Survivors of the Nottingham Attacks speak out for the first time
Three pedestrians were hit by a van Valdo Calocane was driving
Nearly two years since the Nottingham Attacks, some of the survivors are speaking out for the first time.
It was on June 13th 2023 that students Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber as well as school caretaker Ian Coates were killed in the city.
Valdo Calocane - who's currently serving an indefinite hospital order - also went on to hit three pedestrians with a van that day.
6\1 year old Wayne Birkett was one of those speaking to the BBC exclusively he detailed how he sustained life-threatening and life-changing injuries:
"I had an operation on my shoulder a year ago, my legs hurt all of the time, my back hurts, my head, I get a painful headache sometimes and my memory... it's horrible having no memory, not remembering things, not remembering people you've known or worked for.
“People who I’ve known for 40-50 years have to explain who they are. It’s embarrassing and frustrating.
"I’ve had to relearn how to read, write and even use the television.”
"I feel luck because the other two people who got runover saw what happened, but he hit me from behind. I don't remember it. So my luckiness is that I don't get these nightmares."
Wayne, had been catapulted into the air, resulting in life-threatening and life-changing injuries that included a serious head injury which placed him in a coma, multiple orthopedic injuries including fractures to his shoulder and legs.
The accident meant he hasn’t been able to return to his work as a forklift truck driver, a job that he loved. He credits his partner, Tracey, with “saving my life” saying “it’s Tracey that keeps me going.”
After attacking Wayne with his van, and leaving him for dead, Calocane drove into town where, at the junction of Parliament Street and Market Street, he struck another two pedestrians.
4\6 year old Sharon Miller had been on her way to work when she was struck.
She suffered significant orthopaedic and psychological injuries as a result of the attack and spoke in an exclusive BBC interview of how she wants answers:
"I just feel a bit guilty. You should be able to go to work and they should have been able to walk out from wherever they were, and Ian should have been able to get in his van to go to work. It's just wrong.
"Just wrong."
She remembers the attack and describes how “I thought I was dying. I just wish he had taken me instead of the students.”
Sharon also finds it difficult to still see Calocane’s face in the news.
She'd been a commercial cleaner for 27 years and had hardly had a day off. Due to her injuries though, she hasn’t been able to return to work and the job she loved.
She continues to undergo rehabilitation and walks using a stick. Her partner of 33 years, Martin, has become her carer since. Their plans to marry were put on hold because of the attack, but they hope that one day this can still happen.
She added that she rarely leaves the house and she “daren’t do anything by myself.” She describes how she is a “different Sharon.”
Both Wayne and Sharon are united with the bereaved families of Barnaby, Grace and Ian, whom they met for the first time when they went with their solicitor to Parliament.
Wayne has also discussed the event directly with the Prime Minster at Downing Street.
Greg Almond, a Partner, and Head of Serious Injury at Rothera Bray Solicitors, is representing Wayne and Sharon, he says meeting with high-level officials, including the Prime Minister and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Victims to discuss the inquiry and share their experiences underscore the government's commitment to a judge-led public inquiry:
“Along with the other families we’ve had to campaign and lobby intensely to secure an inquiry on behalf of Wayne and Sharon.
"Considering the number of agencies and official bodies that came into contact with Calocane, we would have expected an inquiry to be announced much earlier.
"A significant number of fundamental questions remain unanswered about how he was able to carry out the attack from which lessons must be learnt, and changes implemented if the public’s trust is to be resorted in Nottingham’s institutions.”