Two police officers facing gross misconduct hearing over handling of alleged assault weeks before mass stabbings in Huntingdon train attack

Published: 17:11, 7 July 2026 | Updated: 17:12, 7 July 2026 Two police officers are to face gross misconduct hearings for their handling of an incident weeks before the alleged mass stabbings in the Huntingdon train attack. A constable is accused of failing to carry out appropriate enquiries following a reported attack on September 27 last year which left a man with facial injuries. The officer and a colleague of the same rank are then said to have concealed this by falsely claiming that no CCTV was available, as well as including inaccurate information in a crime report. The case was referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct after a complaint was made over the handling of the case. The watchdog's director of engagement, Emily Barry, said: 'While we have found the officers will face disciplinary proceedings, it will be for the force to organise the hearing and its misconduct panel to determine whether, based on the evidence, the allegations of gross misconduct are proven. 'The parties involved have been notified of our decision.' Several people were stabbed on November 1 last year on a train service from Doncaster to London's King's Cross. The train was halted at Huntingdon station in Cambridgeshire and Anthony Williams, 32, was subsequently charged with ten counts of attempted murder in relation to the train incident. Two police officers are facing gross misconduct hearings after the Independent Office for Police Conduct looked into their handling of an alleged attack on Ricky Butcher, 35, pictured He was also charged with three more attempted murder charges and a number of other counts relating to separate incidents. These included the attempted murder of a passenger on a train at Pontoon Dock DLR station in Silvertown, east London, on November 1 and the attempted murder of a 14-year-old boy on a footbridge in Peterborough the previous day. Williams also faces a count of affray at a barber’s in Peterborough on October 31. The incident on September 27 involved taxi passenger Ricky Butcher, 36, who needed 15 stitches to his face after he was allegedly attacked at random while waiting for a minicab home following a night out in Peterborough. The electrician said he received a text message from Cambridgeshire Police two days later saying they were closing the case as there was insufficient evidence to make an arrest likely. He told the Mail at the time: ‘It's absolute madness the police closed my case so quickly without seemingly having a proper trawl through CCTV and making the relevant inquiries. 'I think the police should have treated my case with much more importance and diligence.’ The IOPC said it had begun an investigation after a referral from Cambridgeshire Police on November 10. Anthony Williams, 32, is due to go on trial in October in connection with a number of alleged offences connected to the Huntingdon train attack on November 1 last year and other incidents in the weeks before The 6.25pm service from Doncaster to London King's Cross halted at Huntingdon station in Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire Police have been contacted for a comment. Williams was psychotic and had been transferred to a psychiatric intensive unit, a hearing was told in February. A further hearing at Cambridge Crown Court in April heard that he was now fit to plead but 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 October 26. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.