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‘The first little bit of closure’: Families say Nottingham attacks inquiry will have power to change the system

By Lauren Monaghan, Junior Local Democracy Reporter

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The Prime Minister has agreed to a full statutory public inquiry into ‘systemic’ healthcare failings that led to the June 2023 Nottingham attacks.

The families of the three people who were fatally stabbed by Valdo Calocane met Sir Keir Starmer, alongside the Home Secretary, the Health Secretary and the Attorney General today (February 12).

Paranoid schizophrenic Calocane killed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, with a knife as they walked home from a night out before fatally stabbing 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates.

He then stole and used Mr Coates’ van to inflict serious injuries to three pedestrians – Wayne Birkett, Marcin Gawronski and Sharon Miller.

A full statutory inquiry has legal power to call upon witnesses to provide information and evidence on an event.

Downing Street previously said Sir Keir was committed to a judge-led inquiry and was not ruling out a public inquiry will full statutory powers.

Today the Prime Minister “held to his promise”, the families said, and confirmed a judge-led statutory inquiry into the killings will start this year.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service outside Downing Street, Emma Webber, mother of Barnaby, said: “There was one word we were waiting to hear and that was statutory.

“It’s not a witch hunt, it’s about holding people to account, holding organisations and systems to account.

“And if we don’t do that things won’t change.”

Calocane was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in July 2020 and, between May 2020 and February 2022, he had six mental health assessments leading to four hospital detentions.

Following the attacks in June 2023, he was sentenced to an indefinite secure hospital order in January 2024.

An independent 302-page report reviewing Calocane’s NHS care and treatment by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and other services was published on February 5 by NHS England.

It found damning evidence of failings into Caloncane’s care such as him easily avoiding vital mental health medication and care decisions not being shared between responsible parties.

Responding to the report and mental health trust, Mrs Webber said: “Hearing the statement that the mental health trust made about extreme changes being made- I then got a catalogue of private messages from individuals still living in Nottingham who are under their care, or actually lack of care.

“Those people cannot go ignored and I can’t be their campaigner, we have to address this across the whole country.”

James Coates, son of Ian, speaking of the NHS report, and the statutory inquiry said:  “We’ve seen the last few weeks – Nottinghamshire mental health and Nottinghamshire Police are absolute rock bottom failures.

“Now there will be some changes, it won’t be a case of just an apology and ‘we’ll try better’, there will be changes made so people in the future people don’t have to stand in the shoes that we’re in.”

Lee Coates, another of Ian’s sons, said the acceptance of the inquiry is “the first little bit of closure that I’ve felt since the last year and a half”.

He added: “You can’t just say he didn’t turn up to an appointment and no one chased it up, we spoke to the Secretary of State today and he says that’s changing.”

The full inquiry now means a new independent judge will be appointed as part of it, with families suggesting this is likely to be within the next two months.

The families also say the inquiry will most likely take place in London, but Lee Coates says there will be “discussions with the families”.

The families have been told the inquiry will take two years to complete.

The report into the mental health trust made 27 key findings about Calocane’s care and the healthcare system responsible for it, with two recommendations for national change and 10 for Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust.

It reads: “Whilst decisions made were thought to be appropriate by those involved at the point at which they were made, what appears to be missing is shared decision making across all teams involved in VC’s (Valdo Calocane’s) care.”

According to the report, the risk Calocane posed was “not fully understood, managed, documented or communicated” and his missing of medication was sometimes “explained away by his misunderstanding of the number of tablets to take at a time and by forgetting to collect his medication”.

Newark man Wayne Birkett, one of the three survivors, also attended the meeting after a Downing Street u-turn following pressure from legal representatives of those left injured.

His solicitor, Greg Almond had previously said the group felt ‘left out’ by the Government when it came to talks on the inquiry, but he and Mr Birkett joined Wednesday’s discussions in full.

Mr Almond said: “During today’s meeting, Wayne was able to make it clear that the truth matters – not just for him, but for everyone affected. We felt listened to entirely and have achieved what we set out to do. We have been guaranteed that Wayne and the other injured survivors will be core participants moving forward.”

NHS England and Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust have both previously apologised, and Notts Police said they could have done more to arrest Calocane on a warrant which was still outstanding at the time of the killings, due to his failure to appear at court in connection with a previous assault on a police officer.