Huntingdon train attack survivor feared he was ‘going to die’ after being stabbed

A passenger who was among 10 people attacked by a knifeman feared he was going to die after being stabbed, a court heard.

David Presland, aged 71, fell to the floor while trying to flee from Anthony Williams, 33, along the carriage of the LNER train on 1 November last year, prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said.

The service had left Peterborough at around 7.29pm and was stopped at Huntingdon train station at 7.44pm by the “quick thinking” train driver.

Mr Paxton told jurors: “Whilst on the floor, this defendant, Mr Williams, stabbed Mr Presland many times.”

He said Mr Presland told police: “I thought I was going to die. I’m very lucky that I’ve survived.”

The barrister said the pensioner told police he was “on his hands and knees” and “that’s when he stabbed me in the back, and that’s when I turned around in front of him, and I just looked at his face and he stabbed me under the arm”.

Williams denies the attempted murders of 10 people on the service.

He also denies the attempted murders of three people in Peterborough on the evening of 31 October, and of a 17-year-old boy at Pontoon Dock DLR station in London in the early hours of 1 November.

Mr Paxton said Mr Presland said he was helped by someone he knew as Kevin, who “we believe to be Kevin Deely, who himself was stabbed by the defendant”.

The prosecutor said: “In this storm of violence, and even when gripped by fear, many there on the train helped others and some stood tall, quite literally, against the defendant’s violent onslaught.”

He said Mr Presland was treated in hospital having sustained three stab wounds, one of them 6.85cm deep to the right side of his upper chest, which punctured his lung and broke a rib.

There was another to the armpit area, and a further wound to his lower back around 5.9cm from his spinal cord, Mr Paxton said.

Jurors were played CCTV footage from the train which showed Williams approaching Mr Presland with a knife and stabbing him as he was on the floor.

Mr Paxton said the defendant’s “intention to kill is, we suggest, plain in his interaction with Mr Presland”.

He said Mr Presland was “much older than the defendant, quite small and frail in stature, and defenceless on the floor”.

He said that in the footage, Williams “brings down the knife with repeated stabbing actions to areas housing vital organs”.

The court heard another passenger attacked by Williams on the LNER train recalled saying “I don’t think I’m going to make it” after being stabbed to his head, chest and forearm.

Scott Bletcher saw the defendant with a knife before he was attacked but could not move because he was in a window seat.

Mr Paxton told the court Mr Bletcher called 999 and hid in a bike rack until the train stopped.

The prosecutor said: “At that stage, Mr Bletcher will explain he felt incredibly tired, was struggling to keep his eyes open and recalls saying, and I quote, ‘I don’t think I’m going to make it’.”

Williams has admitted intending to cause harm, but denies 14 counts of attempted murder.