Boy describes knifeman's wide-eyed appearance during Halloween attack in Peterborough
Anthony Williams, 33, denies attempting to murder 10 people on a train and other locations
Last updated 10 hours ago
A knifeman who stabbed 10 people on a London-bound train was described by a boy he stabbed the day before as having “his eyes wide open like he was on something”, a court heard.
Anthony Williams, 33, denies attempting to murder 10 people on an LNER train that was stopped in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire on November 1 last year.
He also denies the attempted murders of three people in Peterborough on October 31, and of a 17-year-old boy at Pontoon Dock DLR station in London in the early hours of November 1.
Judge Mr Justice Calver earlier told jurors at Cambridge Crown Court that whether Williams carried out the attacks is not in question but they must consider whether he intended to kill those individuals when he carried out the attacks.
A 14-year-old boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told police in a video-recorded interview played in court on Friday that he was stabbed on Halloween last year.
He said he was going to go trick or treating with friends and was walking over a bridge behind an Asda store in Peterborough when a man “just pulled out a knife and stabbed me”.
He described the person as “this random guy” and said it happened shortly after 7pm as he was walking with a friend, along a footbridge near Henry Penn Walk.
“We’ve pretty much got right up close to him as we’re walking past him and he’s pulled out a knife and just stabbed me,” the boy said.
He added: “I didn’t feel like he was mentally sane.
“His eyes were wide open like he was on something.”
He said the man “shouted something, I don’t know what he said”.
“I jumped back a little when I saw he was reaching for something and I started running,” the boy said.
He continued: “He was screaming something.
“My friend said he was shouting something like ‘are you involved?’.”
He said he and his friend ran and hid in bushes and called the police.
Asked what force the man had used, the boy said: “It was strong, like it pushed me back a little bit.
“He was using his full force, his arm was fully stretched out.”
He said the man was dressed in black and he believed the knife was around 10 inches long.
The trial continues.