A routine train journey from Doncaster to London in the United Kingdom descended into chaos on Saturday night, when passengers were attacked in a mass stabbing inside the train.
Eleven people received treatment in hospital following the attack. One of them, a train worker, remains in critical condition after he protected passengers from the knifeman. He was hailed as a “hero” by police and also praised by Heidi Alexander, the UK’s transport secretary, who said: “He put himself in harm’s way and there are people who are alive today who wouldn’t be alive had it not been for his actions.”
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Police initially arrested two suspects, but later released one, saying he had not been involved. On Monday, the suspect who remains in custody was named as 32-year-old Anthony Williams, from Peterborough, who is also being held on suspicion of attempted murder at a location in London earlier on Saturday.
Police are still working to uncover a motive for the attack, but said it did not appear to be an act of “terrorism”.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the attack an “appalling incident” that was “deeply concerning”, while Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said she was “saddened” and urged people to avoid comment and speculation.
Downing Street is keen to quell rumours spreading online following an incident in Southport in 2024, when the murder of three young girls sparked days of riots across the country.
What happened?
The train left Doncaster in northern England at 16:25 GMT on Saturday, November 1, bound for London’s King’s Cross station.
It had just departed from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, roughly halfway into its two-hour journey, when police began receiving calls alerting them that people were being stabbed on board.
Passengers described panicked travellers, some covered in blood, rushing down the aisle of the train to get away from the perpetrator, who witnesses reported as wielding a “large knife”.
One man is understood to have been wounded as he tried to shield a woman and a young child. Other passengers locked themselves in train toilets.
The British Transport Police, which handles security on the UK’s railway network, said it received its first emergency call at 19:42 GMT.
Soon after, the train made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon station – about 120km (75 miles) north of London. Passengers spilled onto the platform as armed police boarded the train.
Police said that 10 people were taken to nearby hospitals, and that an 11th went to a hospital on their own. Nine were initially classed as having life-threatening injuries.
By Sunday night, police said only one remained in a life-threatening condition: a railway staff member who tried to stop the attack. Police called his actions “nothing short of heroic”.
Did staff on board the train stop a much worse attack?
It is believed so. A rail staff member intervened during the incident by shielding passengers from the assailant. The train worker suffered life-threatening injuries in the process, police said.
The member of the London North Eastern Railway staff could be seen on CCTV, attempting to stop the attacker as the train travelled from Peterborough.
Meanwhile, the driver who stopped the train at Huntingdon was said to be “very shaken” but “good”. Named as Andrew Johnson, he was reported to be a Royal Navy veteran.
On Sunday, Johnson, who is from Peterborough, told ITV News: “I was only doing my job.” He added, “It was my colleague who is in hospital who was the brave one”.
What is known about the suspect?
British Transport Police said that within minutes of the first emergency calls, Cambridgeshire Constabulary officers, the local police, had boarded the train and detained two men.
Police later released one of the men, a 35-year-old British citizen, without charge, saying they had established that he was not involved in the attack.
The remaining suspect is a 32-year-old British man. On Monday, British Transport Police named him as Anthony Williams, from Peterborough.
Williams has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one count of actual bodily harm and one count of possession of a bladed article, by Peterborough Magistrates’ Court.
He has also been charged with another count of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article in connection with a separate incident at Pontoon Dock station in the Docklands, East London, on Saturday.
Why have conspiracy theories emerged in relation to this incident?
Police superintendent John Loveless said that counter-terrorism police were initially called, but that “at this stage, there is nothing to suggest that this is a terrorist incident”.
He said that an investigation is being led by British Transport Police, and “it would not be appropriate to speculate on the cause of this incident”.
Still, that did not stop conspiracy theories from swirling around on social media over the weekend. Far-right social media accounts have attempted to exploit the incident.
An X account called “British Patriot”, which has nearly 5,000 followers, posted an unsubstantiated claim that the man on the train had been shouting “Allahu akbar” (“God is the greatest”, in Arabic).
And even after police revealed that the two arrested suspects were British nationals, attempts were made to suggest that pertinent information about their origins was being withheld.
Ben Habib, the former Reform UK co-leader, said that, in his mind, it was “almost inconceivable” that the incident was not an act of “terrorism”.
He added it was “possible” the suspects were British, but said that until police had released their names, “I will remain extremely suspicious until we get chapter and verse”.
Why has knife crime become such a big problem in the UK?
Over the past decade, the number of serious crimes involving knives – including homicides – has climbed in the UK.
According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of serious offences in England and Wales involving a knife or sharp object recorded in the year ending March 2024 was 54 percent higher – a jump of nearly 22,000 cases – than the figure for 2016.
While stabbings tend to be concentrated among young people in specific urban places such as London and Manchester, they have drawn public attention and policy responses.
Experts generally agree that issues such as unsupported mental health problems and years of funding cuts to social services have made certain sections of the UK’s youth population more prone to knife crime.
According to an August report by the Youth Justice Board, an independent public body, “knife crime is driven by a combination of poverty, marginalisation, adverse childhood experiences, trauma, fear and victimisation, including exploitation”.
What are the British authorities doing to address this?
Serious knife crime has tapered off in recent months. The ONS reports that the number of serious offences in England and Wales involving knives in the year ending March 2025 had fallen by one percent to 53,047, compared with the previous year.
In August, the Labour government implemented a new law seeking to crack down on the sale of ninja and samurai swords by making it illegal to manufacture, import, sell or possess (even in private) these weapons.
For his part, London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan has come in for criticism for failing to stop knife crime under his tenure, which began in 2016.
From 2017 to 2024, knife crime rose by 23 percent in London, according to Metropolitan Police and ONS data.
However, new London City Hall data shows that knife crime dropped by 19 percent between April and June of this year, compared with the same period last year.
