Andrew Johnson testified that he remained in his cab seat despite panicked passengers banging on the door, knowing that moving would trigger an automatic emergency stop. He liaised with signallers to arrange an unscheduled arrival at Huntingdon at 19:44 GMT and took roughly 15 seconds to manually override the doors. Defendant Anthony Williams denies 10 counts of attempted murder concerning the train incident alongside four counts linked to separate assaults. Jurors are tasked with determining Williams's intent to kill, as his carrying out of the stabbings is not in dispute.
Key points
The driver successfully averted a trackside stranding by rapidly arranging an unscheduled…: The driver successfully averted a trackside stranding by rapidly arranging an unscheduled emergency diversion with a rail signaller.
Anthony Williams denies 10 counts of attempted murder regarding the train attack and four…: Anthony Williams denies 10 counts of attempted murder regarding the train attack and four counts relating to earlier incidents.
Court proceedings center on establishing the defendant's intent to kill rather than dispu…: Court proceedings center on establishing the defendant's intent to kill rather than disputing whether he carried out the violent assaults.
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- Published
The driver of a high-speed train where a mass stabbing took place said he had "probably about 10 seconds" to decide to switch to the slow line before making an unscheduled stop.
Andrew Johnson was driving the London-bound LNER service on 1 November last year when the train stopped at Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire amid a mass attack by Anthony Williams.
Giving evidence, Johnson told jurors at Cambridge Crown Court he heard someone on the intercom "screaming 'there's a knifeman stabbing people'".
Williams, 33, of Peterborough, denies 10 counts of attempted murder on the train.
He is also charged with four other attempted murders following earlier incidents in Peterborough and London.
Johnson told jurors that ordinarily the next stop after Peterborough would be Stevenage, a journey that takes "exactly 30 minutes".
He said when they were around Abbots Ripton in Cambridgeshire and "as it was uphill" the train was travelling at 122mph, adding the service was "bang on time".
Johnson told jurors there was an unusual alarm "which indicated someone was trying to open one of the passenger doors".
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