A recording of a call made by passenger Stephen Crean, a Reds fan for more than 50 years, was played in court

The heroic Nottingham Forest fan who confronted a man who stabbed 10 people on a train in Cambridgeshire described him as being on a “mission” during the attack, a trial has been told.

A recording of a call made by passenger Stephen Crean, a Reds fan for more than 50 years, was played to the jury on Thursday (October 29).

During the call, the court was told he said “I need help” and “I’m scared” from a toilet he locked himself inside until police knocked on the door at Huntingdon station.

The court was shown footage of Mr Crean confronting 33-year-old Anthony Williams on November 1, 2025, after telling others to shut the door and stay hidden in a cafe bar area of the train, when he was stabbed to his back, hip, fingers and head.

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC told Cambridge Crown Court: “Mr Crean had no knife, no weapon, and looked, he will tell you, the defendant in the eyes, and Mr Crean says the defendant said something he will never forget. It was these words, ‘Do you want to die?’”

The Londoner had boarded the LNER service from Doncaster to London King's Cross in Grantham, whilst travelling home from the 2-2 draw with Manchester United at the City Ground earlier that day.

The court was told Mr Crean described Williams as being on a “mission” during the attack, and that their interaction “was like Come Dancing, it was like we were all over the place”.

Raza Aslam, a fellow passenger, heard people say a man was saying "the devil won't win", before he saw Williams with a knife, the court was told.

Mr Paxton said car delivery driver Mr Aslam grabbed a frying pan but was stabbed in the hand by Williams and felt an "immediate loss of energy from his arm".

Mr Paxton said Samir Zitouni, who was working on the train, started throwing things at the defendant and "saved" Mr Aslam's life.

The prosecutor said Mr Aslam told police Williams "had the greatest delight on his face".

Mr Aslam said: "I saw his eyes expand with pleasure. I saw the contempt on his face, like a person who's high. He was just loving every single moment. He loved seeing us in desperation."

Another passenger, Scott Green, was travelling with his dog Poppy when he heard something he thought was a "scrap", Mr Paxton said.

He said Mr Green "felt a jab to his left side, then he saw a knife, then he saw the defendant".

Mr Green told police he thought "I have to get the knife" and "I've gone to grab the knife, and I remember the pain".

He said he "tried to yank it, but I couldn't remove it" and remembered the "sharpness".

He said his dog started barking and Williams had "done a runner and the last I saw was him running down the aisle".

Mr Paxton said it seemed that Poppy "saved the day" for Mr Green. The prosecutor said the defendant had previously been "bitten by a dog" in an "unrelated incident".

He said Mr Green took his dog and ran the other way along the train, and a woman pulled them to safety in a toilet.

The service had left Peterborough at about 7.29pm and was stopped at Huntingdon train station at 7.44pm by the "quick thinking" train driver.

Williams denies the attempted murders of 10 people on the service. Williams also denies the attempted murders of three people in Peterborough on the evening of October 31, and of a 17-year-old boy at Pontoon Dock DLR station in London in the early hours of November 1.

He has admitted intending to cause harm, but denies 14 counts of attempted murder. The trial continues.

Speaking to the Nottingham Post two days after the brutal incident, Mr Crean insisted he "just did what anyone else would do" and vowed to continue attending Forest games as he had done for 51 years.

He explained his left hand which was stabbed will not fully recover, and he had to take time off work following the incident.