Train hero in critical but stable condition, Transport Secretary says

A railway worker who showed “incredible bravery” to save lives during a mass stabbing on a busy train is in a critical but stable condition in hospital, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said.

The London North Eastern Railway (LNER) staff member, who has not been named, was injured while trying to protect passengers during the attack on Saturday’s 6.25pm service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross.

Ms Alexander said: “There are people who are alive today because of his actions and his bravery.”

She told Sky News: “He went into work that morning to work on that train service, to serve passengers and he put himself in harm’s way.

“He went in to do his job and he left work a hero.”

He is one of five people who remain in hospital after the violence on Saturday night.

A 32-year-old black British national remains in custody on suspicion of attempted murder. He is from Peterborough and boarded the train there when it stopped at 7.30pm, officers said.

Police are understood to be investigating all circumstances, including whether mental health was a factor but it is not believed to have been a terrorist incident.

Ms Alexander said the suspect was not known to counter-terrorism police or MI5 but would not say if he had contact with mental health services.

She told Times Radio: “I’m not going to speculate about his motivations or the events that led up to the incident.”

She added: “What I can tell you is that he was not known to counter-terrorism police, he was not known to the security services, and he was not known to the Prevent programme.”

Asked if the suspect was known to mental health services, she said: “I’m not in a position to share any more information about the individual, I’m afraid.”

Passengers have spoken of the horror which unfolded shortly after the train left Peterborough station, with one woman saying she felt “very lucky” to be unharmed after begging the man to spare her life when he chased after her.

Dayna Arnold, 48, told the Mirror newspaper: “I fell down and I just said: ‘Please don’t kill me.’ Something shifted in his face and he just carried on. He said: ‘The devil is not going to win.'”

Olly Foster, who witnessed the incident, told the BBC an older man “blocked” the attacker from stabbing a younger girl, leaving him with injuries to his head and neck.

He said other passengers used their clothing to try to stem the bleeding.

Thomas McLachlan, 19, from London, told BBC News he saw people leaving the train “drenched in blood”.

Other passengers spoke of hiding in train toilets and the buffet car to protect themselves during the bloody rampage.

British Transport Police declared a major incident when the train came to a stop in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, after passengers pulled the emergency alarms and two men were arrested eight minutes after police were called at 7.42pm.

Taxi driver Viorel Turturica told ITV News he was parked next to the station when he heard a commotion from a man he believes was the suspect.

“He was holding the knife straight and asking the police to kill him,” Mr Turturica said.

“He repeated three or four times: ‘Kill me, kill me, kill me.’”

Other witnesses described seeing a man waving a knife being shot with a Taser by police before being detained.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp called for “tough and radical action” in the wake of the incident, including measures such as ensuring more knife crime offenders are jailed, increasing the use of stop and search and rolling out live facial recognition technology in town centres and train stations.

He wrote in The Daily Telegraph: “We cannot stop every knife crime.

“But we can – and must – do so much more to get knife crime under control. It is the least we can do for its many victims.”

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to make a statement about the attack in the House of Commons on Monday afternoon.

Ms Alexander said there would be an increased police presence at stations but stressed the railways were safe.

“Public transport generally is a low-crime environment – and this incident was absolutely horrific on Saturday night, and I don’t want to take away from that in any way – but generally, our trains are some of the most safest forms of public transport anywhere in the world,” she said.

“For every one million passenger journeys that are made, there are 27 crimes.”

She added: “Now for me, one crime is one crime too many, so we will after this review all of our security measures because that is the right thing to do.”

Ms Alexander played down the prospect of installing airport-style security measures at busy railway stations.

“The Government will always look to review the security arrangements that are in place, but we need to do so in a way which is proportionate and where we are intervening in a practical way so that people can go about their daily lives, but also that people feel safe and confident in using the railway,” she said.