UK police charge man with attempted murder over train stabbing that wounded 11 people

He is also charged with attempted murder over an earlier incident at Pontoon Dock light rail station in London just before 1 a.m. on Saturday, in which a victim “suffered facial injuries after being attacked with a knife” by an assailant who fled the scene.

A separate police force, Cambridgeshire Constabulary, said it is investigating whether Williams was involved in three incidents in the city of Peterborough — a Friday evening stabbing in which a 14-year-old boy received minor injuries and two reports of a man with a knife at a barber shop on Friday evening and Saturday morning. In all three cases, the suspect quickly left the scene and police did not detain anyone.

Police say they are not treating the train stabbings as an act of terror and are not looking for other suspects. A second man initially arrested as a suspect was released without charge on Sunday after it was determined the 35-year-old was not involved.

Williams, a British citizen living in Peterborough, made a brief appearance at Peterborough Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Flanked by four security officers as he stood in the dock wearing a gray prison tracksuit and handcuffs, was ordered detained until his next hearing on Dec. 1. He was not asked to enter pleas.

The charge of actual bodily harm is for allegedly hitting a police officer and breaking his nose after Williams' arrest

The minutes-long stabbing spree spread fear and panic through a train bound from Doncaster in northern England to London on Saturday evening. The train was about halfway through its journey and had just departed from a stop at Peterborough when police began receiving calls about people being stabbed onboard.

Passengers described scenes of panic as bloodied travelers raced down the train to get away from the knifeman. Eleven people were treated in hospital. The most seriously wounded victim is a member of railway staff who tried to stop the attacker. Police called his actions “ nothing short of heroic.”

He is hospitalized in a critical but stable condition. Four other victims remained in a hospital on Monday, including Jonathan Gjoshe, a player with soccer team Scunthorpe United. The team said he has “non-life threatening injuries.”

Williams was arrested when the train made an emergency stop in the town of Huntingdon, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of London. Police say he was detained within eight minutes of officers receiving the first emergency calls.

Authorities said the attack was an isolated incident but stepped up security on the railway, with armed police officers on patrol Monday at major train stations.

The government rejected calls for increased security measures such as airport-style passenger and baggage screening to be introduced at Britain's 3,500 railway stations, saying that wouldn't be “proportionate or practical.”

In the U.K, which has strict gun-control laws, almost half of all homicides involve a knife or sharp instrument. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's center-left government has pledged to reduce knife crime and has tightened rules for purchasing knives and banned some kinds of blades.

It claims to have had some success, with the number of knife killings down by more than 20% in the year to March 2025 from the previous 12 months, according to the Office for National Statistics.