A woman who was on the train from Doncaster to London which stopped in Huntingdon after a mass stabbing took place has spoken out about the terrifying moment she came face to face with the stabber.
Police were called to reports of multiple stabbings on board the 18.25pm LNER service at around 7.42pm on Saturday evening. 11 people were taken to hospital, nine of which suffered life-threatening injuries.
A 32-year-old man from Peterborough, Anthony Williams, has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder and will appear at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court today (3rd November), the BBC reveals.
One passenger has shared the moment the “totally calm” and “zombie-like” knifeman locked eyes with her before going to stab an elderly man right in front of her eyes and making a horrifying threat.
Credit: SWNS
The woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, was sitting in Coach J when she heard some “commotion” behind her a few minutes after leaving Peterborough station.
“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,” she said, as per SWNS.
“I looked up and saw a tall man dressed in all black with a long steel knife staring at me. Thank God, he then turned his eyes away from me.”
The knifeman then turned his attention to the elderly ban and “stabbed him repeatedly in the back”. She described his movements as “not frenzied, almost in a steadying tapping motion”.
After that, the anonymous witness heard the attacker made a terrifying six-word threat: “I’m not going to leave anyone.”
Credit: SWNS
“I got out of my seat and fled to the front of the train to Coach M, a first class carriage. As I went through the carriages I could see carnage as people’s abandoned belongings were strewn over the tables as they rushed to escape,” she recalled.
“By the time I arrived, Coach M was very crowded. I couldn’t get in but I noticed the toilet door slowly closing and asked ‘Is there room for me?’ I joined three women and a young boy. We locked the door and held the handle.”
Outside the toilet, she could hear the attacker, as well as people shouting “we love you”. The whole time, the train driver was telling everyone that help was on the way via the tannoy.
“Police came and talked to us through the locked door and told us to stay where we were until they came back,” she said. They stayed in the toilet for 15 minutes before messaging a friend asking the police to let them out.
They were the last ones to get off the train, and she recalled: “There was a lot of blood on the platform and it was smeared down the windows of Coach C at the other end of the train.”
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Featured image by: SWNS
