The father of one of the students killed in the Nottingham attacks has called for sackings and a public inquiry, as families continue to seek answers over how Valdo Calocane slipped through the net. David Webber, whose son Barnaby was stabbed to death alongside Grace O’Malley-Kumar on 13 June last year, described the experience as a 'vortex of hell'. The families of the victims have joined forces to demand accountability from the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, and mental health services.
Speaking about the support between the families, Grace’s father Sanjoy Kumar said: 'I ring David sometimes just out of the blue and cry down the phone. I don’t have to tell him what’s happened because we have this in common; he totally understands what I’m going through.' He added that the bond with the Webber family and the family of Ian Coates, Calocane’s third victim, was 'the one little green shoot that’s come out all of this'.
The families are spending much of their time piecing together timelines and lobbying politicians, rather than grieving. 'We seem to have been pulled back into this hell all over again,' said Webber. 'We shouldn’t be sat here having to drag all these emotions up, it’s hard enough as it is. And we’re fighting against people we shouldn’t be fighting against – the police and the CPS.'
Kumar, a doctor and former police surgeon, said he has nightmares about his daughter’s injuries every night. He believes there were major failures in both police and medical procedures that allowed Calocane to carry out the killings. 'We have to have a public inquiry – these individual investigations that have been set up will not change legislation, and they will not change the status quo,' he said.
One of the families’ main demands is for a law making psychiatrists legally accountable for patients they discharge into the community. 'If doctors knew they would be going to prison because one of their patients killed someone, we would see a change immediately,' Kumar added. Calocane was handed a hospital order in January after pleading guilty to manslaughter and attempted murder.
