UK identifies man charged with attempted murder in connection with mass stabbing on train

The 32-year-old British citizen, Anthony Williams, was charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one of actual bodily harm, and one of possession of a bladed article over the attack on Saturday

By Natalia Mittelstadt

Published: November 3, 2025 7:44am

A 32-year-old man from Peterborough, England, was charged by UK police on Monday with attempted murder after a mass stabbing on a train that wounded 11 people.

The 32-year-old British citizen, Anthony Williams, was charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one of actual bodily harm, and one of possession of a bladed article over the attack on Saturday, according to British Transport Police, the Associated Press reported.

The police added that Williams was also charged with attempted murder over an earlier incident at Pontoon Dock light rail station in London just before 1 a.m. on Saturday, in which a victim “suffered facial injuries after being attacked with a knife” by an assailant who fled the scene.

Williams is due to appear in court later Monday.

Investigators are also “looking at other possible linked offenses,” police said.

The train stabbings are not being treated as acts of terror, according to police, and they are not looking for other suspects. A second man, 35, was initially arrested as a suspect, but released without charge on Sunday after it was determined he was not involved.

The mass stabbing on Saturday evening occurred on a train bound from Doncaster in northern England to London. The train was about halfway to its destination, having just departed from a stop at Peterborough, when police began receiving calls about people being stabbed onboard.

The victim who was most seriously wounded is a railway staff member who tried to stop the attacker. Police called his actions were “nothing short of heroic,” and he is hospitalized in a critical but stable condition.

When the train made an emergency stop in the town of Huntingdon, Williams was arrested. Police say his arrest occurred within eight minutes of officers receiving the first emergency calls.

While officials said the attack was an isolated incident, they stepped up security on the railway, with armed police officers on patrol Monday at major train stations.