Barnaby Webber's mum calls for public inquiry after Nottingham killer handed indefinite order for manslaughter
27 January 2024, 00:07 | Updated: 27 January 2024, 00:27
Barnaby Webber's mum has called for a public inquiry into the deaths of her son, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates, who were killed by Valdo Calocane.
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The trio were killed by Calocane, a paranoid schizophrenic, in the early hours of June 13 in Nottingham city centre.
Calocane went on to try and kill several more after stealing Mr Coates' van and mowing people down in the street.
It has since emerged that Calocane was wanted by police following a number of assaults. He had also been sectioned four times.
“Questions must be asked, answers must be given and, where appropriate, lessons must be learned,” Ms Webber told The Times.
It comes after Colocane was detained in a high-security hospital after being charged with manslaughter instead of murder due to diminished responsibility.
The Attorney General will review the case following a complaint, but Barnaby's mum is still calling for a public inquiry.
“If you had kids you would do anything to make sure justice was served,” she added.
It comes after the the brother of Grace told LBC that his family would welcome a public inquiry as he said the police chief has ‘blood on his hands’.
Speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Grace’s brother James O’Malley-Kumar said that his family has been “let down’ after police admitted they could have "done more" to stop Calocane.
Asked if his family would welcome a public inquiry into the case, he said: “Of course, as I said, we do not think justice has been served.
“We want investigations to carry on because we have been let down by CPS, the NHS and also the police.
“Chief Constable Rob Griffin has blood on his hands, he told us they’d done everything they could and then within 24 hours said they could have done a lot more.
“There was a warrant for this man for nine months and it’s a complete failing of the police that he was still on the streets in June.
“I think he would have been put in front of Magistrates and put back in the mental health system. And that could have possibly meant he was not roaming the streets on June 13 and Grace could’ve still been here.”
But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refused to say on Thursday if he would order a public inquiry into the case.
Candid interview with brother of Nottingham victim Grace O'Malley-Kumar
On Friday, Barnaby's mum, Emma, described the harrowing moment she was told her son had died while their family holiday lodge in north Cornwall.
Ms Webber was on a work call with colleagues at around 9am on June 13, the day Barnaby was killed by Valco Calacone, when she heard about an 'incident' that had happened in Nottingham.
While initially thinking Barnaby was probably hungover, she still went to check if her son was okay by looking his location on a phone-tracker app.
It showed he was on a road they "never heard of before" and so called him for five minutes straight. He didn't answer.
Barnaby's friends the confirmed to Ms Webber that he wasn't in his room at university halls.
"Almost at that exact moment it came up on the news that the incident had taken place in Ilkeston Road. Dave said, 'Barney's phone is in Ilkeston Road.'," she told MailOnline.
Ms Webber and Barnaby's dad, David, called the police and immediately left Cornwall for Nottingham.
They got four miles down the road when they received a phone call every parent dreads.
"Your mind starts racing. You still have hope. Maybe he was a witness. Maybe he's just been injured. We pulled over into a pub car park which is when I heard the words 'deceased', 'driving licence' and 'Barnaby'," Ms Webber went on.
"Everything started to go black. I can't remember if I was sick, but I got out of the car, fell to my knees on the gravel and screamed.
"Dave was banging and banging the dashboard. I heard the police officer say, 'You need to go to your wife and make sure she's ok.' After that everything went still and cold. I was almost devoid of feeling. I didn't even know how to breathe."
It comes after Calocane, a paranoid schizophrenic, was handed an indefinite order for killing Barnaby, as well as his friend, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, and school caretaker Ian Coates.
The killer was originally charged with murder but his charge was later downgraded to manslaughter due to his schizophrenia.
The families of the Calocane's victims have heavily criticised the Crown Prosecution Service, claiming they were "railroaded" into accepting the manslaughter plea.
Following a complaint that his sentence was too lenient, Victoria Prentis, the Attorney General, will review the case and could send it to the Court of Appeal for judges to decide whether an indefinite order is appropriate.
