‘Do you want to die’: UK train stabbing suspect wounded 10, court hears

• A London-bound train stabbing left 10 people wounded after Anthony Williams allegedly asked one passenger: “Do you want to die?” and attacked with a knife.
• Prosecutors said the 33-year-old also stabbed four others before the train attack. He denies 14 attempted murder charges but admitted intending to harm people.
• Passengers hid in toilets and under seats as armed police stopped the train at Huntingdon. Train worker Samir Zitouni was hailed a “hero” after being critically injured protecting others.

LONDON - A man wielding a knife brought terror to a London-bound train, stabbing 10 people in a rampage and asking one passenger: “Do you want to die?” a court heard on Oct 28.

In the hours before the 2025 train attack, Anthony Williams allegedly also stabbed four other people in London and another UK town.

The 33-year-old has denied 14 charges of attempted murder, but admitted having intended to harm people, in a plea at a previous hearing ahead of his Crown Court trial in Cambridge, eastern England.

“Across the Halloween weekend last year... the defendant Anthony Williams posed a dangerous threat, marauding through towns and cities, on streets and trains alike, armed with a knife,” prosecutor Christopher Paxton said at the start of the trial.

“He stabbed many, seeking to end their lives with deadly intention, striking out at them when they were defenceless and in fear.”

The mass stabbing struck on an east coast Doncaster-London LNER train on the evening of Nov 1.

As the events unfolded, the driver made an emergency stop at Huntingdon, where armed officers swarmed the station in the eastern England market town.

The trapped “passengers ran for their lives, hiding away in locked toilets, store cabinets, or under seats” until many simply “ran out of train” and could go no further, Paxton said.

Some showed “extraordinary bravery” in trying to fend Williams off, grabbing pans or toasters to protect themselves.

One train worker was hailed as a “hero” after being critically injured as he stepped in to protect passengers.

Samir Zitouni, 48, suffered multiple injuries when he tried to stop Williams with a frying pan, the prosecution said.

The night before, on Halloween, Williams allegedly stabbed a 14-year-old boy in the town centre of Peterborough, north of London.

He also lunged at a man with a large knife, and then attempted to stab another four times.

He then took a train to London, where one passenger thought “his behaviour was erratic and intoxicated”, Paxton said.

Williams attacked a 17-year-old boy who was standing at a station of the capital’s Docklands Light Railway, knifing him in the face and hands, and asking if he was “beefing with the devil”.

The court was also shown a video of one passenger trying to wrestle the knife from Williams.

The trial is expected to last six weeks. AFP