Families of Nottingham attack victims to meet PM in push for statutory inquiry
Families of Nottingham attack victims to meet PM in push for statutory inquiry
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The families of the Nottingham attacker’s victims will meet the Prime Minister next week to push for a judge-led statutory inquiry into the killings. Valdo Calocane killed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates before attempting to kill three other people in a spate of attacks in the city in June 2023. A report released this week set out in detail the contact he had with mental health services before the killing spree and highlighted failings in his care.
The victims’ families 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.
Downing Street has said Sir Keir is committed to a judge-led inquiry and has not ruled out a public inquiry with full statutory powers. Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order over the attacks. Prosecutors accepted his not guilty pleas to murder after medical evidence showed he had paranoid schizophrenia. He was later sentenced for manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and attempted murder.
An independent review commissioned by NHS England found that the offer of care and treatment available for him “was not always sufficient to meet his needs” and 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 revealed that he was not forced to have long-lasting antipsychotic medication because he did not like needles. Mrs Webber said: “It has been a long and traumatic battle for the families. “But we are glad to finally have the opportunity to meet with the PM and senior Cabinet ministers, in what we hope will be the moment we get confirmation that the already promised public inquiry is going to be statutory.
“Meaning that it has the ‘teeth’ it needs to ensure all organisations, institutions and individuals involved in the care, treatment of Calocane, and the investigation and prosecution of his crimes, are finally made to tell 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.”.
