Marking the one-year anniversary of the attacks, the three families said they will take time to remember their “much-loved family members” while also continuing in their “relentless pursuit for appropriate justice”.
The families of the Nottingham attack victims have said they are “fuelled by anger” as they continue to fight for “lasting change” a year on from the killings.
Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both aged 19, were stabbed repeatedly by Valdo Calocane as they walked home after a night out to celebrate the end of their exams.
The 32-year-old also knifed to death school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, as he made his way to work at Huntingdon Academy in the early hours of 13 June 2023.
The Webber, Coates and O’Malley-Kumar families will today attend a memorial service in Nottingham and relatives will walk down Ilkeston Road and lay flowers where Barnaby and Grace died.
In a joint statement marking the one-year anniversary of the attacks, the three families said they will take time to remember their “much-loved family members” while also continuing in their “relentless pursuit for appropriate justice”.
“We will continue in our relentless pursuit for appropriate justice, individual and organisational accountability, lasting change to our society and laws that will provide improved protection and public safety, appropriate punishment for crimes and improved support for victims and their families,” the statement read.
“As three families we stand united by grief and loss, but fuelled by our anger at the scale of failings, poor policing, weak prosecution, dereliction of duty in medical care and a series of catastrophic missed opportunities that would, and should have stopped these entirely preventable deaths.”
It concluded by saying: “No stone will be left unturned as we continue on our quest for answers, for however long this may take”.
Since the attacks, the three families have intensely criticised Nottinghamshire Police and the Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust after it was revealed Calocane had previously been detained in hospital four times, and a warrant for his arrest had been issued months before the killings.
At the beginning of the year, Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins ordered a special review into the NHS Trust with the aim to provide further answers for the families and to focus on wider issues in mental health care provision in Nottinghamshire.
Similarly, Nottinghamshire Police was asked in March to “urgently produce an improvement plan” after being put into special measures following its handling of the case.
Leicestershire Police is also being investigated by the Independent Office of Police Conduct over contact with the attacker.
‘Killer treated as patient not criminal’
Last month, Emma Webber, Barnaby’s mother, said it will be her family’s “life sentence” to ensure Calocane is never released after the attacker was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
The families tried to appeal the sentence, but the Court of Appeal ruled in May that the sentence was “not unduly lenient” given the medical evidence that showed Calocane has paranoid schizophrenia.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
