"Nottingham Attack Victims' Families to Urge Starmer for Inquiry"

February 08, 2025
It's reported the families will raise the demand for an inquiry into the Nottingham killings
  • A report released this week revealed startling failures in the mental health treatment of Valdo Calocane before he killed three people.

Next week, the distraught relatives of the three victims who were stabbed to death on the streets of Nottingham will meet with Sir Keir Starmer to demand a statutory investigation into their killings, headed by a judge.

In a series of attacks in the city in June 2023, Valdo Calocane killed 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates and 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar before attempting to kill three more.

This week, a study was made public that detailed his interactions with mental health professionals prior to his killing spree and exposed startling shortcomings in his treatment.

Among the startling admissions made in the report, it was said paranoid schizophrenic Calocane avoided mandatory long-term antipsychotic treatment because of "him not liking needles".

It's reported the families of the three people killed by Calocane will meet Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday afternoon at Downing Street.

Mr Webber's mother Emma Webber said the families hope the meeting will confirm that the promised inquiry has the "teeth" to make sure all those involved in Calocane's care leading up to the attack and those who investigated it are "finally made to tell the truth".

Radd Seiger, adviser to the families, said they have been invited to No. 10 to discuss next steps.

According to Downing Street, Sir Keir has not ruled out a public investigation with full statutory authority and is dedicated to a judge-led investigation.

For the attacks, Calocane received a term of an indefinite hospital order. His not guilty pleas to murder were accepted by the prosecution when it was shown by medical evidence that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

He was later found guilty of attempted murder and manslaughter by reason of diminished culpability.

NHS England commissioned an independent review, which concluded that the care and treatment he was receiving "was not always sufficient to meet his needs" and that this was "not unique" to his case.

It detailed two years of violent and disturbing behaviour, four hospital admissions between 2020 and 2022 and multiple contacts with community teams before he was discharged to his GP because of a lack of interaction with mental health services.

It also showed that because he disliked needles, he was not compelled to take long-term antipsychotic medication.

Mrs. Webber stated: "The families have had to endure a protracted and distressing struggle.

"However, we are happy to have the chance to meet with the prime minister and key cabinet members at last. We hope that this will be the time when we receive assurance that the public inquiry that has been promised will become a formal requirement.

"This means that it has the 'teeth' necessary to make sure that everyone who is engaged in Calocane's care, treatment, and the investigation and prosecution of his crimes is forced to speak the truth.

"It has to be a watershed moment in this country to hold those who fail to account, address miscarriages of justice and, crucially, bring in changes needed to keep the public safe and make sure this can never happen again."

Mr Seiger said Calocane "should simply not have been out on the streets free to wreak havoc".

He said the inquiry must be a judge-led statutory inquiry where witnesses are compelled to attend to give evidence.

Mr Seiger added: "The families will not stop in the name of their loved ones until a light is shone on exactly what went wrong at every step of the way that led to the killings in Nottingham, that those responsible are held fully to account, and that steps are taken once and for all to ensure atrocities like this never happen again."