Judge-led public inquiry to be held into Nottingham attacks

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Sir Keir Starmer has told the families of those killed in the Nottingham attacks that a judge-led public inquiry will start in “a matter of weeks”.

The families of Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates were told at an emotionally charged meeting at Number 10 that a “number of different agencies” would be scrutinised by the probe.

Students Mr Webber and Ms O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and 65-year-old caretaker Mr Coates were killed by Valdo Calocane before he attempted to kill three other people in a spate of attacks in the city in June 2023.

Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January last year after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility and attempted murder.

Prosecutors accepted a plea of manslaughter after experts agreed his schizophrenia meant he was not fully responsible for his actions. The families said recently that he “got away with murder”.

Speaking outside Downing Street on Wednesday, Emma Webber said: “It’s the first bit of positive news that we’ve been able to have for a very, very long time. We’re still processing it.”

Dr Sanjoy Kumar added: “As we have always said as families, everywhere that Valdo Calocane intersected with the authorities, we were let down.”

He then said the public inquiry “has been fantastic news for all of us, we welcome it, we’ve been working so hard to it”.

“Everyone who has also suffered the way we had, we will make sure that changes come from our inquiry for the betterment of our country that makes… the land safer for all of us.”