Train stabbing trial: CCTV shows crew member defending passengers with frying pan

A crew member used a frying pan to fight off a knifeman on a Doncaster-to-London train in November 2025. Anthony Williams, 33, denies attempting to murder 13 people.

Frying pan, a dog and hand-to-hand fighting: inside the Huntingdon train stabbing trial

CCTV footage of a train crew member wielding a frying pan against a knifeman was shown to jurors at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday, bbc.com reports. The footage forms part of the prosecution case against Anthony Williams, 33, of Langford Road, Peterborough, who is accused of attempting to murder 13 people across two days in late October and early November 2025.

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC told the court that crew member Samir Zitouni displayed "sheer courage and bravery in seeking to save lives and defend others" during a mass stabbing on the Doncaster to London King's Cross service on 1 November 2025. The train made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, after the attack unfolded.

Williams denies attempting to murder 10 people on the train, three people in Peterborough the day before, and a boy at a London railway station. The trial has been told that whether Williams carried out the attacks is not in dispute; jurors must instead determine whether he intended to kill his victims.

Punctured lungs and four blood transfusions

On the second day of the trial, Paxton described the assault on Zitouni as "prolonged, persistent and brutal". Zitouni was said to have told the defendant: "We love you, we can help you." He was later seen on CCTV in what Paxton called a "blood-soaked shirt" and appeared "to be one of the last off the train", falling into the gap between the carriage and the platform. The court heard both of Zitouni's lungs had been punctured; he required four blood transfusions, chest drains and a ventilator.

Paxton told jurors that passenger Raza Aslam had initially grabbed the frying pan but was stabbed in the hand by Williams. Zitouni then took up the fight, throwing objects at the defendant and, according to Paxton, "saved" Aslam's life in doing so.

Aslam told police that Williams "had the greatest delight on his face". In his account, Aslam said: "I saw his eyes expand with pleasure. I saw the contempt on his face, like a person who's high. He was just loving every single moment. He loved seeing us in desperation."

Stabbed centimetres from the heart

Jurors also heard evidence concerning other passengers caught up in the attack. Sachin Balakrishnan was stabbed in the forearm and chest, the wound to his chest puncturing a lung and coming "just centimetres from his heart", Paxton said. Stephen Crean made a 999 call from a locked toilet on the train, telling the operator he had been stabbed "all over" and was "covered in blood".

Additional CCTV footage played in court showed passengers fleeing through the carriages. Paxton commented: "You can see the panic, you can see the fear in the faces of those fleeing. In this storm of violence, and even when gripped by fear, many there on that train helped others and, as we will see, some stood tall, quite literally, against the defendant's violent onslaught."

A dog named Poppy

The court was also told of the experience of Scott Green, who had been travelling with his dog, Poppy. Paxton said Green believed he was about to lose his life when Williams attempted to stab him for a third time. "It seems, members of the jury, that Poppy the dog, for Mr Green at least, saved the day and sent the defendant running off," Paxton told jurors. The court heard that in an unrelated prior incident, Williams had been bitten by a dog.

Among the other victims described was 73-year-old David Presland, who was stabbed in the back while on his hands and knees. Presland said he had been helped by someone he knew as Kevin, believed to be Kevin Deely — another of the individuals Williams is accused of attempting to murder.

Paxton summarised the scale of the violence to the jury: "The events were all over in about five minutes. In that time, 10 men are stabbed by one man, this defendant, Mr Williams."

The charges

Williams is accused of attempting to murder Aslam, Balakrishnan, Crean, Deely, Green, Presland, Zitouni, Scott Bletcher, Jonathan Gjoshe and Michael Paffett on the train between Peterborough and Huntingdon on the evening of 1 November 2025. He also faces charges relating to the attempted murder of a 14-year-old boy and Dawid Taborski on a footbridge near Henry Penn Walk in Peterborough on 31 October 2025, and of William Ogelby at Railworld car park in the city shortly afterwards. The trial continues.

Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)