Dayna Arnold, 48, was on the London-bound LNER Azuma with her partner, Andy Gray, 37, when the horror unfolded. She recalled the chilling moment where she ‘begged’ for her life before the train stopped at Huntingdon
In full: Police statement on Huntingdon train stabbings
A woman recounted the terrifying moment she pleaded for her life as the Huntingdon train stabber chillingly said: “The Devil is not going to win.”
Dayna Arnold, 48, and her partner, Andy Gray, 37, were aboard the London-bound LNER Azuma when they witnessed the horrifying stabbing incident unfold. The pair were seated in Coach J, at the opposite end from where the assailant launched his eight-minute rampage, leaving two people critically injured.
In the ensuing chaos, Dayna was separated from Andy as passengers scrambled to escape. She found herself on the floor, begging the attacker – reportedly armed with a 6inch kitchen knife – to spare her life, reports the Mirror.
Recounting the ordeal, Dayna said: “I was running and when I looked back I saw the knifeman running after me. 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.'”.
She candidly added: “We just feel very lucky today. If we had been sat at the other end of the carriage, we’d might not be here.”
Andy, still clad in his blood-splattered jumper, revealed that the violent attack began mere minutes after departing Peterborough station.
He recalled: “We were on the same carriage. Within about five minutes we just heard the panic and commotion in people’s voices.
“I didn’t see him but I saw the knife moving, plunging. I pushed Dayna but we were separated. There was this young lad who was about 19 or 20.
“He had gashes on his arm and a severe puncture under his arm. There was a lot of blood coming out of him. He said, ‘I’ve been stabbed, please help me’. It looked like an artery had been hit. I took off my belt and made a tourniquet. He was saying, ‘Please call my dad, I don’t want to die’.”
Dayna and Andy quickly left the station and were kindly given a free room at a local pub. Today, they returned to Huntingdon station for their journey to Milton Keynes.
Andy remarked: “I still have [the victim’s] blood on my jumper. I heard there were two people critical so I hope we saved his life.”
It has now been confirmed that 10 people were injured, with two remaining in serious condition in hospital. Police raced to the scene in minutes after terrified and trapped passengers alerted the emergency services, before the train was able to pull into Huntingdon station.
Two men – a black British male, 32, and a 35-year-old man of Caribbean descent, also a British national – were arrested for the chilling stabbing spree.
It is believed that the attack occurred after the LNER train, bound for London Kings Cross, left Peterborough, which essentially left those on board with no where to run.
Earlier today, British Transport Police Superintendent John Loveless said “it is a shocking incident” as he added that it was “not appropriate” to speculate on the “cause” of the stabbings were. However, he said there was nothing to suggest the attack was a terror incident.