A man accused of 13 counts of attempted murder including 11 on two trains will be fit to plead, a court heard today.
Anthony Williams, 32, was psychotic and had been transferred to a psychiatric intensive unit, a hearing was told in February.
Cambridgeshire Crown Court was told today that he was now in a position to enter pleas at a later date but that the trial date would have to be delayed while other psychiatric assessments are carried out.
The case had been due to go before a jury on June 22 but it will now not start until towards the end of the year.
Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC told the short hearing at Cambridge Crown Court: ‘Further reports are now needed to deal with other issues to do with Mr Williams’ mental health…
‘Both parties form the clear view that the trial date of June 22 is no longer viable.
‘We invite the court to break the trial date and refix that trial date.’
The Crown’s own psychiatrist would need to produce a report, he added.
Graham Arnold, for the defendant, said the further analysis needed of his client was ‘not just the psychiatric history’.
Anthony Williams, 32, has appeared in court accused of a knife rampage on board a high-speed train bound for London
‘He’ll [the psychiatrist] also look at evidence in the case and there’s quite a lot of CCTV.’
He added that ‘statements that might be relevant to the defendant’s state of mind’ might also be looked at.
Judge Mark Bishop, the Recorder of Cambridge and Peterborough, told the barristers: ‘It’s clear that the trial therefore cannot take place on the date fixed in June and there needs to be a new date.
‘This court can accommodate it from October 26.’
The date is subject to the availability of a high court judge.
Williams, who is of no fixed abode, was not required to attend the court today.
He was being treated at Rampton Hospital near Retford in Nottinghamshire, it emerged at the last hearing in February, as he was judged to be psychotic.
Williams was initially charged with the attempted murder of nine passengers and a train buffet worker on the LNER service from Doncaster to London’s Kings Cross, before it stopped at Huntingdon on the evening of November 1.
A train stopped at Huntingdon station in Cambridgeshire to allow passengers to get off after one of the alleged incidents
He was also accused of the attempted murder of another passenger on a DLR train at 12.45am on November 1 at Pontoon Dock DLR station in Silvertown, east London.
Before his first appearance at Peterborough Magistrates Court, he was charged with possessing a bladed article in relation to the two attacks and a count of actual bodily harm over an alleged assault on a police officer in custody.
It was revealed on November 20 that he had also been charged with two more counts of attempted murder and an attempted wounding with intent to cause serious harm.
The new attempted murder charges related to alleged attacks on a 14-year-old boy on a footbridge above Henry Penn Walk, Peterborough, and on William Ogelby, 22, in the Rail World car park, Peterborough, on October 31.
The new attempted wounding charge related to an alleged attack on Dawid Taborski, 28, on the footbridge above Henry Penn Walk.
Williams was also charged with affray at Ritzy’s Barbers in Queens Walk, Peterborough, on October 31, and the theft of a ‘four-pack of kitchen knives to the value of £15’ from an Asda store in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, on October 31.
Those who Williams is accused of attempting to murder on the train which stopped at Huntingdon include hero Nottingham Forest fan Stephen Crean, 61, of Wimbledon, south London, who was stabbed repeatedly while trying to save other passengers.
Others are Scunthorpe United player Jonathan Gjoshe, 22, and rail buffet worker Samir Zitouni, 48, who is understood to have used a frying pan grabbed from the galley kitchen to battle him off so passengers could flee to safety.
Forensic teams checked the train and platform following the alleged mass stabbing
The other victims of the ten counts of attempted murder on the train have been previously named as Scott Bletcher, David Presland, Sachin Balakrishnan, Michael Paffett, Kevin Neely, Rasza Aslam and Scott Green.
Williams has also been charged with common assault of a 31-year-old man on a train travelling between Hitchin, Hertfordshire, and Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, on November 1.