Emma Webber, mother of Barnaby Webber, has accused Nottinghamshire Police of a "profound betrayal of trust" over its handling of Special Constable Ilsadin Skenderaj, who viewed body-worn camera footage of her son being treated after the Nottingham attacks.
Skenderaj watched 12 recordings with no policing purpose while at home and off duty, including images of paramedics giving medical assistance to Barnaby and Grace O'Malley Kumar, both 19, and placing them in body bags. He was not working on the case and also viewed footage from Valdo Calocane's arrest and from inside an ambulance.
Mother says force 'failed us completely'
Ms Webber said: "Nottinghamshire Police failed us completely over Special Constable Ilsadin Skenderaj. He watched in detail 12 body-worn videos of my son and his friend being treated – the most private, harrowing moments of their final minutes. The chief constable looked us in the eye and said he had faced disciplinary action and been sacked."
"He [Skenderaj] resigned before any proper consequences could be imposed. They covered it up and kept us in the dark about how extensive the misconduct really was until the public inquiry dragged the truth out. It is utterly heartbreaking that such a profound betrayal of trust has been allowed to pass with zero real accountability."
Officer resigned before hearing
Nottinghamshire Police's deputy chief constable Steve Cooper said Skenderaj had been sacked following a misconduct hearing, and then-Chief Constable Kate Meynell repeated that in a letter to the families of Barnaby and Grace. But Skenderaj was not dismissed; he voluntarily stepped down in September, before the December misconduct hearing took place.
Despite his actions, officers failed to seize his devices and he was allowed to decline a police interview. He appears to have run a property lettings firm alongside his special constable role. Police staff often have access to evidence systems as part of their role, even if they are not assigned to an investigation, but they are expected to only access information for a legitimate policing purpose. Special constables are part-time, unpaid, volunteer officers.
Barnaby and Grace were university students walking home from a night out when they were stabbed to death by paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane. Calocane also killed school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, and drove into pedestrians. He is serving an indefinite hospital order.
The inquiry into the attacks heard Nottinghamshire Police was "reluctant" to investigate how many times staff inappropriately accessed images and footage from that day.
Force response
A Nottinghamshire Police spokesman said: "The officer resigned ahead of a gross misconduct hearing, which found him guilty in his absence. He therefore would have been dismissed had he not resigned. He was also placed on the police barred list."
