Train CCTV shows victims 'fighting for their lives'

CCTV footage of a mass train stabbing shows victims "hand-to-hand fighting" and "literally fighting for their lives", a court has heard.

On the second day of a trial at Cambridge Crown Court, prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC told jurors how passengers on the Doncaster to King's Cross train had "stood tall against the defendant's onslaught".

Jurors also heard how one victim thought he would die, but was saved by his dog who "sent the defendant running off".

Anthony Williams, 33, denies 14 counts of attempted murder in relation to an attack on a London-bound LNER train between Peterborough and Huntingdon on 1 November 2025, and incidents in Peterborough and London the day before.

Paxton told how one victim, Sachin Balakrishnan, had been stabbed in the forearm and chest, puncturing a lung and "being just centimetres from his heart".

Commenting on the CCTV footage, Paxton said: "You can see the panic, you can see the fear in the faces of those fleeing."

He said there was "simply hand-to-hand fighting as Mr Balakrishnan is literally fighting for his life".

Paxton said: "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."

Jurors also heard how Scott Green had been travelling on the Doncaster to King's Cross train with his dog Poppy.

Paxton said: "He thought he was going to lose his life on the train when the defendant tried to stab him for the 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.

"You will hear that in an unrelated incident the defendant had previously been bitten by a dog."

The court was also told of an attack on 73-year-old David Presland.

He told police he had been "on his hands and knees" and was stabbed in the back.

He added: "That's when I turned around in front of him, and I just looked at his face and he stabbed me under the arm".

Presland said he had been "helped by someone he knew as Kevin" - believed to be Kevin Deely, another of those Williams is accused of attempting to murder.

Paxton told the court the events were "all over in about five minutes", adding: "In that time, 10 men are stabbed by one man, this defendant, Mr Williams".

Williams, of Langford Road, Peterborough, is accused of 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 between Peterborough and Huntingdon on that Saturday evening.

He is also accused of attempting to murder a 14-year-old boy and Dawid Taborski on a footbridge near Henry Penn Walk in Peterborough on 31 October, and William Ogelby at Railworld car park in the city shortly afterwards.

The trial continues.

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