When the screaming started on the Saturday night train, some passengers assumed it was a Halloween prank.
But it fast emerged this was nothing to do with the previous day’s festival – a knifeman really was stabbing his way through the carriages of the 6.25pm Doncaster to London King’s Cross service.
However, a series of acts of heroism, in particular from a rail buffet worker now fighting for his life, undoubtedly saved lives, according to witnesses.
One young woman, Maisie Harrison, was listening to Queen and Oasis through her headphones, and about to be stabbed when an older man threw himself in front of the blade.
Her mother Dawn Duke said last night she ‘owed everything’ to the hero.
Ms Duke, of Lincoln, wrote on Facebook: ‘Prayers for a full safe recovery to the hero of a bloke who jumped in front of my daughter and saved her life!’
Witness Olly Foster told the BBC he had seen Maisie saved – and that the man who shielded her suffered knife wounds to the head and neck.
But he said where he first heard shouts of ‘Run – there’s a guy literally stabbing everyone’, he had assumed a bad-taste Halloween prank was being played out.
Police confirmed the suspect was born in the UK and is of Caribbean descent. They are understood to be looking into whether he was known to the authorities before the incident.
Terrified passengers were seen running along Huntingdon station’s platform 2 trying to escape on Saturday night
Heroic passenger Stephen Crean (pictured) reportedly said he was ‘going to go confront’ the attacker before he was stabbed
Mr Crean was later seen at Huntingdon station, visibly injured and receiving medical attention
Hero driver Andrew Johnson (pictured) rapidly diverted the London-bound train to Huntingdon station after being alerted to the mass stabbing, enabling emergency services to act fast
In a video, one hero held a rag to his head as crimson-coloured blood seeped through
Mr Foster said the gory evidence was at first not evident on the train’s red moquette seat fabric – until he noticed that his hand was ‘covered in blood’ from the chair he had leant on.
The knifeman stabbed and slashed his way down the still-moving train through two carriages before reaching carriage G, location of the café bar.
And it was there that he was held up by the most seriously injured victim, who last night remained in a life-threatening condition in hospital – an LNER buffet worker.
As the maniac burst into carriage G, the railwayman reportedly tried to stop him, sustaining serious injuries in the process.
‘That man was an absolute hero’, a rail source told the Mail. ‘He fought this guy, who had a large knife, to try to stop him hurting any more passengers.’
A spokesman said train CCTV showed the injured worker’s actions ‘were nothing short of heroic and undoubtedly saved many people’s lives’.
Passenger Alistair Day told how he was among several who managed to lock themselves behind the shutters of the buffet car – after seeing running passengers streaked with blood, and ‘a man at the window with his knife’.
Witness Thomas McLachlan, 19, from London, who was returning from a trip to Newcastle, described how people were leaving the train ‘drenched in blood’. He told the BBC: ‘I heard the words “he’s been stabbed” and I saw the panic spread among the faces of the people of the carriage.
‘A couple of minutes after that the train pulled into Huntingdon and I saw loads of other passengers getting off absolutely drenched in blood.
‘There was one man clutching a white sheet to his head who looked like he was stabbed twice. [There were] really severe injuries. And there was just general fear among everyone involved.’
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Our exclusive footage shows a knifeman carrying a blade while walking through a car park next to Huntingdon rail station in Cambridgeshire following Saturday night’s train stabbings
Other footage shows the moment an innocent man walked down the train platform at Huntingdon moments before he was tasered
Officers yell ‘get down, get down’ at the man before he suddenly falls to the ground, seemingly crying out in pain
Train driver Andrew Johnson was also hailed a hero last night after he rapidly diverted the London-bound train to Huntingdon station – having been alerted to the mass stabbing – enabling emergency services to act fast.
Mr Johnson, who has been working as a train driver since 2018, served in the Royal Navy for 17 years, it is understood. He was deployed to Iraq in 2003 during the second Gulf War.
A Nottingham Forest fan travelling home from a match against Manchester United was also stabbed after bravely approaching the attacker, it is understood.
Despite warnings from fellow passengers not to approach the knifeman due to his smaller stature, Stephen Crean reportedly told another Forest fan he was ‘going to go confront him’.
Mr Crean was later seen at Huntingdon station, visibly injured and receiving medical attention.
In a heartfelt Facebook post about the football fan, Munster Forest wrote: ‘I have known him for at least 10 years and he is one of the gentlest souls you could meet.
‘He bravely put himself in front of some children to protect them.
‘What a hero he is!’
Cambridgeshire Police had an armed response unit nearby when the alarm was raised – and had only days earlier trained in how to respond to marauding terror attacks.
British Transport Police last night said passengers ‘reported in good faith to officers responding to the incident’ that a second man, a 35-year-old Londoner who was arrested on the train, was involved in the attack, before enquiries showed he was not. Five of the 11 injured were yesterday discharged from hospital.
The LNER train at Huntingdon station following the attack on Saturday evening
Footage exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail shows terrified train passengers fleeing down a platform followed by a swaggering knifeman after the train stopped at Huntingdon.
Other footage shows the moment a train passenger screamed ‘it’s not me’ as he was tasered by police officers who mistook him for the attacker.
The innocent man walks down the train platform at Huntingdon – where the train driver was forced to make a diversion – only to be struck down by police with a taser.
Officers yell ‘get down, get down’ at the passenger before he suddenly falls to the ground, seemingly crying out in pain.
He then shouts, ‘it’s not me, it’s not me’ several times as he lies face-down on the ground and is put in handcuffs.
Two suspects, both British nationals, were initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder on Saturday night after 11 victims were injured by a knifeman on the LNER service from Doncaster to King’s Cross.
One 35-year-old man has since been released with no further action and a 32-year-old man is being treated as the only suspect.
The attacker is believed to have said ‘the Devil’s not going to win’ as he came at passengers with a knife.
