Nottingham attacks families 'kept in dark' about mentally ill 'stalker'
The families of the victims of the Nottingham attacks say they were "kept in the dark" about a mentally ill man.
Last updated 2nd Sep 2026
The family of a student killed in the Nottingham attacks have accused police of lacking basic compassion after bereaved relatives were not warned that a mentally ill man was “fixated” on the case.
The man, said to have a history of concerning behaviour and links to the Government’s Prevent anti-extremism programme, is believed to have travelled to Somerset to try to contact the family of University of Nottingham undergraduate Barnaby Webber.
Barnaby, fellow 19-year-old student Grace O’Malley-Kumar and school caretaker Ian Coates were stabbed to death by paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane during the attacks in June 2023, while three other victims were injured by a stolen van.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Barnaby’s mother Emma Webber said her family had been “left completely in the dark” about the unnamed man’s behaviour and had no opportunity to take steps to protect themselves.
The Times reported that the man also attended the GP surgery of Grace’s father, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, but police failed to tell bereaved families that they were being stalked and downplayed the risk the man posed, claiming he was reaching out to “offer his help”.
Mrs Webber said: “Today’s revelations are yet another devastating example of the incompetence and institutional failure that has come to define the response of Nottinghamshire Police and the IOPC to our family.
“We are told that a mentally ill man with a fixation on the Nottingham attacks, a history of concerning behaviour, and links to Prevent was able to travel to our hometown, actively seek out our family and the families of other victims, yet we were left completely in the dark.
“We were given no warning, no safeguarding advice, and no opportunity to take steps to protect ourselves, our workplaces, or our son Charlie’s school.”
She added: “For a family already living with the unimaginable trauma of losing Barnaby to a man who was known to services, known to have serious mental health issues, and known to present risks that were repeatedly missed, this latest revelation is utterly chilling.
“The idea that another individual displaying seemingly similar warning signs was able to travel across the country seeking us out, potentially visiting places connected to our family and our community, without us being told, is terrifying.
“Every parent will understand the fear that comes with learning, long after the event, that someone of concern may have been in close proximity to your home, your workplace, or your child’s school.
“What is perhaps most disturbing is that this information was not withheld for days or weeks, but for many months.
“During that time, officials were apparently discussing the matter internally, preparing profiles and consulting lawyers, while the families most directly affected remained uninformed and unprotected.”
Questioning why bereaved families had not been informed, Mrs Webber continued: “If there are legal and safeguarding obligations to notify individuals of potential threats or risks to their welfare, why were those duties not applied in our case?
“This is not just a failure of communication. It is a failure of basic safeguarding, basic compassion and basic common sense.”
Claiming that Nottinghamshire Police and the IOPC appeared to be more focused on managing processes than protecting people, Mrs Webber continued: “The public inquiry is examining how a dangerous individual was allowed to remain at large before Barnaby, Grace and Ian were killed.
“Now we discover another deeply troubling episode in which warning signs existed, concerns were known, and yet the victims’ families were kept in the dark.
“We are exhausted by these repeated failings, but we will not stop demanding answers.
“Victims and their families deserve honesty, transparency and protection. We have received far too little of any of them.”
Dr Kumar told The Times he was horrified to learn that the man, a patient at a mental health institution, was “known for violence, fixated on our case and seeking us out, yet we have not been given an official warning”.
A spokesperson for the IOPC said: “We can confirm that we received the referral of a complaint from Nottinghamshire Police in relation to information the force allegedly withheld from the families of Valdo Calocane’s victims about a potential witness who had tried to contact them.
“We are now assessing the referral to decide what further action is required.
“After originally receiving information from Nottinghamshire Police we spoke to a potential witness in January 2025 in connection with our investigation concerning the force’s interactions with Calocane prior to the attacks.
“It was unclear whether Calocane was the suspect for the matters that had been reported to police by the witness and the information was assessed as not relevant to our inquiries.
“We did however make the force aware of the information provided by the witness so it could take the appropriate safeguarding measures.”
The IOPC said it recognised that the families should have been updated that it had spoken to the witness at the time and had “acknowledged that in a recent update to them.”
A Nottinghamshire Police spokesperson said: “We received a complaint and due to the nature of the complaint referred the matter to the IOPC on August 24 and are awaiting their response.
“Unfortunately, we cannot comment any further at this stage while an investigation is under way. We have updated the complainant throughout the process.”