Questions raised over police response ahead of train stabbing
A Peterborough barbershop owner says officers failed to respond to 999 calls about a knife-wielding man just hours before a mass stabbing on a Cambridgeshire train.
A Peterborough barbershop owner is questioning whether a mass stabbing on a Cambridgeshire train could have been prevented, after his own repeated reports of a knife-wielding man were allegedly not taken seriously by police.
Ibrahim Wanas, who owns the shop, says he called 999 twice in the 24 hours before last Saturday’s attack, after being confronted by a man with a knife. He claims officers failed to respond to his initial call.
“We feel like if they have took us seriously, would they have stopped the guy and would the guy been in custody, maybe not been on the train? Who knows, but that's something that sits on us because the police didn't come fast enough to respond,” he said.
Police are now investigating whether the incidents at the barbershop are linked to the mass stabbing on a train in Cambridgeshire, which left multiple people injured.
Wanas says the gravity of the situation only became clear days later: “We didn't really comprehend until days after that we could have been the victims of the nine stabbings. That's when I think they kind of realised that it could be the same person.”
Detectives are continuing to examine the timeline and connections between the incidents, as questions mount over whether earlier intervention could have prevented the attack.
Cambridgeshire Police is continuing an internal review into the incident.