By David Crowe
London: The man accused of a horrifying attack on a high-speed train bound for London has been named as a key suspect in a string of earlier assaults, heightening anxiety about knife crime across Britain.
Police allege the man attacked a victim at a light rail station in London in the hours before he boarded the intercity Doncaster to King’s Cross train on Saturday night (Sunday AEDT) and began stabbing passengers in a brutal assault that left 11 people with serious injuries in hospital.
The BBC obtained an image of Anthony Williams in Peterborough the evening before the alleged train attack.Credit: BBC
The man, Anthony Williams, a 32-year-old British national, appeared in court briefly on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) and was charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one of actual bodily harm and one of possession of a bladed article. He did not enter a plea and is expected to return to court on December 1.
In a move that revealed concerns about earlier attacks, Williams was also charged with attempted murder for the knife attack in the early hours of Saturday at Pontoon Dock light-rail station in Docklands, east London.
Police are also investigating if he is linked to a series of incidents around his home town of Peterborough, including the stabbing of a 14-year-old boy on Friday evening, in the 24 hours before the train attack.
Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Cundy of the British Transport Police called for witnesses to come forward.
“The criminal investigation and support for the victims is a priority for British Transport Police,” he said. “Our investigation is also looking at other possible linked offences.”
Political leaders praised the driver of the high-speed train, who ensured it was transferred to a slower line and stopped within minutes of the attacks, and a crew member who shielded passengers and suffered grave injuries. The train crew member remains in hospital with serious injuries, but authorities said he was in a stable condition.
Australian Matt Kingston, who was on the train heading home to London from Yorkshire, told radio station 2GB that he and other passengers had sought refuge in the train’s bar.
“A handful of people started running down the carriage,” Kingston said. “I pulled my headphones out and just heard screaming … ‘he’s got a knife, run, run’.”
The LNER train where the stabbings took place.Credit: Getty
Kingston said he followed others fleeing down the carriages before sheltering in the train’s bar.
“It was pretty terrifying. There was an extra person in the bar before we even shut the door, and that person actually stepped out to confront the attacker,” he said.
“We saw the man walk past us, kind of, super calmly. It was really eerie at that point. He was calm, he didn’t look overly out of the ordinary, but I mean, he was wielding a massive kitchen knife”.
Another witness, Stephen Crean, told London’s The Telegraph of his experience confronting the attacker after the other passengers found safety in the buffet car.
Crean was stabbed multiple times.
“I just tried to hold him off and to keep the knife away but it caught me,” he said. Crean was later released from hospital.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised the rail staff members as heroes.
“There’s no doubt that their collective action, their brave action, saved countless lives, and I know the whole country is grateful for that,” he told the House of Commons.
The driver of the London North Eastern Railway service, Andrew Johnson, was praised for contacting a signaller within minutes of the attack to ensure the train was diverted from its high-speed line so it could be brought to a halt.
“As train drivers, we hold a lot of responsibility. We practise our emergency response and keep up to date with our knowledge of the route, so if needed, we know exactly where to stop and what to do,” Johnson said.
“The action I took is the same as any other driver. I think my colleagues on board were the real heroes, and I’d like to pay tribute to their bravery.”
While authorities said on Saturday night that nine victims were facing life-threatening injuries in hospital out of 11 who were being treated, at least five have since been released. None are in a life-threatening condition.
The crew member who confronted the attacker appears to have suffered the greatest injuries. His name has not yet been released.
Knife crime has become a major concern in Britain over several years, with official statistics showing there were 49,600 attacks with sharp instruments in England and Wales in the year to March. This was similar to the levels in previous years, according to a study by the House of Commons Library.
Aware of community fears about knife crime, the UK government announced three days ago that almost 60,000 knives had been removed from the streets in England and Wales through “knife surrender schemes” and police operations.
It said knife homicides had fallen by almost 20 per cent and the latest admissions data for National Health Service hospitals in England and Wales showed a 10 per cent fall in admissions for knife-related injuries.
Facial recognition solution
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood suggested the government would consider allowing greater use of facial recognition to prevent crime.
“This government will consult on a legal framework so that all police forces across the country can use live facial recognition technology, confident that they will not find themselves defending those decisions in courts in the future,” she said.
“I think there is much more that we can do to use new and emerging technology in order to help us tackle this type of criminality.”
While the train attack has sparked a debate about whether security on railways should be upgraded to levels closer to the security on airlines, the government has not canvassed measures of that kind.
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