David Pethers, 33, said he and another commuter took on the maniac in Leytonstone, east London to protect passing children as the man attacked his victim with a knife and shouted 'this is for Syria'

An engineer told last night how he fought a terror suspect while fellow Tube passengers filmed on their mobiles.

David Pethers, 33, said he and another commuter took on the knifeman to protect passing children.

The maniac tried to decapitate one victim while shouting ‘This is for Syria’.

Mr Pethers was also slashed in the neck in Saturday night’s incident but managed to keep up the fight until police arrived. ‘There were other adult men standing there, just filming it on their phones,’ he said last night.

‘There were so many opportunities where someone could have grabbed him.’

As counter-terrorism officers continued to question the 29-year-old suspect:

Police said patrols would be stepped up on transport networks;

Officials were examining the mental health background of the knifeman;

A former Scotland Yard boss warned of further attacks by radicalised loners;

The defiant message ‘You ain’t no Muslim, bruv’ swept the internet.

An eyewitness to the attack in Leytonstone, east London, said one victim screamed ‘Help me, help me’ as he was beaten unconscious.

Armed with a craft knife, the heavily-built attacker leapt on top of him and began slashing at his neck as terrified bystanders fled.

‘He was sawing with the knife, like you would cut an onion,’ said Salim Patel, who runs a shop at the station. ‘I could see his hand going back and forward. The knife was about six inches long.

‘It was very scary and everyone ran away from the concourse screaming and shouting. I was calling the police while he was attacking the man.

‘He left and then came back and people who were helping the victim on the floor all ran off. He was away for about five or six minutes.’

Mr Patel, 59, said the assailant was a tall black man with an Arabic accent and ‘who punched like a boxer’.

Police arrived within five minutes and mobile phone footage captured the moment they cornered the knifeman in the ticket hall shouting: ‘Drop it, drop it you fool!’

Arrest: Police officers restrain the attacker after he was brought down by a Taser on Saturday night

One of the four officers fired a Taser stun gun but it had no effect, leaving a second officer to pull the trigger on his weapon

The attacker fell to the floor but retained his grip on the knife until a second 50,000 volt shock forced him to submit to the officers and be handcuffed.

Counter-terrorism officers took command of the investigation amid fears it was inspired by events in France and the Middle East. It is understood police found extremist material during a search of the suspect’s home.

The attack raised further questions over whether police have the manpower and equipment they need to tackle terrorists intent on mass killing.

JIHADI FUNDRAISER FLEES BRITAIN An Islamic State fundraiser has fled Britain despite being on a counter-terrorism list, it was revealed yesterday. Mohammed Khaled, 45, had his assets frozen after security services alleged he was raising money for IS. His disappearance raises questions about Britain’s ability to police borders. Syrian-born Khaled, who had been living with his wife in West London, was believed to be part of a network diverting humanitarian aid meant for refugees to IS. A legal challenge against the asset-freezing order, issued in May, was thrown out when it emerged he had fled. Court papers showed security services asked for the order because of his ‘support and funding’ for IS. The documents said authorities believed Khaled returned to Syria ‘to engage in terrorist activities there’. The Home Office said it did not comment on individual cases. Advertisement

Kevin Hurley, a former senior Metropolitan Police Service officer, said: ‘Even just a few miles from the centre of London, it shows the utter dearth of armed officers in the capital.

‘I would take the view as a former armed officer and soldier that I would have shot him without compunction to save life.’

Ken Marsh, head of the Met Police Federation, says he hopes the confrontation will encourage chiefs to bolster firearms officer numbers more quickly.

‘We are not an armed service,’ he said. ‘But I hope that because of the threat we face we will see more armed response vehicles in boroughs.

‘The Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe is behind that as well. He wants more officers and I hope what we saw on Saturday will speed it up.’

In the wake of the Paris attacks last month Sir Bernard ordered an immediate increase in the number of armed response vehicles patrolling the capital. And he said he wants to double the numbers of his officers who carry firearms to 4,000 after an emergency meeting with those who lead the units. Richard Walton, head of Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: ‘We are not sure exactly what the motive is that lies behind this attack. Obviously urgent inquiries are in place to try to establish it.’

Last night detectives were examining the suspect’s phone and computers to see whether he had accomplices.

They were also looking at his background to determine whether he had recently been treated for mental illness. There were reports online that the knifeman was an unstable and troubled individual often seen on streets near Leytonstone Tube station. British Transport Police chiefs said yesterday that they were increasing the number of armed officers patrolling the transport network.

If terrorism is confirmed, it would be the first attack in Britain since May 2013, when soldier Lee Rigby was murdered outside a London barracks.

Officials have warned for months that a terrorist attack is highly likely. The official threat level is ‘severe’.

Sick bystanders were filming on their phones as I fought off crazed Tube knifeman

by Claire Duffin

An engineer told last night how he desperately fought with the East London Tube terrorist while others stood by and filmed it on their mobile phones.

David Pethers, 33, said he and another commuter used their bodies to block the knifeman in a corner of the station to protect toddlers and children behind.

He turned up at the scene at Leytonstone Station shortly after the fanatic had singled out a middle-aged man carrying a guitar and had beaten him unconscious.

Mr Pethers was also slashed in the neck as he tried to tackle the knifeman but continued to trade blows with him until police arrived and used Tasers to bring him down

Witnesses said the attacker had then pulled out his knife and slashed it ‘forward and backwards’ over the victim’s neck.

Mr Pethers was also slashed in the neck as he tried to tackle the knifeman but continued to trade blows with him until police arrived and used Tasers to bring him down.

In a dramatic account of his ordeal, Mr Pethers told how he shouted to get the attacker’s attention so he did not turn and hurt anyone else but he insisted he was not a hero.

US 'MUST NOT GIVE IN TO FEAR' Barack Obama called on Americans ‘not to give in to fear’ during a speech from the Oval Office early today. In comments released before he addressed the nation, the President said the US was beating Islamic State. He said he was using ‘every single aspect of American power’ to crush the terrorist group. It was only the third time Mr Obama has formally addressed the nation from the Oval Office since he took office. He was also expected to give an update on the investigation into last week’s massacre in San Bernadino, California, that was inspired by IS and left 14 dead and 21 injured. Last night it was reported that the FBI now believes that the California killers Syed Farook, 28, and his wife Tashfeen Malik, 27, were planning multiple attacks. Advertisement

Mr Pethers, however, said he was upset by the fact that several people stood by and recorded the incident on their phones, rather than help. ‘The worst part about it was me and the bloke with the rucksack, we were basically baying for his attention so he would not go for anyone else and there were other adult men standing there, just filming it on their phones.

‘There were so many opportunities where someone could have grabbed him. One guy came up to me afterwards and said “well done, I want to shake your hand, you are the only one who did anything, I got the whole thing on film”.

‘I was so angry, I nearly turned on him but I walked away. I thought “Are you crazy? You are standing there filming and did nothing”. I was really angry afterwards. I had to go for a walk for about two hours to calm down.’

Mr Pethers, a lift engineer, was on his way to his work Christmas party when he walked down the stairs into the station and came across the terrifying scene on Saturday night. The attacker had already seriously wounded one man who was lying in a pool of blood and was pacing up and down the inside the station looking for more victims.

‘I walked down into the station and I saw someone on the floor and blood and a guy who I thought was Somalian shouting and waving a knife,’ he said.

Emergency: Paramedics help the victim into an ambulance outside the Tube station following the incident

‘So I turned round and started shouting at people to get back out of the station. People who were coming into the station, I was telling them to turn around. I noticed the Somalian guy was going after a guy with a rucksack so I started shouting at the bloke with a knife, to get his attention.

‘Then he turned and came towards me. The guy with the rucksack came over and we tried to contain him in the ticket area. We exchanged a few blows, me and the Somalian fella.

‘He cut my neck. I was throwing punches at him and he was swiping the knife at me and the man with the rucksack was doing the same thing, just trying to stop him.’

METAL DETECTORS FOR BRITISH CONCERT HALL A British concert hall has installed airport-style metal detectors as a result of the terror attacks in Paris. Those visiting Wolverhampton Civic Hall will now go through three levels of security before entering the venue – thought to the UK’s most tightly-guarded. Concert-goers must first walk through towering metal detectors before being frisked and having their bags searched. The music venue, in the centre of Wolverhampton, has a capacity of 3,000 and has welcomed the likes of Morrissey and Blur. Next week, comedian Ken Dodd is due to perform. Wolverhampton councillor John Reynolds said: ‘In light of recent events we have taken additional steps to ensure appropriate security measures are in place.’ A member of the hall’s security staff told the Express & Star newspaper: ‘It is in response to what happened at the Bataclan.’ Eighty-nine people were killed at a concert at the Bataclan theatre in Paris last month during the terror attacks in the city. Live Nation, which runs entertainment venues and events including the O2 Academy in Brixton, south London, and Reading music festival, confirmed that it would improve its security in the aftermath of the Paris attacks. Advertisement

He added: ‘It was 7pm, there were children, I’m pretty sure there were babies in buggies. I just thought “I am going to stop this idiot”.’

Mr Pethers said that after a short time, police arrived and someone in the crowd dragged him away. It was at this point he realised he had suffered a four inch knife wound on his neck, under his jaw. Incredibly, he said he then tried to break free to hit the man because he was angry he had stabbed him.

‘Then the police arrived and I think four Taser shots were fired and I think the fourth one hit him, or worked and he went down and the police took over and I kind of sloped off. I’m not exactly sure what happened when the police arrived because someone dragged me back.

‘I saw one, the first policeman, fire his Taser and I don’t know if that missed or it didn’t work but then another police officer came out and shot another Taser and it went like that and I think the third or fourth Taser worked.’

Mr Pethers, who has lived in Leytonstone all his life, said he believed the attacker was on drugs. ‘There was a moment where we locked eyes, and he did seem like he was on something. He was shouting stuff about Syria but that was just one or two remarks…he just looked like a crack addict to me, like he was on something and had just lost it. He was going for people’s necks.

‘I don’t think I was scared, it all happened so fast. My first thought was just to get everyone back.’

But he insisted he was not a hero.

‘I don’t really see it like that. I am glad I did it but at the same time I am not glad I put my family through it. They were really worried.