Son of caretaker killed by Valdo Calocane found out father died through Instagram
It's as the Nottingham Inquiry continues
The son of a school caretaker who was killed in the Nottingham attacks has said “I don’t know how the police could sleep at night” as he criticised missed opportunities in the lead up to his father’s death.
Lee Coates, one of Ian Coates’ sons, told the Press Association he believes police could have prevented his dad’s death and the injuries to three people who were hit by the caretaker’s van which triple killer Valdo Calocane stole.
“We had drone units that went out and weren’t even taken out their boxes, we had helicopters not called on and all of these things, no search was conducted properly, and all of these things could have stopped my dad and the three survivors that got hit by his van (from being hurt),” Lee Coates said after giving evidence to the public inquiry into the attacks on Tuesday.
“I don’t know how the police could sleep at night with knowing that.”
Rob Griffin, who was Nottinghamshire Police’s assistant chief constable at the time of Calocane’s violent rampage, told the inquiry on Monday that he believes the search for Calocane after undergraduates Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar were killed should have been conducted more effectively.
Julian Blake, counsel to the inquiry, told Mr Griffin: “There was, as you’ve accepted, a lack of effective coordination of the search. There was no zoning. There was no helicopter. There were no drones.”
Mr Griffin agreed that it was “possible” that the chances of finding Calocane would have been greater had the search been “more effective”.
Ian Coates, 65, had been just months away from retirement when he was fatally stabbed by Calocane in June 2023.
The grandfather was attacked just over an hour after 19-year-olds Mr Webber and Ms O’Malley-Kumar were killed in the early hours of June 13.
On Monday, the inquiry heard Mr Coates’ body was kept at the crime scene for nearly 15 hours while police were investigating.
“I think the biggest things are like the fact that my dad was laid out on the street for 18 hours, which is a horrible thing to deal with,” James Coates, another of Mr Coates’ son’s said.
Police and medical professionals have been scrutinised at the inquiry which began last month.
The former chief constable of Nottinghamshire previously told chairwoman Deborah Taylor that Calocane should have been arrested before the fatal stabbings.
Meanwhile an email written by a consultant forensic psychiatrist, seen by the inquiry, said Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s decision to discharge paranoid schizophrenic Calocane to a GP was “never a good plan”.
Lee Coates told PA he hopes that changes will be implemented following the inquiry.
“I know my dad’s name has never been bought in so much light, only because of this inquiry and the horrific things that took place on June 13,” Lee Coates said.
“But I’d like to think that my dad’s legacy is way more than this inquiry.
“If we can implement some sort of systemic change that will help and that no one else ever has to be in the position of myself, my brothers and the other families are in.
“I think with my dad’s legacy, it’ll be way more than just this inquiry.
“You know, he was way more than just an inquiry.
“He was it was a top person, respected in the community and he did so much for for people, and I hope we never forget that.”