On Monday, U.K. police charged a 32-year-old man with attempted murder in connection with a shocking mass stabbing incident that injured 11 people on a train. The suspect, identified as Anthony Williams, also faces charges related to an earlier attack at a London transit station on the same day.
According to the British Transport Police, Williams is charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, as well as one count of actual bodily harm and one count of possession of a bladed article. The attack on Saturday evening occurred on a train traveling from Doncaster in northern England to London, shortly after the train had departed from Peterborough. Passengers reported scenes of chaos and fear, as bloodied individuals rushed to escape the assailant.
In addition to the train attack, Williams is also charged with attempted murder stemming from an earlier incident at the Pontoon Dock light rail station in London, which occurred just before 1 a.m. on Saturday. In this incident, a victim suffered facial injuries from a knife attack, after which the assailant fled the scene. Police are currently investigating if this incident is linked to the mass stabbing.
Authorities have clarified that they are not treating the train stabbings as a terrorist act and are not seeking any other suspects at this time. A second man, initially arrested in connection with the case, was released without charge on Sunday. Williams, a British citizen from Peterborough, made a brief appearance at the Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Monday, where he was seen wearing a gray prison tracksuit and handcuffs, flanked by four security officers. He is set to remain in custody until his next hearing on December 1, where he has not yet entered a plea.
The stabbing spree, which lasted only minutes, left several individuals injured and caused widespread panic among passengers. Eleven people were treated in hospitals, including the most seriously injured victim, who is a member of railway staff. This heroic individual attempted to intervene and stop the attacker and is currently hospitalized in critical but stable condition. Four additional victims remain hospitalized as of Monday.
Williams was apprehended when the train made an emergency stop in Huntingdon, eastern England, with police detaining him within eight minutes of the first emergency calls being received. Although authorities have classified the attack as an isolated incident, they have increased security measures on the railways, deploying armed police officers at major train stations across the country.
In light of the incident, there have been calls for heightened security measures at Britain’s railway stations, including airport-style passenger and baggage screening. However, the government has deemed these measures “not proportionate or practical.” In the U.K., where strict gun control laws are in place, nearly half of all homicides involve knives or sharp instruments.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s center-left government has made commitments to reduce knife crime and has tightened regulations surrounding the purchase of knives, even banning certain types of blades. The government claims progress, with the Office for National Statistics reporting a decline of over 20% in knife killings in the year leading up to March 2025 compared to the previous 12 months.
