Huntingdon train attack passenger ‘feared suicide bomber’

A passenger aboard a London-bound LNER train described his initial reaction during a mass stabbing incident as fearing the presence of a suicide bomber, a court heard. Milan Campion, who was traveling on the train on 1 November last year, was present when the train made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon amid an attack carried out by Anthony Williams. Campion observed Williams “threatening everyone indiscriminately” and concluded that the attacker “wasn’t sound of mind.”

Campion, aged 33 and from Peterborough, is not one of the victims Williams is accused of targeting. During a video interview shown to the jury, Campion explained that he boarded the train at Grantham, where many passengers had attended a Nottingham Forest versus Manchester United football match. He recounted how he found Williams inside a toilet, sitting silently without locking the door, which Campion found unusual. Shortly afterward, Campion heard shouts warning about a man with a knife, prompting people to flee down the aisle in a frantic attempt to escape. He said, “I thought it might have been a suicide bomber so I need to get as far away as possible to maximise your chance of survival if it goes off.” Campion also described Williams as shouting in anger at no one in particular and appearing visibly enraged.

Another witness at the trial, Dinaria Soares, was seated opposite footballer Jonathan Gjoshe, who jurors were told was the first victim attacked by Williams on the train. Soares expressed feeling “surprised and confused” as she witnessed Williams strike Gjoshe on the shoulder and then stab him with significant force. She later moved toward the front of the train, where passengers were crowded tightly with limited space to move. In a separate video, Malani Ranawake, who was traveling in the carriage where the attack began, described seeing Williams stab a man and declaring, “I’m not going to leave anyone.” Ranawake hid in a toilet during the ordeal and recalled that Williams looked at her without appearing angry or hostile.

During the opening statements, the prosecution revealed that Williams has some mental health issues, which may or may not be relevant to the case. Alongside the charges related to the train attack, Williams is also accused of attempting to murder three people in Peterborough on 31 October, as well as attempting to kill a teenager on a DLR train in east London in the early hours of 1 November. The court has accepted that Williams carried out the attacks, but jurors must decide whether he intended to kill. The trial is ongoing