Times that people were hiding in train toilets and the buffet car to escape the rampage, with “blood everywhere” as a man holding a knife made his way through a carriage.

Alistair Day, who was in the buffet car, said he saw “a man at the window with his knife” trying to get in, but was unable to do so because the door was locked.

An emergency alarm was pulled, and train driver Andrew Johnson brought the train to a stop in the small town of Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, where armed police were filmed running down the platform to evacuate the carriages and neutralise the threat.

The alleged knifeman was reportedly shot with a Taser by police. Taxi driver Viorel Turturica told ITV that he was “holding the knife straight, asking the police to kill him”. “He repeated three or four times, ‘kill me, kill me, kill me’,” Mr Turturica said.

10 people were hospitalised after the train attack (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)

Who is Anthony Williams?

Anthony Williams, 32, has been charged with the attempted murder of 10 train passengers travelling to London on Saturday night.

He was also charged with one count of possession of a knife and one count of actual bodily harm in relation to the incident, and further counts of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article in relation to an offence on Saturday morning.

Williams, who wore a grey tracksuit and handcuffs as he stood flanked by officers at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court, was not asked to enter pleas and was remanded in custody until a hearing at Cambridge Crown Court on December 1.

While little detail has emerged about his background, authorities have confirmed that the suspect was born in Britain and was not known to the security services or Prevent prior to the weekend.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the Commons on Monday that Cambridgeshire Police had reported itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) over the incidents linked to the train stabbing.

She added: “I know this House, and the public, will have many unanswered questions today about who this attacker was and about the events that led up to the attack. Those questions will be answered, but it will take time – the police and prosecutors must be allowed to do their work.”

Who are the victims?

Scunthorpe footballer Jonathan Gjoshe was among the people attacked on the busy train as it passed through Cambridgeshire on Saturday, the football club said in a statement.

The defender sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the mass stabbing but remains in hospital. He was among those named as Williams’ attempted murder victims on Monday, alongside his fellow passengers and Isiah Ishamel Idris, who was attacked earlier on Saturday at a DLR station.

The other people named as victims were Scott Bletcher, Michael Paffett, Kevin Deely, David Presland, Sachin Balakrishnan, Stephen Cean, Samir Zitouni, Rasza Aslam and Scott Screen. Eight of the 10 passengers reportedly remain in hospital.

An unnamed member of LNER staff was also recorded on CCTV attempting to protect passengers from the attacker. Police said he sustained life-threatening injuries and was in a critical but stable condition. The force praised his actions as “nothing short of heroic” and suggested he had “undoubtedly saved many people’s lives”.