Police investigate whether train attack suspect linked to four other knife incidents

Police investigating the mass stabbing on a high-speed train in Cambridgeshire are examining four other knife incidents alleged to have taken place hours before passengers fled in terror on Saturday evening.

- Vikram Dodd

Questions mounted for police as Anthony Williams, 32, appeared in court yesterday charged with a series of attempted murder charges related to two stabbing incidents.

The Guardian understands British Transport Police had identified Williams as a suspect in an earlier and different knife attack on London's transport system before he allegedly boarded the high-speed train on which the mass stabbing took place.

BTP said they were hunting for him and had his name, but could not find him before mayhem broke out on a train between Doncaster and London.

As well as the London incident, the investigation into the high-speed train stabbings expanded to include three earlier incidents alleged to involve knives in and around Peterborough on Friday evening and Saturday morning.

Williams, from Peterborough, was charged with 10 counts of attempted murder after the stabbings on the train. He was also charged at Peterborough magistrates court with another count of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article in connection with an incident at Pontoon Dock station, which is on the Docklands Light Railway system, in east London on Saturday morning.