Notts Police has referred part of its response to Tuesday’s attacks to the policing watchdog after it emerged a van being driven by the suspect was being followed by a marked car when it hit and injured two pedestrians.
The force also says the suspect being questioned is a former University of Nottingham student, although officers say they do not believe this is connected.
Detectives have been granted an extension until Friday morning to further detain and question the man held in connection with the fatal stabbings of two students and a school caretaker.
Notts Police also released further information about the incidents in an update on Thursday, saying detectives are still building a picture of what happened in the hour and a half between the first incident on Ilkeston Road at 4am and the arrest of the 31-year-old man an hour and a half later.
The new information provides a more detailed picture of the series of events. Police now believe;
- The fatal knife attacks on University of Nottingham students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, occur just after 4am on Tuesday.
- Following this, officers say the attacker then made his way by foot to a supported living complex in Mapperley Road but was denied entry. This was not reported to police at the time.
- They believe the attacker then continued on foot to Magdala Road, where he kills 65-year-old school taker Ian Coates and steals his van.
- The attacker then attempted to run over a man in the Milton Street area, who remains in a serious condition in hospital.
- The attacker then tried to run over two other pedestrians in the South Sherwood Street area, close to the Theatre Royal, who are believed to have suffered minor injuries.
- A 31-year-old man was then tasered and arrested at around 5.30am in Bentinck Road.
Of the South Sherwood Street incident, Notts Police said: “We have referred this part of the incident to the IOPC, as a marked police car followed behind the suspect’s van for a short distance before it collided with the two pedestrians.”
The IOPOC is the Independent Office of Police Conduct, the national watchdog for policing.
It is common for police forces to refer themselves to the organisation if a member of the public is injured by a vehicle which is part of any kind of police pursuit. The IOPC will then decide if any further action is necessary.
An IOPC spokesman told Notts TV: “We are assessing the referral to decide what further action may be required of the IOPC.”
The force added: “We are still working alongside Counter Terrorism Policing and keeping an ‘open mind’ on the motives behind these attacks.
“The suspect is a former University of Nottingham student but at this time, it is not believed to be connected with the attack.”
