Summary

  • A review of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) handling of the Nottingham attacks says it was right to accept the killer's manslaughter pleas

  • Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, were fatally stabbed on 13 June along with Ian Coates, 65

  • Their killer, Valdo Calocane, was given a hospital order after admitting manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility - he was not tried for murder

  • The review says Calocane's actions were driven by "pure psychosis" and that a judge would have probably stopped any murder trial

  • Barnaby Webber's mother, Emma, says until the law changes "murderers can get away with murder"

  • She also says she is "disappointed but not surprised" by the review - and calls for degrees of murder charges to be introduced, like in the US

  • Grace O'Malley-Kumar's father, Sanjoy, says it's "impossible to understand" why "paranoid schizophrenics" can't be tried for murder

Live Reporting

Edited by Emily McGarvey and Sam Hancock

  1. A look at Calocane's charges

    Valdo CalocanePA Media

    Valdo Calocane

    After his arrest in June last year, Valdo Calocane was charged with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.

    But while on remand he was transferred to a high security hospital to be assessed by forensic psychiatrists, who found he couldn't be tried for murder because of mental illness.

    At a Nottingham Crown Court hearing on 28 November, he pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder but guilty to manslaughter.

    He admitted the attempted murder of Wayne Birkett, Marcin Gawronski and Sharon Miller whom he attempted to run over while driving a van.

    Calocane was then sentenced to a hospital order with restrictions.

    Emma Webber, the mother of student Barnaby Webber, who was stabbed to death in the attacks, said "true justice" had not been served.

  2. The victims of the attack

    Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, who died at the scene of the attacksPA Media

    Ian Coates (left), Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, who died at the scene of the attacks

    Three people were killed during the attacks: 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, and 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates.

    O'Malley-Kumar, 19, was studying medicine at the University of Nottingham. The first-year student volunteered for the national vaccination programme during the pandemic and took on work placements in a GP surgery.

    Webber, also 19, was a history student at the same university, with a particular interest in US and China geopolitics. His tutors said he was an energetic student, "fun, friendly, and full of life in his seminars".

    Coates, who was 65, was the site manager at Huntingdon Academy, a school in the city. Colleagues said he did all he could "for the benefit of our children" and would be greatly missed".

    Three more people were injured after Valdo Calocane stole Coates’ van and hit them.

  3. What is this report about?

    In short, it contains the findings of a review - carried out by His Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) - into the CPS’s handling of the Valdo Calocane case.

    Last June, Calocane killed two 19-year-old students and a 65-year-old school caretaker in Nottingham. He injured three others.

    The 32-year-old pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility after he was found to have been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attacks.

    In its inspection, HMCPSI reviewed the CPS's decision to accept Calocane's manslaughter plea - as well as whether the families of those killed were consulted properly beforehand.

    Some family members have expressed disappointment at the decision to give Calocane a hospital order.

  4. Nottingham attack report to be published

    Emily McGarvey
    Live reporter

    Welcome to our live coverage. The findings of an urgent inspection into the Crown Prosecution Service’s handling of the Nottingham attacks will be published shortly.

    Last June, Valdo Calocane stabbed to death two 19-year-old university students - Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber - and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates.

    He subsequently pleaded guilty to manslaughter, not murder, after it was discovered he had been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia - a plea the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) accepted but one the families were disappointed with.

    We will know the result of the review ordered by the attorney general this afternoon. Stay with us as we await the report's publication and then guide you through it.