Nottingham Attacks Inquiry hearings set to begin with victims' families seeking accountability
The Inquiry will assess the public service involvement with Valdo Calocane prior to the 2023 attacks
Hearings for the Statutory Inquiry into the 2023 Nottingham attacks are to begin today, with victims' families seeking accountability from institutions and individuals.
The Inquiry, continuing to hear evidence in hearings until June, will scrutinize a range of organisations and institutions to understand the actions and omissions leading up to Calocane's deadly actions on June 13th, 2023.
Calocane, under mental health care for three years, pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility for the killings of Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, and Ian Coates. He also faced three charges of attempted murder and received a hospital order sentence, which he continues to serve.
The families have criticized many organisations and collectives - with failures highlighted and neglect identified in prior reviews.
In a joint statement, the families of Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, and Ian Coates said:
“This Inquiry represents a critical turning point in our pursuit of truth and justice. For too long, we have been met with failure and silence.
“This Inquiry is not just about looking back; it is about holding those who neglected their jobs to account. We will no longer accept the institutional shielding of individuals who failed our loved ones.
“We hope that it brings individual and institutional accountability, holding to account not just the organisations that failed in their duty of care, but the specific individuals whose decisions allowed these events to unfold.
“We want it to expose systemic neglect with a thorough examination of the missed opportunities by mental health services, law enforcement, and judicial bodies.
“Finally, we want it to address what we view as a miscarriage of justice with Calocane being sentenced to a hospital order. We want to challenge the legal framework and decision-making which we feel led to an enormous miscarriage of justice that could see the killer of our loved ones released in as little as a few years.”
James Coates, shared with us in an interview how using his voice and advocating for change really matters to him.
“I'm ready for it. I just want it to come so I can throw myself into it and get involved and hear all the evidence.
"We could have just sat back and done nothing and tried to remember my dad and get on with things… but I feel like I'd regret not speaking up.
"I'm hoping that my dad will be proud of us for fighting for him, on his behalf, and obviously of the changes that will hopefully come that will be in memory of him as well."
Speaking about what the Inquiry stands for, James said:
"Accountability... people need to be held accountable and if that's a slap on the wrist or someone being dismissed, as long as at the end of the day there's going to be some sort of change and hopefully, if it saves another life then I'm happy with that."
Meanwhile Emma Webber has called on all inquiry witnesses to “tell the truth”, adding: “If that means that an individual is compromised in their career, or even worse, then so be it.”
“We need the truth and we need answers now on so much – from all of the institutions.
“Pretty much every single institution and organisation has failed in one way or another.
“So we need the NHS to answer what happened, what didn’t happen, with regard to his (Calocane’s) diagnosis and treatment and management and sectioning and discharge etc, also what happened once he was in custody with regard to his mental health attention.
“With the police forces, particularly with Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire police forces, we need to understand their previous failures and contact with him, why they didn’t stop him? Why they didn’t investigate properly? And also why they didn’t conduct the investigation of the attack to a satisfactory level, leaving so many questions unanswered?
“Those are probably the key things that we need, but all of those encompass much, much wider as well.
“So it’s a huge amount because the inquiry is going to be running for so long, you know, February 23 to June 10, four days a week. So it’s pretty intense.”
Mrs Webber said she did not think the grief of losing her son would ever go away, but hoped the inquiry would help bring “some peace”.
She said: “I have to start because speaking from our family’s perspective… we have to look at what our future is going to look like post all of this horror.
“Most importantly, Charlie (Barnaby’s brother), he’s 18 years old, he’s going to be 19 in September, which I can’t believe, which was the same age as when his brother was taken by Calocane.
“So we’ve got an awful lot to build and think on.
“And the grief, I don’t think it’ll ever go away. You try and manage it, but there has to be some peace where we can try and deal with our loss rather than dealing with the fight that we’ve had to do for the last two and a half years.”
Solicitor Neil Hudgell said:
“The families remain united in their resolve to leave a legacy of change that ensures public safety is never again compromised by institutional incompetence.
“This Inquiry is being held only as a result of their determined pursuit of full transparency and accountability for the many, many failings of state organisations which have been identified since June 2023.
“No stone must be left unturned and it will be a deeply regrettable missed opportunity if this Inquiry does not bring the transparency and accountability needed to ensure lessons are learned, resulting in enduring change which prevents events like this from ever happening again.”
The inquiry, chaired by Her Honour Deborah Taylor, will take place at Mary Ward House in London, starting with opening statements from core participants on the 23rd of February.
In her opening statement video published in May last year, she said:
"The work of the Inquiry will fall under broadly two headings: firstly, what happened, when and why? Secondly, what can be done to prevent similar events happening again?
"Much preliminary work has already been done. The Inquiry legal team have already started to gather documentary evidence from some organisations, and will continue to send detailed requests to others.
"Those approached have expressed a willingness to co-operate with and assist the Inquiry. In any event, because this is a Statutory Inquiry they are required to respond and provide evidence."
She added how the Inquiry team were then to analyse the documents, obtain statements, and instruct experts.
"As to what happened and why, in the three years prior to the attacks in Nottingham, Valdo Calocane had had received mental health treatment and had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He had also come into contact with the police. His mother was in contact with health care providers as to his mental health. We will look at any concerns she raised and how her concerns were treated.
"Following the attacks in Nottingham, a number of investigations were instigated, and reports produced which address, and acknowledge, failings in the operation of different health and criminal justice agencies in Valdo Calocane’s treatment and the management of the risk he presented.
"But each of those investigations and reports cover one area only, and none address the whole picture, the full timeline of significant events, the knowledge and actions of each agency and those who worked for them, and the interaction between agencies.
"This Inquiry will use the previous reports as a baseline to produce a comprehensive and thorough history and evaluation of actions taken and decisions made in the care and treatment provided to Valdo Calocane, the assessment of his risk in the community, and his own and his family’s interactions with all agencies, leading up to the 13 June."
Rounding up, she added how "the Inquiry will be making recommendations to prevent similar events happening in the future."
"Nobody should have to suffer what happened to Barney, Grace and Ian, to Sharon, Wayne and Marcin, and their families. The Nottingham attacks are not the only incident of homicide by mental health patients. I therefore want to make recommendations which are effective, evidence-based and of general application, and to do so, will be drawing on evidence about other similar cases."
Inquiry Timeline
June 2023
On 13 June 2023 Valdo Calocane, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had previous interactions with health services and the police, killed three people and seriously injured three other people in Nottingham city centre.
The deceased were Barney Webber1, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates. The injured were Sharon Miller, Wayne Birkett and Marcin Gawronski.
February 2025
On 12 February 2025, the Prime Minister met the bereaved families and the survivors and confirmed that a statutory inquiry would be established to look into the circumstances surrounding the Nottingham attacks.
April 2025
On 22 April 2025, in a statement to the House of Commons, the then Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, the Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood MP, formally announced the Nottingham Inquiry and that it would be chaired by HH Deborah Taylor.
May 2025
On 22 May 2025, the Terms of Reference for the Inquiry were formally laid in Parliament. This means that, at the request of the then Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, the Chair's report will be published in 2027, within two years of publication of the Terms of Reference.