Huntingdon train attacker said ‘I am the baddest’, trial hears

A man charged with carrying out a mass stabbing on a train reportedly declared, “I am the baddest, no-one is as bad as me,” on a separate train journey the day before the incident, a court was told. Anthony Williams faces accusations of attempting to murder ten people aboard a London-bound train that was forced to make an emergency stop near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, on November 1st of last year.

According to proceedings at Cambridge Crown Court, a passenger had alerted the British Transport Police to a man acting erratically on the night before the attack. Williams, 33, from Langford Road in Peterborough, denies 14 counts of attempted murder, related to events that occurred not only on the train but also earlier in Peterborough and London. It is alleged that on the evening of October 31st, he attempted to kill three people in Peterborough before boarding the train heading to London.

One passenger, Keirah Lee-Oakman, recounted in a statement that a man entered the train and began mumbling and talking to himself as he moved between carriages. He reportedly used phrases such as “boom and power,” repeatedly mentioned “I haven’t got it,” and made references to the devil, which caused her to feel threatened. Feeling unsafe, Lee-Oakman contacted the British Transport Police via text. Police reportedly responded at Stevenage station, but the man dropped onto the tracks, prompting officers to stop their pursuit for safety reasons.

Additional testimony came from Abbie Harrison-Evans, who was travelling on the same train with her partner, Ethan Daniels. She described seeing a man shouting from the front of the train while playing eerie Halloween music on his phone. Harrison-Evans said the man’s erratic behaviour suggested to her that he was suffering from a mental health condition. She sent a Snapchat message to Daniels expressing concern they might be attacked. Harrison-Evans noticed Williams repeatedly grabbing a black backpack beside him, saying, “I’m going to do it,” and appeared to be reaching inside it. Daniels also recalled hearing Williams say, “I am the baddest, no-one is as bad as me.” Williams faces charges for attempting to murder multiple passengers on the train, as well as an attempted murder of a teenager on a Docklands Light Railway train in east London earlier on November 1st. While it is accepted that Williams carried out the attacks, the jury must decide if he had the intent to kill. The trial is ongoing