Man charged with attempted murder over train stabbing that wounded 11

Monday, 3 November 2025 20:33

UK police have charged a 32-year-old man with attempted murder over a stabbing attack on train that wounded 11 people.

UK police have charged a 32-year-old man with attempted murder over a mass stabbing attack on a train that wounded 11 people, and said he also tried to kill someone at a London transit station earlier the same day.

British Transport Police said Anthony Williams is charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one of actual bodily harm and one of possession of a bladed article over the attack on Saturday.

He is also charged with attempted murder over a separate incident at Pontoon Dock light rail station in London earlier that day, and police said investigators are "looking at other possible linked offences".

This image of Anthony Williams, obtained by the BBC, was taken in a barber's shop in Peterborough the evening before the alleged train attack.

Police say they are not treating the stabbings as an act of terror and are not looking for other suspects. A second man initially arrested as a suspect was released without charge on Sunday after it was determined the 35-year-old was not involved.

Williams, a British citizen from the city of Peterborough in eastern England, made a brief appearance at Peterborough Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Williams, who was flanked by four security officers as he stood in the dock wearing a grey prison tracksuit and handcuffs, was ordered detained until his next hearing on December 1. He was not asked to enter pleas.

The minutes-long stabbing spree spread fear and panic through a train bound from Doncaster in northern England to London on Saturday evening. The train was about halfway through its journey and had just departed from a stop at Peterborough when police began receiving calls about people being stabbed onboard.

Passengers described scenes of panic as bloodied travellers raced down the train to get away from the knifeman. The most seriously wounded victim is a member of railway staff who tried to stop the attacker. Police called his actions "nothing short of heroic".

He is hospitalised in a critical but stable condition.

Williams was arrested when the train made an emergency stop in the town of Huntingdon in eastern England. Police say he was detained within eight minutes of officers receiving the first emergency calls.

Authorities said the attack was an isolated incident but stepped up security on the railway, with armed police officers on patrol on Monday at major train stations.

The government rejected calls for increased security measures such as airport-style passenger and baggage screening to be introduced at Britain's 3500 railway stations, saying that wouldn't be "proportionate or practical".

In the UK, which has strict gun-control laws, almost half of all homicides involve a knife or sharp instrument. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government has pledged to reduce knife crime and has tightened rules for purchasing knives and banned some kinds of blades.

It claims to have had some success, with the number of knife killings down by more than 20 per cent in the year to March 2025 from the previous 12 months, according to the Office for National Statistics.