A regular train from Doncaster to London in the UK was disrupted on Saturday night when a group of passengers were stabbed to death on board.
Eleven people were treated in hospital after the attack. One of them, a railway worker, remains in critical condition after protecting passengers from the knifeman. He was hailed as a “hero” by police, and Britain’s Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander praised him, saying: “He put himself in dangerous situations. There are people alive today who wouldn’t be alive without his actions.”
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Police initially arrested two suspects, but later released one suspect who was not involved. On Monday, the suspect in custody was named as 32-year-old Anthony Williams of Peterborough, who was also taken into custody on suspicion of attempted murder at a London location earlier Saturday.
Police are still trying to determine the motive for the attack, but say it does not appear to be an act of terrorism.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the attack an “extremely worrying” and “horrible incident”, while Home Secretary Shabana Mahmoud said it was “sad” and urged people to avoid commenting and speculating.
Downing Street is keen to quash rumors circulating online after the 2024 murder of three girls in Southport, which sparked days of rioting across the country.
what happened?
The train departed from Doncaster in northern England at 16:25 GMT on Saturday, November 1, heading to King’s Cross station in London.
The ship was about halfway through its two-hour journey from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, when police began receiving calls about people being stabbed on board.
Passengers described panicking, some covered in blood, rushing through the train’s aisles to escape the attacker, who witnesses reported brandishing a “large knife”.
A man is believed to have been injured while trying to protect a woman and her young child. Other passengers were also trapped in the train’s toilet.
British Transport Police, which is responsible for guarding Britain’s rail network, said it received the first emergency call at 7:42pm Japan time.
Shortly after, the train made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon station, about 120 km (75 miles) north of London. As armed police boarded the train, passengers poured onto the platform.
According to police, 10 people were taken to nearby hospitals and 11 people went there on their own. Nine people were initially classified as having life-threatening injuries.
By Sunday night, police said only one person’s life was in danger, and that was a railway worker who tried to stop the attack. Police called his actions “nothing short of heroic.”
Could the staff on the train have stopped a worse attack?
It is believed so. Railway officials intervened in the incident, including protecting passengers from the assailants. According to police, the railway worker suffered serious life-threatening injuries in the process.
CCTV footage showed London North Eastern Railway staff attempting to stop the attacker as the train was traveling from Peterborough.
Meanwhile, the driver who stopped the train in Huntingdon was “very shaken up” but “in good spirits”. His name is Andrew Johnson, and he is reported to be a veteran of the Royal Navy.
Mr Johnson, from Peterborough, told ITV News on Sunday: “I was just doing my job.” He added, “The brave one was my colleague who was in the hospital.”
What do we know about the suspect?
British Transport Police said that within minutes of the first emergency call, officers from the local force, Cambridgeshire Constabulary, boarded the train and detained the two men.
Police later released one of them, a 35-year-old British national, without charge after it was confirmed that he had not been involved in the attack.
The remaining suspect is a 32-year-old British man. On Monday, British Transport Police named him Anthony Williams, from Peterborough.
Mr Williams was charged at Peterborough Magistrates Court with 10 counts of attempted murder, one count of actual bodily harm and one count of possessing a knife.
He also faces separate charges of attempted murder and possessing a knife in connection with a separate incident at Pontoon Dock station in East London’s Docklands on Saturday.
Why have conspiracy theories emerged in connection with this incident?
Police Chief John Loveless said counter-terrorism police were initially called out, but “there is nothing at this stage to suggest this was a terrorist incident.”
He said the investigation was being led by British Transport Police and said: “It would not be appropriate to speculate on the cause of this incident.”
That didn’t stop conspiracy theories from popping up on social media over the weekend. Far-right social media accounts attempted to exploit the incident.
An account called “British Patriot”, which has about 5,000 followers, posted unsubstantiated claims that a man was shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great” in Arabic) on the train.
And even after police revealed that the two arrested suspects were British nationals, attempts were made to suggest that relevant information about their origins was being suppressed.
Former Reform UK co-chair Ben Habib said it was “almost inconceivable” in his mind that the incident was not an act of “terrorism”.
He added that it was “possible” the suspect could be British, but said he would “remain extremely suspicious until we know the chapter and verse” until police release the suspect’s name.
Why has knife crime become such a big problem in the UK?
Over the past decade, the number of serious knife crimes, including murder, has increased in the UK.
The number of serious crimes involving knives and sharp objects recorded in England and Wales in the year to March 2024 rose by almost 22,000, an increase of 54% on 2016 figures, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Stabbings, which tend to be concentrated among young people in specific urban areas such as London and Manchester, have attracted public attention and prompted policy responses.
Experts generally agree that issues such as unsupported mental health problems and years of cuts to social care funding have made certain segments of Britain’s young population more vulnerable to knife crime.
A report published in August by the independent public body the Youth Justice Commission said: “Knife crime is driven by a combination of harms including poverty, exclusion, adverse childhood experiences, trauma, fear and exploitation.”
What are the British authorities doing to address this?
Serious knife crime has fallen in recent months. The ONS reported that in the year to March 2025, the number of serious knife crimes in England and Wales fell by 1% on the previous year to 53,047.
In August, the Labor government introduced new laws to crack down on the sale of ninja and samurai swords, making it illegal to manufacture, import, sell or possess (even for private purposes).
Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been criticized for failing to stop knife crime during his term in office, which began in 2016.
Knife crime increased by 23% in London between 2017 and 2024, according to data from the Metropolitan Police and ONS.
But new data from London City Hall shows knife crime fell by 19 per cent between April and June this year compared to the same period last year.
Over the summer, Mr Khan pledged major funding for the police to tackle shoplifting, robbery, knife crime and anti-social behavior in 20 of London’s most run-down city centres.
