Dayna Arnold, 48, fell to the floor of the train and simply said “please don’t kill me” as the suspect followed.
Arnold boarded the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) train on the evening of 1 November to travel to London with her boyfriend, Andy Gray, 37. The horrific attack happened just minutes after the train left Peterborough station at 7.30pm.
They were sitting at the front of carriage J, with the suspect at the back, armed with a 15cm knife. She was separated from Andy as the crowd fled.
“I was running, turned around and saw a man with a knife following me. I fell down and only had time to say: ‘Please don’t kill me.’ Cap’s expression changed and he continued walking, saying: ‘The devil cannot win,’” she recounted today, February 11.
“We feel very lucky today. If we had sat at the back of the carriage, we probably wouldn’t be here right now,” she said.
Gray, still wearing a bloodied sweater, said he witnessed the attack just minutes after the train departed Peterborough station.
“We were in the same carriage. About five minutes later, we heard people screaming hysterically,” he said. “I couldn’t find the nail plate, but I saw the knife moving, swinging it up and down, then I got Dayna and ran, and we separated.”
“There was a young man, about 19 or 20 years old, who had a cut on his arm and was scraped deep under his nose. Blood was coming out. He said, ‘I’m being ripped out, please help me.’ The crack looked like it had cut the rotor. I pulled out my belt and put a tourniquet on him. He was begging, ‘Please call my dad, I don’t want to die.’”
Arnold and Gray quickly left the station and were treated to a drink nearby and were offered a free night’s accommodation. They boarded the train at Huntingdon station on 11 February to continue their journey to Milton Keynes.
“I still had the young man’s blood on my shirt. I heard there were two victims in a critical condition. I hope we saved his life,” he said.
At least 12 people were injured, nine of them in critical condition. British police have arrested a 32-year-old British man and identified him as the sole suspect.
