Man accused of mass train stabbing admits wounding

A man accused of a mass stabbing on a train in Cambridgeshire last year has pleaded guilty to 12 counts of wounding with intent.

Passengers and staff were injured on the 18:25 Doncaster-London service on Saturday, 1 November after it left Peterborough, causing it to make an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon railway station.

Anthony Williams, 33, has denied 14 counts of attempted murder, relating to the train and to incidents in London and Peterborough, and is due to stand trial next week.

Appearing at a pre-trial review at Cambridge Crown Court, Williams, of Langford Road in Peterborough, pleaded guilty to the lesser wounding charges and several other offences.

He appeared via video link from Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire.

At an earlier hearing, Williams pleaded not guilty to attempting to murder Jonathan Gjoshe, Sachin Balakrishnan, David Presland, Scott Bletcher, Scott Green, Kevin Deely, Stephen Crean, Raza Aslam, Michael Paffett, and Samir Zitouni on the train near Huntingdon on 1 November.

In front of Mr Justice Calver this Monday, Williams pleaded guilty to 12 counts of wounding with intent and two of attempting to wound with intent in relation to incidents on the train, and earlier in Peterborough and London.

He also admitted affray at a barber shop in Peterborough on 31 October and the theft of knives from an Asda store in Stevenage on 31 October.

He pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article in a public place in Peterborough on 31 October, at Pontoon Dock DLR station at Silvertown, east London, in the early hours of 1 November, and on the train between Peterborough and Huntingdon on 1 November.

He also admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm of a male police officer on 2 November, and common assault on a Govia Thames Link train between London St Pancras and Biggleswade in Bedfordshire on 1 November.

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said the "guilty pleas do not resolve the indictment, so there will be a trial".

Williams also denies one count of attempted murder at Pontoon Dock DLR station on 1 November and three counts of attempted murder in Peterborough on 31 October.

The trial, which is expected to last six weeks, is due to begin next Monday.

Do you have a story suggestion for Cambridgeshire? Contact us below.