A passenger who was stabbed multiple times during the Huntingdon train attack told a jury he believed he was dying, as a staff member described using a frying pan to fight off the assailant.
Scott Bletcher was travelling on the York to London King’s Cross LNER service on 1 November last year when the violence broke out, forcing an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. Giving live evidence at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday, he recalled thinking “this is what it feels like to die”.
Passenger describes moment knife appeared at eye level
Bletcher said he had been returning from Christmas shopping in Newark-on-Trent and was travelling alone. After the train left Peterborough, he noticed people running down the aisle but stayed in his seat, assuming a disagreement had broken out.
He then saw a knife held in front of him at eye level and felt trapped, with no way to escape. The court heard he suffered a scratch to his head from the blade, moved his arm to protect his face and was stabbed five more times. He said nothing was said to him and he did not respond because there was nothing to respond to.
The attacker then lowered the knife and moved to the next carriage, Bletcher said. He described feeling a warm liquid dripping down his arm and called 999, telling the operator a man was running with a knife and there was chaos. In the recorded call, played to the court, he is heard saying “Oh my God he’s coming back”.
Bletcher hid in a bike rack and, once the train stopped at Huntingdon, found police officers and told them he had been stabbed. He began to feel tired and said the sound of sirens seemed underwater before he thought he was dying.
Staff member recalls defending passengers with frying pan
Earlier, the jury watched a video interview with Samir Zitouni, a staff member who watched proceedings from the public gallery. The court heard his lungs were punctured and he required four blood transfusions, chest drains and a ventilator.
Zitouni said he saw a crowd of people coming through the train shouting that there was a man with a knife, and he questioned whether they were sure. He described rushing back and forth to gather items including trolleys and pans to defend passengers. He told the attacker “No, man” and offered help, which he believed was better than swearing at him. Jurors have previously heard he told the defendant that they loved him and could help.
Other passengers describe attempts to intervene
Michael Gawthorpe, who was in the same carriage as Zitouni but was not stabbed, said in a recorded interview that he repeatedly urged the attacker to calm down and put the knife down, saying they all had children. He recalled the attacker saying something like “they’re trying to kill me”. Gawthorpe said someone passed him a large toaster which he threw at the attacker, but then the attacker looked at him and he thought he had made a mistake.
Christina Jones wept in her video-recorded interview as she showed how she hid behind her handbag. The court heard she threw a hot drink at the attacker.
Anthony Williams, 33, of Langford Road, Peterborough, denies 10 counts of attempted murder on the train. He is also charged with four other attempted murders over earlier incidents in Peterborough and London, including an alleged attack on a teenager on a DLR train in the early hours of 1 November. The court has been told that whether Williams carried out the attacks is not in question, but jurors must decide whether he intended to kill. The trial continues.
