The horrific Huntingdon stabbing is a “sad indictment of our society” as such incidents increasingly become “normalised” in Britain, a security expert told GB News.
The former Head of National Counter Terrorism Security Office Chris Phillips reacted to the knife attack which took place aboard a train from Doncaster to London King’s Cross.
Now, Mr Phillips has given his grim verdict on the state of Britain after the gruesome attack, telling GBNews: “It’s just becoming more and more normalised, this kind of incident, which is a sad indictment on our society, to be quite honest.
“Our society is incredibly safe. However, we are getting far more of these types of incidents. And yes, we don’t know what the motivation is at the moment.
“”We are getting more and more of these types of serious incidents using knives, and that’s a big concern.
“The police have been hollowed out to such an extent that there are just not enough of them available to give a high visibility policing consistently.
“They can do it for short periods of time, but they can’t do it consistently.”
His comments come as Conservative chairman Kevn Hollinrake also admitted his party was wrong to cut police numbers.
Mr Hollinrake was pressed on the issue by Andrew Pierce on GB News’ political show Camilla Tominey Today.
Asked if it was wrong to have cut numbers he told GB News: “Yeah it was, it was a mistake and I think we thought we could control crime by other means. We were trying to protect the public funds, but it was a mistake. That’s the reality. We’ve now said we’ll increase numbers and we need them to be visible.”
Pressed on whether all police should all be given tasers he said: “I’m not experienced in operational policing but that sounds eminently sensible to me. Any officer who had to deal with a situation like yesterday to not send them with anything seems wrong. Having access to a taser seems very sensible.”
Meanwhile the heroic bravery of everyday Britons has been praised in the aftermath of the gruesome train attack on Saturday evening.
On Sunday morning in the wake of the attack, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mayor Paul Bristow lauded “everyday people doing extraordinary things”.
He further paid tribute to the gentleman who reportedly sheltered a young girl from the Cambridgeshire train stabbings suspect.
It is believed that, on Saturday night, a man with a large knife went on a bloody rampage through the high-speed train after it departed Peterborough station in Cambridgeshire.
Ten individuals sustained injuries and were subsequently taken to hospital, while two continue to fight for their lives.
Delivering an update, superintendent John Loveless told GB News: “I would like to thank the public personally for their patience and their cooperation yesterday evening, which is already greatly assisted our investigation through the help the public attended, as well as the multi-agency response partners from colleagues in other blue light services.
“I’d like to extend my thanks to our colleagues within Cambridgeshire Police, the East of England Ambulance Service, Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service and counter-terrorism policing.”
