Nottingham attack: Valdo Calocane victims failed by ‘every single agency,’ bereaved families say

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The victims of the 2023 Nottingham attack were failed by “every single agency”, their families have said as they call on the government to act on failings exposed in a public inquiry.

Emma Webber, the mother of student Barnaby Webber, who was stabbed to death by Valdo Calocane, told a press conference on Monday: “A monster was left at large in the shadows to stalk his prey. For months, we’ve sat through the statutory public inquiry and watched the evidence unfold. It has been brutal, bruising, and harrowing beyond measure, but it was so very necessary. Just look at what it has uncovered. Every single agency failed. Every single one. Without exception.

“Mental health services fail to treat and manage. Police repeatedly failed to act. Agencies didn’t talk. Individuals chose to look the other way. Warnings were ignored. People chose not to care or be curious. And the fear of stigma and bias was placed above safety and duty. And when it went wrong, too many closed ranks. Instead of owning their mistakes.”

Speaking alongside the families of Calocane’s three other victims, Ms Webber called for a meeting with the government within the next month.

Calocane, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, killed history student Barnaby Webber, aspiring medic Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and caretaker Ian Coates, 65, in Nottingham in June 2023. He then stole Mr Coates’s van and drove into three other people – Wayne Birkett, Sharon Miller, and Marcin Gawronski – leaving them seriously injured.

A public inquiry began hearing evidence in February and heard its final evidence last week.

Failings by both the NHS and police have been exposed throughout the hearings, including the fact that months before the killings, Calocane was discharged by Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust’s Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) service because he failed to turn up for appointments, and the team had “lost” him.

Calocane had been sectioned four times while under the care of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT), before he was discharged to his GP in 2022.

He was convicted in January 2024 of manslaughter and attempted murder, based on diminished responsibility and sentenced to an indefinite hospital order at Ashworth High Security mental health hospital.

The families of Grace, Barnaby and Ian have said Calocane should have faced a murder conviction rather than manslaughter based on diminished responsibility.

Webber said they want to speak with the PM, the attorney general, the home secretary, and the justice minister.

“This isn’t about vengeance. It’s about doing the right thing, writing this grievous wrong and changing the systems that failed. The excuses stop here, and accountability starts today,” she said.

Dr Sinade O’Mally Kumar, Grace’s mother, has called for the professional regulator, the General Medical Council, to examine the failures of the psychiatrists involved in Calocane’s care.

She said: “I blame the psychiatrist for discharging him without so much as a decent discharge letter to his GP or risk assessment.

“I believe that’s where a lot of the fault lies. And in my view, as a doctor myself, I will never forgive them for their lack of treatment and their incompetent discharge.”

“I don’t believe they’re fit to practice, and I will happily go on the record and say that I do not believe they’re fit to practice, and I think the regulator doesn’t need to take a look at some of these psychiatrists.”

The sons of Ian Coates have said there has been a “lack of candour and blatant cover-ups” from authorities over Calocane

Lee Coates said: “What we have endured in this inquiry, whilst leaving us with many more questions, [has] shown the catastrophic failures from all services and agencies involved. It has shown a lack of candour and blatant cover ups”.

More to follow…