.
Hyperlinks

Big things are happening! 🎉 Follow us on Facebook and stay in the loop: Facebook Click Here


Published On: Fri, Jun 13th, 2025

Nottingham attack families honour victims on emotional memorial walk 2 years on | UK | News


Nottingham attack anniversary

PA Best Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber (centre left) and Dr Sanjoy Kumar, the father of G (Image: PA)

A series of “cover-ups” and “mistruths” have been made surrounding the healthcare provided to Nottingham triple killer Valdo Calocane before his stabbing rampage, the heartbroken mother of one of his victims has claimed.

Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, killed three people – 19-year-old students Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates – and attempted to kill three more in Nottingham in June 2023. Today the grieving families staged a memorial walk to re-trace their loved-ones final steps before they encountered knife-wielding killer.

They were joined by family and friends, including a number of students with whom Barnaby and Grace had enjoyed their first year away from home at university when their lives were brutally cut short. And Sharon Miller and Wayne Birkett, who were struck by a van driven by Calocane later the same morning, also joined the families as they walk to lay flowers where “their loved ones fell”.

Valdo Calocane's treatment report

(left to right) Ian, Barnaby and Grace (Image: PA)

Nottingham attack anniversary

Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber laying flowers on Ilkeston Road in Nottingham, to mark the (Image: PA)

The families wore green and gold to represent the University of Nottingham and red for Nottingham Forest, the football team supported by Mr Coates.

Ms O’Malley-Kumar and Mr Webber were stabbed to death in Ilkeston Road as they walked home from a night out in the city in the early hours.

Calocane then went on to kill Mr Coates in Magdala Road, before stealing his van and driving it into Mrs Miller, Mr Birkett and Marcin Gawronski in the city centre.

The memorial walk, to Ilkeston Road and Magdala Road, took 90 minutes.

Prior to the walk, Emma Webber, the mother of Mr Webber, said: “We will walk in love and respect to the two locations that cost our children and father their lives.

“We will lay flowers with our love and memories of three wonderful human beings.”

Dr Sanjoy Kumar, the father of Ms O’Malley-Kumar, added: “We will walk down the street in defiance of anyone who causes terror, anyone who hurts people.

Valdo Calocane's treatment report

Nottingham triple killer Valdo Calocane (Image: PA)

Nottingham attack anniversary

(left to right) David Webber the father of Barnaby Webber, Dr Sanjoy Kumar and Dr Sinead O’Malley th (Image: PA)

“We are going to go and bow our heads and lay a rose where our beloved daughter fell.”

In a joint statement, the three families said they had “received so much compassion and care from so many that they will continue to garner strength from a show of love”.

Meanwhile, a memorial garden to remember Mr Coates was unveiled at the school where he worked as a caretaker, attended by Mr Coates’ sons James and Lee.

The garden at Huntingdon Academy was built after a fundraising day and with the help of local businesses.

Becky Riley, head of school, said: “The memorial garden has been a true community act of kindness.

“Local businesses have given their time and resources to help us create this special space.”

A February report into the care received by the former Nottingham University student detailed how he was not forced to have long-lasting antipsychotic medication because he did not like needles, and how other patients at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust also went on to commit “extremely serious” acts of violence.

Families of the victims met with Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Monday where they demanded the names of staff involved in treating Calocane to be made public.

Nottingham attack anniversary

Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber (left) and Dr Sanjoy Kumar, the father of Grace O’Malley K (Image: PA)

Nottingham attack anniversary

Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber (left) and Dr Sinead O’Malley, the mother of Grace O’Malle (Image: PA)

Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on the second anniversary of the attack, Barnaby Webber’s mother Emma Webber said of Calocane’s care: “We quite often say, imagine anything that could go wrong, did go wrong and Wes Streeting actually, to quote him, he said ‘sunlight is the best disinfectant’.

“That’s appropriate but, actually, I would say it’s simpler than that.

“I think truth is and once you’ve got the truth, then you’ve got somewhere to begin, and we’re still getting cover-ups, we’re still getting mistruths and we’re still getting those push-aside emails ‘well, the trust will deal with that, or the inquiry will deal with that’.

“But, no, we’re not going to stop.

“I don’t know when they’ll learn that we will not stop until we get those answers.”

Ms Webber added that the families’ calls for transparency were “not a witch hunt”.

She said: “I’m sure it can come across that we as families are just so vociferous in finding answers and trying to deal with our grief and our anger and rage at what happened.

“But it’s much deeper than that, and it’s greater than that, because there are individuals out there that they’re posing a risk themselves, but they’re posing a risk to the public, and we’re not on a witch hunt in what we’re doing.

“We do have the statutory inquiry coming up but that shouldn’t stop individuals who, just as basic as failing to do their jobs properly, from being held to account, and that’s through the professional means.

Nottingham attack anniversary

David Webber, the father of Barnaby Webber lays flowers on Ilkeston Road in Nottingham, to mark the (Image: PA)

“I cannot understand how the NHS have not been able to confirm that anyone has had any disciplinary action against them for what they did or didn’t do during his care.”

Grace O’Malley-Kumar’s father, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, told the programme that the families do not have “detailed answers” and called for “full transparency” and “true accountability”.

He said: “At this juncture, I think it’s turned into a national representation case for us, because I think what we’ve realised is that every family that goes through a horrific tragedy like us, they’re not given answers, and they’re given a lot of kerfuffle about what happened when, that’s all very interesting, the timelines are interesting, but what we want is true accountability.

“Because when we have accountability, we can then have change and positive change for the country, and we’ve not had that, and that’s been really, really frustrating.”

The father earlier told Good Morning Britain how his daughter was having the “best year of her life” when she died.

He said: “Grace loved coming up to Nottingham. She loved the people of Nottingham, she loved the university, she was having the best year of her life.

Nottingham attack anniversary

Dr Sanjoy Kumar, the father of Grace O’Malley Kumar at St Paul’s Church, Nottingham, to mark the sec (Image: PA)

“She was playing her hockey and she was studying her medical degree, she was going to be a doctor in Nottingham, the best year of her life, and it was so horrifically taken away from her.

“The people of Nottingham have been incredible and we’d really like to thank everyone for their support that they have given us, and they’ve taken us to their hearts.”

Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January 2024 after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility and attempted murder.

He was admitted to hospital and sectioned under the Mental Health Act four times between 2020 and 2022 because of his violent behaviour and refusal to take his medication, before NHS services lost track of him and discharged him in the months before the attacks.

Three reports, including one by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), described failings in his care but none included practitioners’ names, Dr Kumar said after meeting Mr Streeting.

Ms Webber said she had a “visceral reaction” to returning to the city, adding that “feels almost like it was yesterday” that the attack happened.

-

Wayne Birkett Nottingham attacks survivor (Image: BBC)

Nottingham attack inquiry

Nottingham attack survivor Sharon Miller and partner Martin (Image: PA)

She added that the group wanted to “walk in peace and love”, and that anyone who wanted to join was “very welcome”.

In a statement, Ifti Majid, chief executive of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are committed to giving our fullest co-operation and support to the Nottingham Inquiry which has already begun to request documentary evidence from ourselves and other organisations in relation to the devastating events of June 2023.

“It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”



Source link

Leave a comment

XHTML: You can use these html tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>