In an exclusive interview on The Daily Mail's The Trial podcast, Emma Webber, the grieving mother of Nottingham student Barnaby Webber, has expressed profound fury at systemic failures that she claims cost her son his life and could potentially allow his killer to walk free in the near future.
Families Subjected to 'Abhorrent Miscarriage of Justice'
Emma Webber spoke with veteran crime reporters Ryan Hooper and Caroline Cheetham following the second week of the official inquiry into Valdo Calocane's killing spree. On June 13, 2023, Calocane murdered students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both aged 19, along with 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates.
The 32-year-old Calocane avoided a prison sentence by pleading guilty to three counts of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and three counts of attempted murder. Despite his documented history of paranoid schizophrenia, he received an indefinite hospital order rather than imprisonment, a decision that sparked outrage among the victims' families.
Repeated Failures to Prosecute
During the inquiry's initial fortnight, shocking revelations emerged about previous incidents involving Calocane. The panel heard how a young Italian student sustained life-changing spinal injuries in 2020 after jumping from a window to escape Calocane's attack. Testimony revealed that police repeatedly used mental health considerations as justification not to prosecute Calocane, rather than as grounds for intervention.
Emma Webber described the grieving families' experience as an 'abhorrent miscarriage of justice', asserting that each new disclosure from the inquiry substantiates this claim. She has vowed to continue fighting for reform in how British institutions handle dangerous offenders with mental health conditions, warning that current legislation could see Calocane released within as little as five years.
'This Has to Be the Time for Change'
'Even if it finishes me off, I will keep going - this has to be the time for change', Emma declared during her interview on The Trial Plus podcast. She emphasized that 'this abhorrent miscarriage of justice needs to be addressed - Calocane should not be in hospital. We need to recognise that indefinite hospital orders are not indefinite.'
The statistics are particularly alarming, with more than half of individuals released within five years, and sometimes within months. 'If you're deemed to be recovering you can't be detained', Emma explained. 'Those decisions are made by hospital managers and psychiatrists. These same people are largely to blame for this situation. Do I trust them? Absolutely not.'
Systemic Accountability Failures
Emma identified the core problem as 'people not doing their jobs properly, at every level'. She insisted that 'it will only change if individuals are properly held to account'. While praising the decision to conduct a public inquiry into Calocane's killing spree, she warned that unless the criminal justice system addresses what she called the 'hot potato' of mental health, similar tragedies will inevitably recur.
Before his 2023 rampage, Calocane had been arrested at least three times, including once for assaulting a female police officer in 2021. Despite an arrest warrant being issued following this assault, police failed to act for nine months despite knowing his whereabouts. At the time of his arrest for the triple murder, an outstanding arrest warrant already existed against him.
Mental Health as a 'Hot Potato'
'Mental health disorders and offenders are a massive hot potato that doesn't want to be dealt with', the grieving mother stated. 'The reality is that mental health offences are still crimes. If they were investigated properly, it would benefit the perpetrator because it will put measures in place to stop them being thrown back out into the community to get worse and commit more offences.'
Emma challenged the narrative surrounding Calocane, asserting 'In Calocane, we are not dealing with someone who's poor and defenceless, who wasn't looked after properly, like his family and many others want us to believe. This is a master manipulator and the evidence speaks for itself.'
Truth and Evasion
'Finally, the facts are being revealed in the public arena. The truth is out there and yet there's still evasion', she observed. Emma expressed particular frustration with police attitudes, saying 'I have been shocked by the attitudes and by the demeanour of many police officers. If I hear the words, potentially, possibly, probably, one more time I think I am going to throw something.'
Her message to those responsible was unequivocal: 'If you should have done something and you didn't do it, just say so.' The full interview with Emma Webber is available exclusively to subscribers of The Crime Desk, who gain access to The Trial Plus podcast along with ad-free listening and additional benefits.
