The driver of a London-bound train on which 10 people were stabbed told a court he heard someone screaming through a door microphone that a knifeman was attacking people, and he had probably about 10 seconds to move the train to the slow line to stop at Huntingdon.

Andrew Johnson, who was behind the controls of the LNER service, brought the train to an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, on 1 November last year. He told Cambridge Crown Court the service was travelling at 122mph around Abbots Ripton when an alarm went off, indicating someone was trying to open one of the passenger doors.

He said he had five seconds to override the alarm and looked on a camera and could see the door but no one was there at that time. After attempting to speak to whoever activated the alarm over a loudspeaker without getting a reply, he thought it was a Saturday night prank. But later, while asking a member of staff to reset the alarm, he heard someone screaming: there's a knifeman stabbing people. He described the scream as terrifying.

Ten seconds to make the decision

Mr Johnson said the next station on the slow line was Huntingdon and he decided to move the train from the fast line to the slow line, having probably about 10 seconds to take the decision to do so. Asked by prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC why he chose the slow line, he said he had been driving that line for a long time and that it just came instinctively.

The driver said an in-built safety feature meant that if he left his seat, the train stops, so he had to bring the service to a halt from the cab. His quick decision meant the train reached Huntingdon station, where emergency services could reach the injured.

The trial continues

Anthony Williams, 33, denies 14 counts of attempted murder, including 10 linked to the high-speed service from Doncaster on 1 November last year. Judge Mr Justice Calver earlier told jurors at Cambridge Crown Court that whether Williams carried out the attacks is not in question, but they must consider whether he intended to kill.

Passengers have also given evidence. James Tomlinson, a passenger on the train, said in a video-recorded police interview played to jurors that there was a man shouting that he had a knife and was not afraid to use it. Another passenger, Alice Ward, said she saw a group of people running through the carriage before hearing someone shout that a person had been stabbed in the next carriage. The trial continues. Source links: Evening Standard and Fosse 107.