Cambridge Crown Court heard the prosecution opening against Anthony Williams on 14 attempted-murder counts.

The jury question the BBC described is intent, not whether the attacks happened. A guilty plea to wounding is a conviction on that count. It does not decide attempted murder. The BBC and Cambridgeshire Live do not give the same address, and the Daily Mail and Cambridgeshire Live do not give the same clock times for when he boarded.

The BBC, with correspondent Phil Shepka in Cambridge, and the Daily Mail reported Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, that the prosecution opened at Cambridge Crown Court against Anthony Williams, 33, on 14 counts of attempted murder. The BBC reported he denies those counts. It reported 10 of them name passengers and staff on an LNER train that had to make an emergency stop in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, on Nov. 1, 2025, and that he is also accused of trying to kill three people in Peterborough the day before and a boy at a London railway station. The BBC did not name the boy. The Daily Mail reported the boy cannot be named for legal reasons. This story does not name him. It also does not name the passenger attacked on a Docklands Light Railway train. The Daily Mail's first account of that part of the opening called the Docklands victim a man. A later paragraph in the same story described a teenager on that train. The BBC called him a boy. Cambridgeshire Live reported Williams is of no fixed abode. The BBC reported he is of Langford Road in Peterborough. Those are not the same address.

The BBC listed the 10 people he is accused of attempting to murder on the train between Peterborough and Huntingdon as Jonathan Gjoshe, Sachin Balakrishnan, David Presland, Scott Bletcher, Scott Green, Kevin Deely, Stephen Crean, Raza Aslam, Michael Paffett and Samir Zitouni. The Daily Mail reported he boarded a Doncaster-to-London LNER service at 7:26 p.m. on Nov. 1 and that the train made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon at 7:44 p.m. Cambridgeshire Live's courtroom blog reported he boarded at 7:29 p.m., that an attack in one coach began around 7:37 p.m., and that the train stopped seven minutes later. The prosecutor in the BBC, Daily Mail, and Cambridgeshire Live accounts is Christopher Paxton KC. The judge is Mr Justice Calver. The BBC and the Daily Mail reported Williams appeared by videolink from Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire. The BBC reported the judge told the jury, three women and nine men, that the link would best ensure his participation and would avoid a four-hour round trip. The Daily Mail reported he wore a grey jumper, sometimes put on glasses, and that an intermediary was there for when he needs help to understand what is being said. Cambridgeshire Live reported the intermediary asked for Wednesday's hearing to end, the judge agreed, and the trial resumes at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 29. The Daily Mail and Cambridgeshire Live reported the trial is expected to last about six weeks.

The BBC reported the trial has been told that whether Williams carried out the attacks was not in question, and that jurors must consider whether he intended to kill. The Daily Mail reported the jury was told he had admitted attacking people with a knife and "intended to cause them really serious harm," and that he denies the 14 attempted-murder counts. Cambridgeshire Live reported that on Oct. 19 he pleaded guilty at the same court to lesser offences, including 10 counts of wounding with intent, and that on Wednesday Paxton told the jury Williams admitted intending to cause really serious harm and denies he intended to kill them. The Daily Mail reported Mr Justice Calver told jurors they would have to decide whether he intended to kill the people he attacked, as the prosecution claims. A plea to wounding with intent is a conviction on the count that was admitted. It is not a verdict on attempted murder. Those counts are still charges.

The BBC reported Paxton told the court that across the Halloween weekend Williams "posed a dangerous threat, marauding through towns and cities, on streets and trains alike, armed with a knife," and that passengers fled "in sheer terror." The Daily Mail reported the same theme and quoted Paxton on people running for their lives, hiding in locked toilets, store cabinets, or under seats, and picking up frying pans or toasters. The BBC reported the attack stopped only because of "the quick thinking of the train driver," who made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon. The BBC and the Daily Mail reported Paxton said Williams asked passenger Stephen Crean, "Do you want to die?" The BBC reported Paxton called that question evidence of an intention to kill, and said minor cuts, or no injury at all, do not mean there was no such intention. The BBC reported train crew member Samir Zitouni tried to use a frying pan to stop Williams and was stabbed multiple times. The Daily Mail reported the same. The BBC reported jurors would see footage of 73-year-old David Presland, attacked after he fell, and that Paxton called him defenceless. The Daily Mail also reported Presland's age as 73. The Daily Mail reported Sachin Balakrishnan was wounded in the chest about an inch and a half from his heart. Cambridgeshire Live's blog reported a doctor said a puncture to that victim's lung was 3.95 centimeters from his heart, and that the doctor's view was the knife would have been even closer. An inch and a half and 3.95 centimeters are not the same measurement. Both are the prosecution's account of a wound. They are not a verdict.

The earlier counts are also what the opening described, not findings. The BBC reported he is accused of attempting to murder Dawid Taborski and a boy, whom the BBC did not name, on a footbridge near Henry Penn Walk in Peterborough on Oct. 31, and William Ogelby at Railworld car park shortly afterward. The Daily Mail reported Taborski and Ogelby were attacked nearby and avoided injury. Cambridgeshire Live's blog described attempted knife strikes on the footbridge and at the car park, which it spelled Rail World, and said one of those men was not stabbed. The Daily Mail reported the jury was told Williams had admitted affray and possessing a knife at a Ritzy barbershop in Peterborough, had admitted stealing kitchen knives from an Asda in Stevenage, and had admitted common assault for spitting at a passenger the paper named as Jordan Morley on a train back toward Peterborough. Cambridgeshire Live reported Paxton told the jury that, after the arrest, a police officer was punched in the nose while Williams was in custody in the early hours of Nov. 2. A live blog is a running account. It is not a transcript. The attempted-murder counts remain for the jury. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.