When the man with the knife first stepped into Ritzy Barbers in Peterborough, no one could have imagined what would happen just a day later.
For the shop’s owner, Ibrahim Wanas, that moment still plays over in his mind — a haunting what if that he can’t quite shake.
He’s convinced that the Huntingdon train stabbing, which left ten people injured, might have been prevented if police had acted faster.
“If they’d taken us seriously,” he said quietly, “maybe those people wouldn’t have been hurt.”
A Close Call Inside Ritzy Barbers
It was just another Friday evening at the small barbershop in Fletton when a man walked in looking agitated.
According to staff, he mumbled to himself, repeating, “It was feds, it was feds,” before trying to sit down.
They asked him to leave, but he returned moments later with a plastic bag in hand — and this time, things took a terrifying turn.
CCTV footage shows the man suddenly pulling out a large knife, shouting obscenities, and pacing inside the shop as customers scrambled for safety.
One client was so terrified that he locked himself in the back kitchen and began to pray.
Barber Cody Greene, 23, remembers that moment vividly.
“I saw the knife in his hand through the mirror,” he recalled. “All I could think was to protect my client.
He was just a step or two away from slashing someone.”
“We Could Have Been the Victims”
Mr. Wanas wasn’t in the shop that night, but when he received a panicked phone call from Greene, his first reaction was disbelief.
“It was Halloween — I thought they were joking,” he admitted.
“But then I heard the fear in his voice.”
He rushed to the shop to find his staff shaken but unharmed.
Ninety minutes had passed since the incident, yet when he called police, officers said they wouldn’t be coming because the suspect had already fled.
They were simply told to upload their CCTV footage online.
The following morning, the nightmare continued. The same man appeared outside the barbershop again, peering through the window.
Staff immediately recognized him and called police a second time. This time, it took 18 minutes for officers to arrive — long enough for the man to vanish once more.
Hours Later, The Train Attack Unfolded
Just that evening, reports started flooding in — a knifeman had stabbed multiple passengers aboard an LNER train heading toward King’s Cross.
The suspect, later identified as Anthony Williams, 32, from Peterborough, was arrested and charged with 11 counts of attempted murder.
For Mr. Wanas and his team, the realization hit hard.
“We didn’t realize until days later that we could have been victims ourselves,” he said.
“If the police had come sooner, maybe he’d have been in custody instead of on that train.”
A Growing Pattern of Violence
Police later confirmed that the train attack was linked to four other knife-related incidents, including both encounters at Ritzy Barbers and an earlier stabbing of a 14-year-old boy in Peterborough city centre that same night.
CCTV footage obtained by the Daily Mail showed the man entering the shop just minutes after that stabbing, behaving erratically and muttering to himself.
When he drew the knife, the shop erupted into chaos.
“He looked empty,” Greene remembered. “Like the lights were on, but nobody was home.
I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Fear, Frustration, and Questions That Won’t Go Away
Even now, the barbers say they’re struggling to move past the trauma — and the frustration.
“We feel let down,” said Wanas. “We called twice, we did what we were supposed to do.
If someone had come sooner, maybe this would have ended differently.”
It wasn’t until two days later, after the train attack, that officers came in person to review the CCTV footage. “That’s when it clicked,” said Wanas.
“We realised — it was the same guy. It could have been us.”
Police Response and Ongoing Investigation
Cambridgeshire Police later acknowledged the timeline of events, stating that the matter had been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) but “did not meet the threshold for a referral.”
An internal review is ongoing to determine if there were any failures in handling the earlier reports.
The broader investigation has since been taken over by British Transport Police, who are now leading inquiries into Williams’ series of violent attacks.
For Ibrahim Wanas and his staff, the relief that they survived is mixed with guilt and frustration.
“We’re grateful to be alive,” he said softly, “but we can’t help thinking — maybe all of this could have been stopped.”