Train worker recalls repelling attacker with frying pan

Published6 November 2026, 12:20 GMT

A train staff member who used a frying pan against a man accused of trying to kill 10 people on board said he did not want to "give up until the train stopped", a court has heard.

Samir Zitouni was working on the York to London King's Cross LNER service on 1 November last year when Anthony Williams attacked, leading to an unscheduled stop in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

Cambridge Crown Court heard Zitouni said he was trying to hit the knife Williams was holding and "not let him pass".

Williams, 33, of Langford Road in Peterborough, denies 10 counts of attempted murder, and four other alleged attempted murders in earlier incidents in Peterborough and London.

Jurors were played a video interview with Zitouni, who watched on from the public gallery.

The court has previously heard about the injuries suffered by Zitouni during the attack.

Both his lungs were punctured and he needed four blood transfusions, chest drains and the assistance of a ventilator.

In his video interview, Zitouni said he saw a crowd of people come through the train shouting "there's a guy with a knife", to which he said "a guy with a knife, are you sure?".

Jurors have heard from another injured passenger, Raza Aslam, that Zitouni "was rushing backwards and forwards like a busy beaver trying to get different things" including trolleys and pans to defend the passengers.

Zitouni said he had taken the pan, then "the first thing I saw was the blade of the knife".

He said he was saying: "No, man. No, man". Zitouni asked the attacker to stop, offering help, and saying he thought that "was better than swearing at him".

He said: "I was terrorised, it was hard to believe."

Jurors have been shown CCTV footage from the train, and previously heard Zitouni was said to have told the defendant: "We love you, we can help you."

In his video interview, he said: "My thinking was try to hit the knife, to drop his knife... to not let him pass, to not give up until the train stopped."

He said he told a colleague: "I think I'm going to die."

Passenger Michael Gawthorpe, who was not stabbed by Williams but was in the same carriage as Zitouni, said in a video-recorded interview that he "kept saying calm down, just put the knife down, please stop... we've all got kids".

He said Williams said something along the lines of "they're trying to kill me".

He recalled someone had passed him a large toaster, so he threw it at the attacker, jurors heard.

But he said he remembered Williams then looking at him and he thought "that was pretty much it for me at this point".

"I was pretty scared. I thought that was me done," Gawthorpe said.

"I thought I've made a mistake here."

However, the train began to slow down and he said this "may have distracted him".

Another passenger, Christina Jones, wept in a video-recorded interview played to the jury as she demonstrated how she hid behind her handbag.

The court heard she threw a hot drink at Williams.

In Court: Huntingdon Train Attack

Follow all the developments from the trial as they unfold on our BBC podcast In Court

As well as arguing Williams was attempting to murder the 10 people on the train, prosecutors allege that on 31 October he tried to kill three people in Peterborough.

He is also charged with attempting to murder a teenager in the early hours of 1 November on a DLR train in east London.

Whether Williams carried out the attacks is not in question - the court has been told - but jurors must consider whether he intended to kill.

The trial continues.

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