‘Show respect’, Nottingham victim’s mum urges over graphic post

The mother of Nottingham attacks victim Barnaby Webber has urged a police staff member who wrote a graphic post about the killings to “show the respect that was not given to her son”.

Emma Webber has written an open letter to members of a police WhatsApp group where the message was published.

Mr Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and 65-year-old Ian Coates were fatally stabbed on 13 June 2023.

Nottinghamshire Police told The Times a police staff member had been dismissed.

Valdo Calocane, 32, carried out the fatal stabbings with a dagger in Nottingham, and attempted to kill three others.

In January he was given an indefinite hospital order for manslaughter by diminished responsibility, after Nottingham Crown Court heard he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

In the letter, Mrs Webber addressed several graphic messages that were put into the group as she offered them the space to discuss.

Speaking directly to the author of the message, she said: “I pray you will read this and pause for a while. Dig a little deeper for compassion and care. Show the respect in the future that you did not afford Barney.

“My aim is not to cause undue shame, or to have anyone publicly vilified; there’s no need to add yet more pain; I just hope that by reaching out to educate and explain, my voice might make a difference.

“If you feel able and wish to make contact know that you can and it will be kept fully private. I have written this open letter only because of the actions of your Chief Constable (Kate Meynell) and her senior leadership team.”

A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police told The Times: “A member of police staff has been dismissed following a gross misconduct hearing on April 5 for the misuse of force systems and breaching data protection by accessing information relating to recent homicide investigations.

“The investigation showed that the police staff member used police systems to research the offender, Valdo Calocane.

“There was no evidence that she viewed body-worn video or CCTV in relation to the case.

“All hearings relating to police staff misconduct are held in private. It would be inappropriate to comment further due to the ongoing independent investigation by the IOPC and the review by the College of Policing.”