On Monday night, police faced criticism for their inability to prevent a suspected 24-hour knife rampage allegedly carried out by the Huntingdon train attack suspect.
Anthony Williams, who stands accused of 11 attempted murders, is believed to be responsible for three knife attacks just a day before reportedly carrying out a terrifying stabbing spree aboard a high-speed train.
The 32-year-old is under investigation for allegedly stabbing a teenager in Peterborough’s town center. This incident reportedly occurred shortly before the suspect is said to have entered a barbershop carrying a large kitchen knife on Friday evening.
Authorities received their first alert at 7:10 p.m. when a hooded figure attacked a 14-year-old boy near a floating bar and restaurant on Peterborough’s River Nene. Fortunately, the teenager survived the ordeal.
Just minutes later, at 7:14 p.m., the same suspect allegedly stormed into a barbershop in Peterborough’s Fletton area, threatening patrons with a 12-inch kitchen knife.
Cambridgeshire Police are now under scrutiny for their handling of the situation, as it was revealed that they did not dispatch any officers to the barbershop. Instead, they requested staff to upload CCTV footage online. Approximately five hours later, Williams is accused of stabbing a man in the face at Pontoon Dock, a Docklands Light Railway station in East London, an act which police are treating as an attempted murder.
Detectives believe he then travelled back to his hometown of Peterborough overnight, returning to the same barbershop at 9.16am on Saturday morning. Police were called again, but by the time they arrived 18 minutes later, he had left.
Later, Williams is alleged to have boarded the Doncaster to London King’s Cross train at Peterborough station at 7.28pm before attempting to kill ten people on board.
CCTV footage exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail allegedly shows a knifeman entering Ritzy Barbers in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, on Friday
The man is seen outside the shop holding what appears to be a knife – after being told to leave just minutes before
When police caught up with the suspect after the train made an emergency stop at Huntingdon station, he is accused of lashing out, breaking an officer’s nose.
On Monday, MPs and victims said the Cambridge force had questions to answer after the Daily Mail revealed the chilling footage of the man believed to be the suspect waving a blade in the barbershop. The knifeman, dressed in black is seen ranting, demanding to know why customers had been laughing at him before declaring ‘I’m going to allow you lot today’ and walking out.
On Monday night, barber Cody Greene, 23, questioned why police did not act sooner. ‘Why did they not believe us until it’s actually too late?’ he asked.
Peterborough Mayor Paul Bristow said: ‘There is no doubt the police and emergency services did a brilliant job on Saturday evening.
‘But as more information has been released about this individual – there are some questions that the authorities must answer. Had Anthony Williams had any recent contact with local NHS or Council services – and the police or prison service?
‘Why did it take the police some 18 minutes to get to the second incident at the barber?’
On Monday Keir Starmer thanked the ‘heroic actions’ of train staff, including one LNER member who put themselves in harm’s way to save ‘countless lives’.
Passengers ran through the carriages, barricading themselves in toilets and behind shutters in the buffet car. There were 13 casualties, with five still in hospital.
One passenger, Stephen Crean received six stab wounds as he fought the knifeman with his fists.
Stephen Crean at his home in southwest London, who sustained multiple injuries after fighting the knifeman
The same man then walked past the barber shop again the next morning, witness Filomena Campanaro, who lives next door to the barbershop, told the Daily Mail
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood acknowledged that the public will have ‘many unanswered questions’ about the attacker and events that led up to the bloodshed on the London North Eastern Railway train from Doncaster to London.
But Shadow home secretary Chris Philp pressed the Home Secretary to reveal what police knew about the suspect.
Security has already been ramped up at stations. But head of Counter Terrorism Policing Laurence Taylor and Senior National Co-ordinator for Protect and Prepare Jon Savell dismissed calls to implement knife arches on the rail network, where there were 394 knife and sharp instrument offences recorded in the year to June 2025.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary has voluntarily referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over the incidents.
On Monday Williams appeared at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court charged with 11 attempted murder charges in connection with the train attack and the earlier DLR station attack. He also faces charges of possessing a bladed article and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He was remanded in custody until a hearing at Cambridge Crown Court on December 1.
