Terrifying footage has captured the moment hundreds of passengers fled in “sheer terror” as a “marauding” knifeman moved through the carriages of an LNER train bound for London.

Anthony Williams, 33, is alleged to have posed a “dangerous threat” while stalking victims “through towns and cities, on streets and trains alike” during a series of violent attacks over Halloween weekend that ended in the mass stabbing.

The alleged attacks began on October 31 last year, when three people were assaulted in Peterborough, including a 14-year-old boy.

Williams then travelled to London and allegedly stabbed a man on the Docklands Light Railway. On the evening of November 1, he boarded an LNER service from Doncaster to London, where he allegedly “brought terror” to passengers and attacked ten people.

Horrifying footage shown in court captured dozens of passengers, many wearing coats and hats, rushing through the carriages as Williams allegedly approached them, “slashing and stabbing with his knife”.

One clip showed train crew member Samir Zitouni attempting to defend himself with a frying pan as Williams held a large knife towards him. The court heard that Mr Zitouni was eventually stabbed several times.

The CCTV showed a man holding the left side of his face, which appeared to be bleeding. Mr Zitouni approached Williams, placed a hand on the wounded passenger and urged him to sit down, while shouting at the attacker and brandishing the frying pan.

A second man standing behind Mr Zitouni was seen holding a toaster, apparently ready to help tackle the knifeman.

In another clip shown to the jury, apparently filmed moments before the attack, the assailant is seen entering Carriage J and taking a bladed object from his pocket.

Holding the weapon in his right hand, he approached a passenger wearing a hooded jumper from behind before suddenly stabbing him.

Within seconds, dozens of passengers had risen from their seats and were fleeing towards both exits. Some appeared to fall back into their seats as they tried to escape.

The attacker then moved towards the door leading into the next carriage, swinging a large knife in front of the passengers.

Those who could escape ran in the opposite direction. The knifeman turned to watch them as they fled while continuing to brandish the weapon in the air.

A second recording from Carriage J, filmed from another angle, showed the assailant calmly walking through the carriage with the knife in his hand. Those fleeing for their lives included older passengers and a young child.

The court heard that some passengers hid in toilets, storage cabinets and beneath seats, while others displayed “extraordinary bravery” by grabbing “frying pans and toasters” to defend themselves against Williams.

The latter included one passenger who was left with multiple injuries after grappling with Williams, who allegedly asked him: ‘Do you want to die?’

The attack only ended due to the ‘quick thinking of the train driver’, who diverted the train to Huntingdon, where hundreds of passengers sprinted down the platform before Williams was arrested.

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC told Cambridge Crown Court: ‘Across the Halloween weekend last year, to the many people he encountered, the defendant Anthony Williams posed a dangerous threat, marauding through towns and cities, on streets and trains alike, armed with a knife.

‘He stabbed many, seeking to end their lives with deadly intention, striking out at them when they were defenceless and in fear.’

The jury was told that the defendant had admitted attacking people with a knife and ‘intended to cause them really serious harm’ but denies 14 counts of attempted murder.

Williams appeared in court via videolink from high-security Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire.

He wore a standard-issue grey jumper and occasionally put on glasses as he sat in the pale grey room with legal documents in front of him.

Assisting him was an intermediary who, the jury was told, was there for ‘when the defendant needs help to understand what’s being said’.

Mr Justice Calver told jurors they would have to decide whether he intended to kill the people he attacked, as the prosecution claim.

The ‘rampage’ began when the 14-year-old boy, who can’t be named for legal reasons, was stabbed at a footbridge in Peterborough on October 31.

Two men – Dawid Taborski and William Ogelby – were then attacked nearby although they avoided injury.

A 17-year-old was then stabbed in the face while travelling on the Docklands Light Railway in east London at Pontoon Dock.

Williams then boarded an LNER train at 7.26pm on November 1, clutching a ‘large kitchen knife and a bottle of fortified tonic wine’, where the other ten attempted murders allegedly took place.

Describing passengers’ responses when the attack began, Mr Paxton said: ‘In sheer terror, the train passengers ran for their lives, hiding away in locked toilets, store cabinets, or under seats until many fleeing the defendant literally ran out of train.

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‘Trapped and facing the defendant, who had been wielding, slashing out and stabbing with his knife, some sought to defend themselves and others on the train, showing extraordinary bravery in the face of the defendant’s onslaught, picking up frying pans or toasters to keep the defendant back, even trying to de-escalate the situation by asking him why was he doing it and telling him that they loved him.

‘But to no avail, the defendant continued his knife attack – slashing out and stabbing those around him.’

Victims included ‘defenceless and powerless’ David Presland, 73, who was attacked after he fell on the floor.

Scott Green was sitting with his dog Poppy and was so in ‘fear for his own life that he tried to grab the knife blade’.

Another passenger, Kevin Deely, received stab wounds to his scalp and a four-inch deep cut to his stomach.

Describing how there were ‘only so many places you can hide’ on a moving train, Mr Paxton said some passengers ‘stood tall’ by ‘defending themselves and putting themselves in harm’s way to protect strangers’.

These included Stephen Crean, who was ‘half in and half out of a buffet serving area’ when he decided that the defendant was ‘on a mission’ and he ‘had to try and stop it’.

CCTV showed the extraordinary scene as he launched himself at the assailant and grappled with him down the carriage, leaving him with wounds to the hand, head and lower back.

Earlier, jurors were told they would hear how Williams asked Mr Crean: ‘Do you want to die?’ 

Train crew member Samir Zitouni tried to use a frying pan to stop Williams but was stabbed multiple times, the court was told.

The bloody onslaught ended when the train stopped at Huntingdon and Williams was arrested. 

The jury was told that Williams had admitted affray and possessing a knife in relation to an incident at Ritzy barbershop in Peterborough, which happened shortly after the three alleged attempted murders.

He was seen ‘swigging from a bottle of alcohol’ before he ‘entered the shop brandishing the kitchen knife and those inside drew back from him’, after which Williams left.

The defendant made his way to Peterborough railway station and got on a London-bound train at 8.20pm, the court was told.

A female passenger, Kierah Lee Oakman, became concerned by his ‘erratic’ behaviour, which included muttering words such as ‘devil’ and ‘power’.

She got off at St Neots, Cambridgeshire, after he approached her and she texted British Transport Police who sent officers to the next stop, Stevenage.

There they saw someone matching the defendant’s description get off around 150ft from them and go across the tracks but they decided not to follow him because of the risk posed by passing trains, Mr Paxton said.

‘It’s likely this person, dressed all in black, was the defendant,’ the prosecutor added.

Williams went on to steal a pack of kitchen knives from an Asda store in the town, which the jury was told he had admitted.

Later that night, the court heard, 17-year-old Isaiah Idris was attacked on a DLR train but escaped when it pulled in at Pontoon Dock station.

The teenager said his attacker ‘sliced my face’ and hands as he tried to defend himself and repeatedly asked: ‘Are you beefing with the devil?’ 

Mr Idris, who is now 18, had surgery on his hand and was discharged from hospital after four days.

In footage of the incident shown to the jury, the defendant can be seen standing up and walking along the carriage, taking an object from his right pocket as he moved. 

A second camera taken from a different angle showed a clearer image of what appeared to be a knife. 

The defendant approached an unseen individual and can be seen shouting at them before appearing to jab the object forward in front of him. He is then seen putting it swiftly back into his pocket.

The court then heard Williams had admitted common assault in relation to a subsequent incident in the early hours of November 1 as he travelled back home to Peterborough on a train and spat at a passenger, Jordan Morley.

The defendant later called his bank, Capital One, to say he had lost his debit card before setting off again at 6.16pm and went to Peterborough train station where he boarded the LNER service at 7.26pm, which made its unscheduled stop at Huntingdon at 7.44pm.

‘In those 15 or so minutes, this defendant, armed with a knife, caused terror and fear on an unimaginable scale,’ Mr Paxton said.

He added: ‘Those on the train posed no threat to the defendant and, even if the defendant viewed them as the devil as he suggested to Isaiah Idris earlier that day, it does not give the defendant any lawful reason to attack any one of those passengers.’

Describing the moments before the attacks began, Mr Paxton told the jury Williams was ‘talking and gesticulating with his hands and swigging alcohol from a bottle. There are times when the defendant appears to be unsteady on his feet.’

The first victim, Jonathan Gjoshe, was ‘stabbed a number of times’ around the upper right arm and chest before jumping over a table to get away and screaming at fellow passengers: ‘Just run, just run… I’ve been stabbed.’

Describing the pain from his injuries as ‘unreal’, he asked medics at Huntingdon station: ‘Am I going to die today or not?’

Williams next moved on to Sachin Balakrishnan and ‘tried multiple times’ to stab him, with the jury told ‘it was only his reflexes that saved him.’

Mr Balakrishnan, who had been speaking to his partner on the phone, fled from the ‘hand-to-hand fighting’, warning others: ‘Everyone, there’s a guy with a knife.’

He suffered a wound to his right forearm and another to his chest, which punctured his left lung and was about an inch-and-a-half from his heart, Mr Paxton said.

The trial, which is due to last six weeks, continues.

Hayden Panettiere’s death at 36 has officially been classified as accidental, with police confirming Wednesday that the actress died from a drug overdose two months ago.

The Greenville Police Department said: “Based on the Medical Examiner’s determination and the findings of the investigation, Hayden Panettiere’s death has been ruled accidental.”

According to the statement obtained by CNN , the ruling formally concludes the police investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death.

Panettiere was found dead on August 16 at a home in Greenville, South Carolina. Her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother, Zach, were present when she was pronounced dead.

A spokesman for the Greenville County Coroner’s Office told The Daily Mail last month that the actress died from the “toxic effects” of several substances, including fentanyl.

Fentanyl is an extremely potent opioid—around 50 times stronger than heroin—and even a few grains can prove fatal.

The coroner’s office said an autopsy was conducted by a board-certified forensic pathologist, who found no signs of trauma that contributed to Panettiere’s death.

The spokesman added: “The cause of death has been ruled as toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP, Alprazolam, Methocarbamol, and Quetiapine. The manner of death has been ruled accident.”

The statement concluded: “This case is administratively closed by the Greenville County Coroner’s Office.”

Methocarbamol is a prescription muscle relaxant typically used for short-term muscle pain. Quetiapine, sold under the brand name Seroquel, is an antipsychotic medication prescribed for conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder.

Alprazolam, better known as Xanax, is prescribed for anxiety and panic disorders. The chemical 4-ANPP is used as a primary building block in the production of illicit fentanyl.

Last week, sources told TMZ that investigators believed Panettiere had died after taking a single oxycodone pill contaminated with fentanyl.

The outlet reported that Panettiere had a longtime drug dealer in Los Angeles, from whom she illegally obtained narcotics including oxycodone, according to insiders.

Authorities reportedly believe Panettiere took several drugs purchased in Los Angeles the day before her death, prior to traveling to South Carolina. She was found dead there the following day.

In a statement released last month, Panettiere’s representative said: “As reported yesterday by the Greenville County Coroner’s Office, Hayden’s death remains under investigation pending the completion of toxicology results, despite reports from some outlets stating otherwise.”

The representative added: “Recent reports attributed to unnamed sources are unverified hearsay and have attributed to conflicting information that continues to circulate.”

The statement continued: “While we are all eager to find closure and better understand the circumstances surrounding her passing, we must remain patient and allow the investigative process to unfold.”

The late Heroes star’s rep concluded in saying that ‘the answers we are all seeking will come.’

On the day she died, first responders arrived at a Greenville, South Carolina, condo where attempts were made to resuscitate the actress, before she had been pronounced dead.

Hickerson’s lawyer Sloan Ellis said in a statement August 20 that ‘Hayden’s death remains under investigation and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed.

‘As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play. Out of respect for Hayden’s loved ones and the ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment at this time.’

Panettiere began acting as a child, appearing in soap operas, then gained wider recognition for her role in the 2000 sports drama Remember the Titans with Denzel Washington, and as the voice of Dot in Pixar’s 1998 film A Bug’s Life.

Panettiere later found fame playing cheerleader Claire Bennet in the superhero drama Heroes before starring as country singer Juliette Barnes for six seasons on Nashville.

She earned two Golden Globe nominations for best supporting actress on the show, while her singing produced 11 entries on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.

Panettiere’s film credits include 2006’s Bring It On: All or Nothing, the comedy-drama film Raising Helen, and appearances in Scream 4 and Scream VI as Kirby Reed.

She had an 11-year-old daughter called Kaya following a life-threatening birth, and later gave full custody of the child to her former fiancé, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.

Panettiere’s passing was announced by her father Skip Panettiere, who said in a statement: ‘It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden.

‘She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her – and to the millions who watched her onscreen. We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.’

Authorities in Greenville, South Carolina, subsequently said that officials responded to an apartment in the area after receiving a report of an ‘unresponsive female’ via a possible ‘drug overdose,’ subsequently determined to be Panettiere.

Conservative activists James O’Keefe and Cam Higby are facing felony charges after wearing Muslim clothing in a filmed effort to test Minnesota’s voting procedures, which they described as “lunacy.”

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty charged O’Keefe, 42, and Higby, 26, on Wednesday with unlawful voting and identity theft over a political stunt carried out on August 11.

During Minnesota’s primary election, the pair recorded themselves entering polling places in head-to-toe Muslim clothing. They said the exercise was intended to highlight what they called the “sheer lunacy” of the state’s election procedures.

Their focus was Minnesota’s “vouching” system, which allows a registered voter to confirm the identities of as many as eight other people. Those voters can then cast ballots without presenting identification.

Videos of the activists’ attempt to test the system drew millions of views across social media.

Moriarty said the men broke election laws by deliberately “misrepresenting their identity when they applied for a ballot.”

At a news conference, Moriarty acknowledged that neither man cast a ballot and that they “stopped short of signing the oath we all sign before receiving our ballot.” She nevertheless said their conduct violated Minnesota’s voting laws.

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon called the operation “outrageous,” adding: “We have zero tolerance for lying, lawbreaking, and disruptions at our polling places.”

Minnesota’s vouching provision is intended to help people who have recently moved cast ballots in a precinct where they have not yet completed registration.

Supporters say the process helps prevent eligible voters from being disenfranchised, while critics argue that it could create an opportunity for election fraud.

O’Keefe, who founded Project Veritas, appears in the videos wearing white Muslim clothing as he approaches poll workers and asks whether he can vouch for people who are not registered.

In one exchange, O’Keefe adopted a Middle Eastern accent and asked: “I want to vouch… They are not registered, is that ok?”

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“That’s ok, that’s fine,” the poll worker replied.

In another exchange, O’Keefe asked a poll worker to explain the vouching process. She responded: “Well, if you’re all in the same precinct, and you are already registered, then you can vouch for them as ID for them.”

“You are the ID,” she added.

Higby darkened his skin with makeup and wore a full-length burqa that covered his face during the stunt. In one part of the video, O’Keefe joked that Higby looked like “a transgender.”

Higby and O’Keefe are facing felony charges of unlawful voting and identity theft, each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. 

At a press conference on Wednesday announcing the charges, Moriarty accused the conservative activists of attempting to meddle in the state’s elections and undermine confidence in the results.

‘Free and fair elections are the bedrock of democracy, and their protection is one of our highest priorities,’ Moriarty said. 

The prosecutor said authorities tracked down the names that O’Keefe and Higby gave to poll workers, which she said included the names of deceased voters. Asked where they obtained the names, Moriarty said: ‘We don’t know that.’ 

O’Keefe and his attorneys have not yet responded to the charges, but Higby quickly spoke out on Wednesday to plead his innocence.

‘I never voted, I never signed an affidavit, and I never violated a law,’ Higby said in a statement. 

‘For showing how Minnesota abuses votes, they seek to take mine away from me permanently.’

Patrick Clancy’s attorneys say his former wife is expected to testify that she warned her doctors about thoughts of harming their children before their deaths.

His legal team appeared in a Massachusetts courtroom Wednesday for a hearing in his wrongful death lawsuit against the medical providers who treated Lindsay Clancy.

Patrick is suing Lindsay’s doctors and other healthcare providers, accusing them of overmedicating her while she was being treated for postpartum mental health problems.

The hearing took place slightly more than a month after a mistrial was declared in Lindsay’s murder case involving the January 2023 deaths of her children: five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan.

Patrick’s attorney, Howard Cooper, said he believes Lindsay will confirm that she told her doctors about homicidal and suicidal thoughts once issues involving her Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination have been resolved.

“You know who hasn’t testified yet, Your Honor? Lindsay Clancy,” Cooper said. “We allege in our complaint that she is going to confirm that she told these defendants that she had homicidal ideation.”

“We believe that Lindsay Clancy, once her Fifth Amendment issues are resolved, one way or the other, will testify that she told these defendants explicitly that she had homicidal ideation, that she was worried about something awful happening to her kids,” he added.

The lawsuit names several medical providers who testified during the closely watched murder trial, including Dr Jennifer Tufts and nurse Rebecca Jollotta. It alleges they failed to provide appropriate care, which “resulted in tragedy, namely, allegations that Lindsay took the lives of her children.”

“If Defendants had not acted negligently, and rather had provided adequate care, it is more likely than not that Patrick and Lindsay’s children would still be alive today,” the lawsuit states.

Tufts and Jollotta, as well as the other defendants, South Shore Health System and Aster Mental Health, have denied the allegations and filed motions seeking to dismiss the case.

At Wednesday’s hearing in Norfolk Superior Court, Mary Azzarito, an attorney for Tufts, argued that Lindsay never told her healthcare providers she was thinking about harming the children.

“She told her mother, she told her husband. There is no clear evidence that she told her providers,” Azzarito said.

Timothy Sweetland, who represents Jollotta, argued that Lindsay never communicated to the defendants that she had thoughts of harming or killing her children, nor expressed an intention or made an explicit threat to do so.

Cooper accused the defense attorneys of presenting what amounted to “closing arguments” before the case had gone to trial.

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“What you just heard is a closing argument, Your Honor. Completely inappropriate at this stage,” he said.

“The complete mismanagement of Lindsay Clancy’s mental health care became the substantial cause of her murdering her three children,” Cooper alleged.

The hearing ended without a ruling from the judge on whether the wrongful death lawsuit should be dismissed.

Earlier this month, Patrick ran the Chicago Marathon, and his pregnant new wife, Dr Rachel Danis, 37, was spotted cheering him on.

Danis shared how running sparked their romance during the couple’s sit-down interview with 60 Minutes, which aired following the trial.

‘I was just a girl that met a guy running in Central Park on a really cold Saturday. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,’ the fertility doctor said.

Friends told the Daily Mail that the couple share a passion for exercise, with photos showing them hiking, running and working out from as early as February 2024.

Patrick was also seen running around New York City, where he relocated in April 2023, during Lindsay’s high-profile trial.

The couple is reportedly renting out their Big Apple apartment as prosecutors mull whether to retry his ex-wife for the murder of their three children.

Lindsay was charged with three counts of first-degree murder for strangling her children with exercise bands inside the family home after she sent Patrick out to run errands.

She then tried to kill herself, cutting her wrists and neck and jumping from the second-floor bedroom window. Clancy survived but was left paralyzed from the waist down. 

She did not deny killing her children but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, saying she was suffering from severe postpartum depression and psychosis at the time.

Clancy’s trial ended with an 11-1 deadlocked jury verdict of acquittal on September 4.

It remains unclear whether she will face another trial for the children’s deaths. Her next court hearing is scheduled for November 2.

She has also filed separate lawsuits against her medical providers.