A father says he hit the suspected Huntingdon train knife attacker with his car.
At least 11 passengers on the 6.25pm Doncaster to London King’s Cross LNER service were attacked after the train left Peterborough on Saturday.
The train made an emergency stop at Huntingdon, where Dave Scott, 57, was waiting to collect his daughter at the station in Cambridgeshire.
Dave told the BBC that he saw a man ‘heading straight for me’ who then tried to break into his BMW.
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He told the broadcaster: ‘It was a case of fight or flight, and I just powered away as quick as I could, also taking him with [me].’
Dave said he noticed people running down the platform, initially chalking it up to teenagers ‘pratting around’.
But he noticed more passengers fleeing the station and saw a ‘large male’ heading straight towards him.
‘At that point I could see he had a knife in his hand,’ Dave said, adding that the man tried his door and ‘started chopping down on the top’ of the car.
The father spun the car around just as police officers arrived and detained the man only yards away from Dave.
His daughter told him over the phone that she was not on the 6.25pm service and her train had been stopped elsewhere in Cambridgeshire.
Anthony Williams, 32, was remanded into custody at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Monday, charged with 10 counts of attempted murder over the train incident.
He is next due to appear at Cambridge Crown Court on December 1.
Williams is also accused of carrying out a knife attack earlier in the day on another train in east London.
Cambridgeshire Police is also reviewing three other incidents, the force previously confirmed to Metro.
Witnesses on board the high-speed 6.25pm service have said they initially believed the rampage was a Halloween prank.
‘We ran from the back of the train to the end as everyone was screaming to run, explaining there was somebody stabbing everyone and everything,’ Olly Foster, a passenger, wrote on X.
‘There was blood on the top of countless chairs, coming from two of the guys who had been severely stabbed ahead of me.’
Among the injured was Samir Zitouni, 48, a rail worker who suffered deep wounds as he tried to shield passengers.
Neighbours described Zitouni to Metro as a ‘kind’ man who ‘always smiles’.
Another rider was Stephen Crean, a Nottingham Forest football fan whose friends have raised more than £45,000 on GoFundMe.
Crean, who was left with injuries to his back, head and left hand, told Metro: ‘I don’t expect anything in life but this is such a kind gesture, I can’t quite believe it.’
Timeline of events linked to suspect Anthony Williams
Friday, October 31, 7.10pm – A 14-year-old is stabbed with a knife in Peterborough city centre and left with minor injuries. The suspect has fled when the police arrive and officers are unable to find them.
Friday, October 31, 7.25pm – A man is seen allegedly with a knife at a barber’s shop in the Fletton area of Peterborough. The alleged sighting is reported to the police at 9.10pm, and officers do not attend but record a crime.
Saturday, November 1, 12.46am – Isaiah Ishmael Idris suffers facial injuries when he is attacked with a knife on a DLR train at Pontoon Dock, east London. The suspect flees.
Saturday, November 1, 9.25am – A second report is received by Cambridgeshire Police of a man with a knife at a barbers’ shop in Fletton. When the call arrives, he is still at the scene, but when police arrive 18 minutes later, they are unable to find him. A crime is recorded.
Saturday, November 1, 7.30pm – A mass stabbing occurs on a train from Doncaster to London, and passengers activate the alarms. The train pulls in at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
7.39pm – Cambridgeshire Constabulary police have been called
7.42pm – British Transport Police (BTP) on their way
7.50pm – Within eight minutes of the call to BTP, two men have been apprehended by armed officers, with one later released without charge
Sunday, November 2 – BTP says a 35-year-old man from London who was also arrested at the scene has been released with no further action. A 32-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and remains in police custody.
Monday, November 3 – Anthony Williams, 35, from Peterborough, is charged with ten counts of attempted murder, and another count of attempted murder in connection with the DLR incident
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