“Finally, they had all packed into the buffet car and the toilets and locked the doors, as you do, and so that was it for me.”
Hearing the screams of injured passengers, Crean walked through the buffet car to the carriage where the knifeman had launched his attack and came face to face with him in the aisle.
Crean said the attacker was over 185 centimetres, wore a grey tracksuit, had short afro-style hair and spoke with a London or south-east accent.
Attacker looked ‘pretty moody, pretty angry’
A door to the buffet car, where other passengers were hiding, was locked behind him as they fought, preventing potentially dozens of other injuries.
He recalled: “I could see somebody on the floor behind him with what looked like blood on them.
“He got nearer and nearer to me, so I went a little bit further back. He came up, he came up. And by that point, I was back at the buffet car, but they were making sure that door was locked. I heard it click, and that’s when it kicked off.
‘I played my part. I tried my best, that’s all I could do. I’m not a troublemaker. I’ve never got involved with trouble in my life. But if someone came here and started on you, I’ll have a go’
Stephen Crean
“He just looked pretty moody, pretty angry. He was on a mission. He knew what he wanted to do, and he was going to do it.
“And then, all of a sudden, this knife comes out, and I went straight for him. I tried to punch him, this and that. I was trying to hold his arm [with his knife]. It kicked off. But he caught me on the top of the head.”
Crean said he was stabbed in his left hand, three times in his back, once on his bottom and twice in his head.
The BBC obtained an image of Anthony Williams in Peterborough the evening before the alleged train attack.Credit: BBC
“I just tried to hold him off and to keep the knife away, but it caught me. He got me a lot on my left hand, three times on my back, once on my bottom and twice on my head. I was bleeding a lot,” he added.
“It all happened so quickly, and then he went back the other way, and then he went to the buffet car [where passengers were sheltering], but the door was already locked.
“I think my phone had dropped on the floor, so I picked it up, and I went the other way to him,” he continued.
Lying on the floor as he lost blood
He said he found an empty toilet and locked the door before lying on the floor as he lost blood. About 10 minutes later, he opened the door to find armed police pointing guns at him.
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“I sneaked in a toilet. One of them was bloody empty. So I got in there, and he came back to find me, but I’d locked the door by then. So I lay down because by then I felt a bit wheezy and tired, and I was losing blood. It must have been about 10 minutes.
“But then there was big banging and kicking and shouting outside, and it was armed police. They came on board and I said my name and they said, ‘Yeah, Stephen, you can open the door’. But even when I opened the door, they had the gun pointing at me to make sure it was me, and I hadn’t put on a voice.
“Luckily, we were at the platform [in Huntingdon] by then, so it enabled me to get off. They opened the door just for me, and it was clever. They didn’t open the whole train; otherwise, he’s gonna get off.”
Paramedics treated Crean, gave him a foil blanket and took him by ambulance to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. His wounds were dressed and stitched up, and he was discharged at 6am on Sunday.
Asked why he ran towards danger to confront the attacker, he said: “I think there was no other choice. It just didn’t dawn on me not to.
Stephen Crean: “I played my part. I tried my best, that’s all I could do”.Credit: PA Images via Getty Images
“My motive was to protect people. I think it’s just in my blood. I will always do that. I was scared, but then it went away. You just do whatever. You just go with it.”
Crean is now taking medication to guard against possible HIV infection after the attacker reportedly used the same knife on multiple victims.
“Because it’s a deep stab wound, they said I needed special tablets because I could catch AIDS, and things like this,” he said.
Crean sustained multiple injuries in the Saturday attack.Credit: PA Images via Getty Images
Asked whether he is a hero, he said: “One woman messaged me on Facebook and said, ‘You probably saved my daughter’s life’. And I just got that message earlier on, and I never get emotional, but that got to me.
“I’m not brave. There’s gonna be braver people than me. The train guard, the police, and then the guys that got me off the train. And the poor train guard that got stabbed and is still in there [hospital] now. My God, there is more people out there than me. It’s them, you know.
“I played my part. I tried my best, that’s all I could do. I’m not a troublemaker. I’ve never got involved with trouble in my life. I’m not a fighter. I don’t do that sort of thing. But if someone came here and started on you, I’ll have a go – even if I can’t use my left hand.”
The Telegraph, London
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