The parents of a student killed in the Nottingham attacks have described the “horror” of learning that prosecutors intended to accept the killer’s guilty pleas to manslaughter and that he would not be prosecuted for murder.
Paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane killed undergraduate students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, in the early hours of 13 June 2023 before fatally stabbing caretaker Ian Coates, 65, more than an hour later.
After stealing Mr Coates’ van, Calocane ran over and seriously injured three pedestrians. Calocane admitted manslaughter and attempted murder and was indefinitely detained at a high-security hospital on the grounds of diminished responsibility in January 2024.
Mr Webber’s parents, Emma and David Webber, told an inquiry into the attacks that they were in a “state of shock” at learning Calocane would not be prosecuted for murder.
Mrs Webber said: “It was a Teams meeting. I can remember seeing Sanjoy’s [Ms O’Malley-Kumar’s father] face… when they announced that the decision seemed to have been made to accept a diminished responsibility plea of manslaughter.
“I saw Sanjoy’s face – the reaction and the, I suppose, unfolding horror.
“And in my head… it was like a ringing. I could just hear the word manslaughter and that’s the first time that that had even entered my head.”
The student’s father said the bereaved families had no opportunity to discuss the issue of diminished responsibility before the decision was made not to proceed with murder charges.
“It’s a bit of a state of shock because you’ve set yourself up – this is what we’re doing. It’s three counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder,” he said.
“Then all of a sudden it’s a complete U-turn.”
He added: “And we’ve had no chance to discuss it with them and to go into detail as to how they got to their decision.”
Mrs Webber told the inquiry that the decision was not acceptable to them and arranged a meeting with Alex Chalk KC, the then secretary of state for justice, in December 2023.
Read more:
Mrs Webber ‘validated’ as officer felt it was ‘murder’
Calocane punched colleague in face
Mr Coates’ partner ‘felt like he’d been killed twice’
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“We had been very much led to believe the murderer of our child was going to be done for murder and, at the 11th hour, that was turned into a manslaughter plea,” she said.
“You just know something is wrong and I knew something was wrong and that I needed to do anything and everything possible to understand.
“If you want answers you have to go to the top. We were desperately trying to speak to someone who could help us.”
The inquiry continues.
