The suspect in Saturday’s stabbing on a train in eastern England has been charged with attempted murder of ten people, British Transport Police said in a statement on Monday, November 3.
Anthony Williams, 32, is due to appear in court in Peterborough (eastern England) on Monday morning. He was also charged with another attempted murder that took place the same day in London, where he was in possession of a knife, according to police.
The attack occurred on a train that left at 6:25 p.m. (local and GMT) from Doncaster (northern England) to London King’s Cross station. Police were alerted to an incident on board at around 7:40 p.m. and intervened at Huntingdon station, near Cambridge, about 120 kilometers north of London.
British Transport Police (BTP) said local police officers had arrested two people. Only one is considered a suspect at this time, he said Sunday night. This is the one who was charged this Monday.
Transport union RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said the driver had “rerouted” his route to allow police and emergency services to intervene.
The vital prognosis of one of the victims remained compromised on Sunday
Of the ten people injured in the attack and hospitalized, five had left the hospital on Sunday and the vital prognosis of one of them remains compromised, according to the BTP. git from a railway company employee who “tried to stop the attacker,” he said, praising his “heroic” behavior.
According to a passenger quoted by Sky News, police used an electric stun gun on the platform to subdue the man armed with a large knife. King Charles III said on Sunday he was “absolutely horrified and shocked” by the attack. The day before, Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the incident as “extremely worrying.”
The head of the BTP, John Loveless, recalled on Sunday that the anti-terrorist services are collaborating in the investigation, but that “at this time, there is nothing to suggest that this is a terrorist incident.”
The suspect is a 32-year-old Briton, born in the United Kingdom, who boarded the train in Peterborough, where he lives, the BTP detailed. A knife was found at the scene of the attack.
A passenger, Dayna Arnold, told several newspapers that she came face to face with him, begging him not to kill her, and that he responded: “The devil won’t win.” A second man, 35 years old and arrested on Saturday night, was released on Sunday because, according to police, he “was not involved” in the attack. A strong police presence has been deployed at police stations across the country and will remain in place for several days.
Increase in knife violence
In England and Wales, where gun laws are very strict, knife violence has risen sharply over the past 15 years, according to official figures. In the past, the Prime Minister has described the situation as a “national crisis” and his government has restricted access to these weapons.
This attack occurs a month after the stab attack at a synagogue north of Manchester, where two people died, one of them from a shot by the police who intervened at the scene.
In the summer of 2024, a young British man of Rwandan origin stabbed three young people to death in a dance class in Southport, northern England. Ten other people, including eight children, were injured. And a 22-year-old Afghan refugee was charged this week following a knife attack that left one dead and two injured on Monday near London.
Source: BFM TV
