CCTV shows frying pan used to stop train attacker

CCTV footage of a crew member using a frying pan to fend off a knifeman aboard a train has been shown in court.

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said Samir Zitouni showed "sheer courage and bravery in seeking to save lives and defend others", during the mass stabbing on the Doncaster to London King's Cross train.

Jurors at Cambridge Crown Court saw footage of Zitouni using the pan against Anthony Williams, before the train made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, on 1 November 2025.

Williams, 33, of Langford Road, Peterborough, denies attempting to murder 10 people aboard the train, three people in Peterborough the day before and a boy at a London railway station.

The trial has been told that whether Williams carried out the attacks was not in question, but jurors must consider whether he intended to kill those individuals.

On the second day of the trial, Paxton told jurors the attack on Zitouni was "prolonged, persistent and brutal".

Zitouni was said to have told the defendant: "We love you, we can help you."

Other CCTV footage played in court showed people fleeing the train.

Zitouni, in what Paxton called a "blood-soaked shirt", appeared "to be one of the last off the train", and Paxton said he fell "between, essentially, the gap between the train and the platform".

The court heard both of Zitouni's lungs had been punctured and he needed four blood transfusions, chest drains and the assistance of a ventilator.

Paxton earlier said one of the passengers, Raza Aslam, had grabbed a frying pan, but was stabbed in the hand by Williams.

He said Zitouni started throwing things at the defendant and "saved" Aslam's life.

Jurors also heard that Aslam told police Williams "had the greatest delight on his face".

Aslam said: "I saw his eyes expand with pleasure. I saw the contempt on his face, like a person who's high.

"He was just loving every single moment. He loved seeing us in desperation."

Paxton also told the jury how there was hand-to-hand fighting on the train.

He said Sachin Balakrishnan was stabbed in the forearm and chest, which punctured a lung and was "just centimetres from his heart".

The jury heard a call Stephen Crean made to 999 from a locked toilet on the train, telling the operator he had been stabbed "all over" and left "covered in blood".

Commenting on CCTV footage, Paxton said: "You can see the panic, you can see the fear in the faces of those fleeing.

"In this storm of violence, and even when gripped by fear, many there on that train helped others and, as we will see, some stood tall, quite literally, against the defendant's violent onslaught."

Jurors also heard how Scott Green had been travelling on the train with his dog, Poppy.

Paxton said: "He thought he was going to lose his life on the train when the defendant tried to stab him for the third time.

"It seems, members of the jury, that Poppy the dog, for Mr Green at least, saved the day and sent the defendant running off.

"You will hear that in an unrelated incident the defendant had previously been bitten by a dog."

During Thursday's evidence, the court was also told of an attack on 73-year-old David Presland, who had been stabbed in the back while on his hands and knees.

Presland said he had been "helped by someone he knew as Kevin" - believed to be Kevin Deely, another of those Williams is accused of attempting to murder.

Paxton told the court the events were "all over in about five minutes", adding: "In that time, 10 men are stabbed by one man, this defendant, Mr Williams."

Williams is accused of attempting to murder Aslam, Balakrishnan, Crean, Deely, Green, Presland and Zitouni on the train between Peterborough and Huntingdon on the Saturday evening, along with Scott Bletcher, Jonathan Gjoshe and Michael Paffett.

He is also accused of attempting to murder a 14-year-old boy and Dawid Taborski on a footbridge near Henry Penn Walk in Peterborough on 31 October, and William Ogelby at Railworld car park in the city shortly afterwards.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by Press Association.

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