A passenger stabbed on a train to London has told a jury he thought he was dying as he described the moment he realised he had been attacked and called for help in a 999 call played to the court. Scott Bletcher was giving live evidence at Cambridge Crown Court, becoming the first victim to do so in a trial where a man denies trying to kill ten people on board a service that was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
According to the BBC report of the hearing, Bletcher was travelling on the York to London King’s Cross LNER service on 1 November last year after a day of Christmas shopping in Newark-on-Trent. He said he had been looking forward to tapas he had bought, and that after the train left Peterborough he noticed people running down the aisle but initially remained in his seat because he was not concerned and assumed there had been a disagreement.
He then saw a knife held in front of him at eye level. He told jurors he felt trapped because there was no way of escape, before feeling a scratch to the head from the knife. He moved his arm to shield his face and was stabbed five more times, he said, adding that nothing was said to him and he did not respond because there was nothing to respond to. The defendant then put the knife down and moved to the next carriage.
Bletcher described feeling warm liquid dripping down his arm and said he called 999 to report a man running, chaos, with a knife. In the recording played to the court he can be heard saying oh my God he is coming back. He said he hid in a bicycle rack on the train, and once the service reached Huntingdon he found police and told them he was glad to see them because he had been stabbed.
He said he then began to feel tired and that the sounds of the sirens were underwater. The court heard him add that he thought this is what it feels like to die. His evidence was presented alongside a video interview with LNER staff member Samir Zitouni, who was also stabbed during the attack and who said he fought back using a frying pan because he did not want to give up until the train stopped.
Staff and passengers who intervened
Zitouni told jurors in his recorded interview that he saw a crowd coming through the train shouting that there was a guy with a knife, and that he responded by asking whether they were sure. He said he rushed backwards and forwards trying to get different things, including trolleys and pans, to defend passengers. He said he told the attacker no, man, no man, and offered him help, which he thought was better than swearing at him. The court has previously heard Zitouni told the defendant we love you, we can help you.
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The court heard Zitouni’s lungs were punctured and that he needed four blood transfusions, chest drains and the assistance of a ventilator. Another passenger, Michael Gawthorpe, who was in the same carriage but was not stabbed, said in his video interview that he kept saying calm down, just put the knife down, please stop, adding that they had all got kids. He said the defendant replied that they were trying to kill him, and that he threw a large toaster that someone passed to him at the attacker before fearing he had made a mistake.
Passenger Christina Jones, who wept in her video interview as she demonstrated how she hid behind her handbag, told the court she threw a hot drink at the defendant. Prosecutors allege that the man carried out further attacks before and after the train incident, including attempting to kill three people in Peterborough on 31 October and a teenager on a DLR train in east London in the early hours of 1 November. The court has been told whether he carried out the attacks is not in question, but jurors must decide whether he intended to kill.
Why it matters
The trial is testing questions of intent in one of the most serious attacks on Britain’s rail network in recent years, and the evidence from passengers and staff who tried to protect others is central to the case. It also raises wider questions about safety on crowded intercity services and how crew and passengers respond when violence erupts in confined public spaces.
What happens next
The defendant, Anthony Williams, 33, of Langford Road, Peterborough, denies ten counts of attempted murder on the train and four other alleged attempted murders. The trial at Cambridge Crown Court continues, with further evidence expected in the coming days.
Reporting based on BBC News coverage of the trial at Cambridge Crown Court.
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