UK police charge man over train stabbing rampage

Anthony Williams is charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one of actual bodily harm, one of possession of a bladed article; authorities have said it wasn’t a terror attack

LONDON (AP) — UK police charged a 32-year-old man with attempted murder on Monday over a mass stabbing attack on a train that wounded 11 people, and said he also tried to kill someone at a London transit station earlier the same day.

British Transport Police said Anthony Williams is 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.

He is also charged with attempted murder over a separate incident at Pontoon Dock transit station in London earlier that day, and police said investigators are “looking at other possible linked offenses.”

The UK’s transport minister, Heidi Alexander, confirmed on Monday that the man was not known to security services. She declined to comment on whether he was known to mental health services.

Police say they are not treating the stabbings as an act of terror.

Williams, a British citizen from the city of Peterborough in eastern England, was due to appear in court later Monday.

Police officers stand on duty by a cordon outside Huntingdon Station in Huntingdon, eastern England, on November 1, 2025, following a stabbing on a train. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

The minutes-long stabbing spree spread fear and panic through a train bound from Doncaster in northern England to London on Saturday evening. The train was about halfway through its journey and had just departed from a stop at Peterborough when police began receiving calls about people being stabbed on board.

Passengers described scenes of panic as bloodied travelers raced down the train to get away from the knifeman. The most seriously wounded victim is a member of railway staff who tried to stop the attacker. Police called his actions “nothing short of heroic.”

He is hospitalized in a critical but stable condition. Five of the injured had been discharged from hospital by late on Sunday.

Williams was arrested when the train made an emergency stop in the town of Huntingdon in eastern England. Police say he was detained within eight minutes of officers receiving the first emergency calls.

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