Parents of student Barnaby Webber who was killed in Nottingham knife attack call for public inquiry

The parents of Barnaby Webber, one of the victims of the Nottingham attacks, say they are "disgusted" that the killings haven't led to a public inquiry

Words by ITV News Producer Cat Dinneny

The parents of a teenager killed by a paranoid schizophrenic have called for a public inquiry to address the "multi-agency failures" that resulted in their son's death.

Barnaby Webber was one of three people stabbed by Valdo Calocane in Nottingham last June. Barnaby's friend, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, and school caretaker Ian Coates also died.

Speaking to ITV News, Barnaby's family have said they feel "wholly let down" by the justice system which has seen their son's killer sentenced to a hospital order after pleading guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility and three counts of attempted murder.

Barnaby's mother, Emma Webber, said: “We foolishly trusted in the criminal justice system. I never once thought we would have to have this type of conversation.

"I thought we'd talk about knife crime, lack of victim support, but we never thought we'd have to be on this stage.

"We feel wholly let down. We're in shock and we're disappointed."

Calocane was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2019. He'd been sectioned four times and was known to refused medication, something the prosecution argued led to a further decline in his mental health.

The health secretary has now ordered a review into the mental health services at the NHS trust where he was treated, but Barnaby's family say this is "not going to make a difference".

Barnaby's father David said: "I think the review is a start. It's dipping the toe in the water, but it's not enough.

"It's been painted like it's something for us but it's not because it's not going to make any difference to the outcome. Barnaby, Grace and Ian are not coming back."

As well as being known to mental health services, there was an outstanding warrant for Calocane's arrest after he assaulted a police officer in 2021.

The officer in question was assisting workers who were trying to detain Calocane under the Mental Health Act at the time.

In a stinging address outside court last week, Emma singled out Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin, saying: "You have blood on your hands."

Reflecting on it today, Emma said: "The reason I named the Assistant Chief Constable is because he came out with that statement saying his arrest [in connection to that incident] was highly unlikely to have resulted in a prison sentence. It's a huge insult."

David continued: "It [the review] needs to be done properly. It needs a public inquiry because this needs proper, thorough investigation."

"It's pretty obvious there were failures, [...] multi-agency failures," Emma added.

As well as calls for a public inquiry, Barnaby's parents have slammed the hospital order that was handed down to Calocane last week.

Emma told ITV News: "The only person who's ever gone to an institution like that and never come out is Ian Brady, and there are so many people sent down with those orders.

"If he serves 20 years, he'll be out in his early 50s. We want a whole life sentence, and if that means he stays in hospital and then is transferred to prison, then that's what we want."

"True justice is knowing this monster is not going to be released," David said.

When asked why the government had not set up a public inquiry, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “We haven’t ruled out further action at this stage. There is already work going on across government.

“The health secretary has ordered a review into the mental health services at the NHS trust where Calocane was treated, the Attorney General is also looking at the sentence and will meet with the Director of Public Prosecutions, I believe, to discuss that later today.

“The policing minister is meeting senior leaders at Nottinghamshire Police to discuss the circumstances.”

The Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust, Ifti Majid, welcomed the review into its involvement with Calocane.

He said: “We welcome external inspections as they are important to helping us learn and continually improve our services,  giving us independent insight to highlight areas for development so that the experience for those who use our services is improved.

“We look forward to working with the Care Quality Commission and NHS England, and we undertake to swiftly implement any recommendations."

ITV News has contacted Nottinghamshire Police for a response.

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In a statement released last week regarding the outstanding arrest warrant, Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin said: "I can confirm that Nottinghamshire Police previously engaged with the suspect, mostly while supporting our colleagues in the NHS on a number of occasions between 2020 and 2022.

"I have personally reviewed this matter and we should have done more to arrest him. However, because of the circumstance prevailing, at the time of the alleged assault, in my opinion it is highly unlikely that he would have received a custodial sentence."Of course, an arrest might have triggered a route back into mental health services, but as we have seen from his previous encounters with those services, it seems unlikely that he would have engaged in this process."

Emma added: "He's away, that's one thing I suppose, but we've got to carry this for the rest of our lives. I don't want to hear lessons will be learnt. I want actual change."