Nottingham attacks: Stab victim's parents' frustration at 'failings'

The parents of a student who was stabbed to death in Nottingham have expressed their frustration at "failings" in the case.

Dr Sanjoy Kumar and Dr Sinead O'Malley's 19-year-old daughter Grace was killed - along with fellow student Barnaby Webber and 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates - in June.

Valdo Calocane was given a hospital order for the killings on 25 January.

Reviews into how different authorities handled the case are under way.

Calocane, who has paranoid schizophrenia, was originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility in November.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) did not accept these guilty pleas at the time, but did so at a hearing on 23 January.

Mr Webber's mother Emma said the decision to accept the pleas had left them "horrified", with her claiming they had been "railroaded" by the CPS.

Dr Kumar, Ms O'Malley-Kumar's father, has also questioned the decision and wants assurances that Calocane, 32, will never be released.

"We have lost our beautiful child and we can only hope he does not ever come out and harm another family," he said.

"We have to have a black and white watertight letter that says he is away for the rest of his life and can't do this to anyone else."

The findings of an urgent review of the CPS's handling of the case, commissioned by the attorney general, are due to be published in March.

A Care Quality Commission rapid review into the care of Calocane at Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation NHS Trust is taking place and is due to be complete by the end of March.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is also investigating Leicestershire Police's previous contact with Calocane after he allegedly assaulted two colleagues just weeks before the Nottingham attacks.

But Ms O'Malley-Kumar's parents want "to have people held accountable for the failings" in the case and have reiterated their call for a public inquiry "so all the dots can be joined up".

Dr Kumar said: "The only way you can do that is by an inquiry. We think it should be a public inquiry. It is in the public's interest - it's not in our interest any more."

Dr O'Malley said: "I want to have people held accountable for the failings - I want physicians who have failed their patient, the laziness of the police to be called out, I want to find out where things could have been stopped. What does it take to get the services working the way they need to?"

On Monday, the family visited London, where they said Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer backed their calls for a public inquiry.

During a meeting in Downing Street with the victims' families, Ms O'Malley-Kumar's parents said they were reassured in front of the prime minister that a deep dive into mental health services in Nottinghamshire would take place and, if they were not satisfied, there was no reason there could not be a public inquiry.

During sentencing, Nottingham Crown Court heard how Calocane refused to provide samples for toxicological examination.

However, the families of the victims have been told toxicology was carried out on their loved ones as part of the post-mortem examinations.

Dr Kumar said: "This is absolutely abhorrent. The victims had toxicology done but the perpetrator didn't. Where does that make any sense at all?"

He added: "Apparently it's something you do as part of the post-mortem process but that was not explained to us."

Nottinghamshire Police said, in a statement, it would not be appropriate to make comments until the College of Policing review of the force's handling of the case is carried out and the findings reported.

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