Nottingham attack victims' families slam 'farcical' probe into officers' failure to investigate killer's earlier assault
24 February 2025, 06:23
The families of the victims of the triple-murder in Nottingham have hit out the "farcical" investigation into officers who failed to properly investigate a previous assault by the killer.
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Loved ones of 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates, who were killed by Valdo Calocane in summer 2023, said that misconduct proceedings should not go ahead against the officers because of "significant errors" in the police watchdog's probe of the case.
An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) report found that officers failed to properly investigate an assault on warehouse workers by Calocane which could have stopped his murder spree a month later.
But the three Leicestershire Police officers will face a maximum punishment of a final written warning, because they will be in a misconduct meeting rather than a more serious misconduct hearing.
In a statement, the families said they have requested a meeting with Leicestershire Police because no member of the "senior leadership team... (has) reached out or communicated with us".
They said they have only been invited to attend Wednesday's proceedings on an audio link in "an entirely separate room".
The statement said: "We are deeply concerned that the misconduct meeting that relates to the failures of three officers to act following a serious incident that took place with Valdo Calocane in May 2023, a month before he embarked upon his killing spree of our loved ones, is flawed, hastened and incomplete.
"We have been forced to sign non-disclosure agreements in relation to the evidence and investigation that has taken place between the IOPC and these three individuals.
"The detail makes shocking reading.
"However the detail and quality of this investigation, recommendations and conduct of the IOPC falls well short of expectations.
"There are many areas that have not been fully explored, there are inconsistencies, duplications, significant errors and vital omissions.
"We raised these concerns and further questions with the IOPC in November last year.
"Despite our repeated efforts, via the appropriate channels of our legal team, these remain largely ignored, brushed over or partially answered."
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The families continued: "We question how this farcical misconduct meeting can proceed.
"It is not acceptable that the watchdog who should be there to gather the full truth, impartially, in order to uphold the standard we expect of our police officers, should be able to behave in this manner.
"We have asked that the meeting is postponed until full disclosure has been made available.
"Should this request be denied then we will be attending the meeting.
"An invitation was not openly extended to us as interested parties.
"Again it came through a number of requests via our legal team."
Confirming they had approached the force for a meeting, the families said: "We have been advised it is a private employment meeting and as such we are permitted to attend with minimal representation allowed from each family and that we are to sit in an entirely separate room with audio links only.
"At no point during the past 18 months has any member of the Leicestershire senior leadership team, chief constable included, or the crime commissioner for Leicestershire, reached out or communicated with us.
"We have advised we wish to meet with them following the meeting on Wednesday, a request that as yet has not been acknowledged.
"We may have the confirmation of an imminent statutory inquiry, where once more this matter will be raised in detail.
"However it saddens us that an agency such as our own police force can behave so poorly.
"We seek only the truth. It is not a witch hunt.
"But those who failed to do their jobs properly should hold their hands up and provide full candour and be held to account for their actions."
A spokesman for the IOPC said: "We completed our investigation in September last year and concluded that three officers should attend misconduct meetings.
"As these are yet to take place, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time."
