Attacks families 'gagged' over watchdog report

The mother of one of the three people stabbed to death in Nottingham says the families have been "gagged" by the police watchdog over findings of a report into the contact officers had with killer Valdo Calocane.

Emma Webber, mum of Barnaby Webber, said she, alongside the families of Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates, had been forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

The NDA concerns a probe into the way Leicestershire Police officers dealt with alleged assaults by Calocane weeks before the attacks.

The watchdog said an agreement was "needed" in order to share the report with the victims' families at the earliest opportunity.

It added the NDA would remain in place until the findings and outcomes of the investigation were published, which it anticipated would happen "in the coming weeks".

Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was sentenced to a hospital order in January 2024 after admitting three counts of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility and three counts of attempted murder.

The IOPC previously said three Leicestershire Police officers - two constables and a sergeant - were told they were being investigated over how inquiries were progressed.

It has been claimed Calocane assaulted two colleagues at an industrial estate in Kegworth in May 2023.

Mr Webber, Ms O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Mr Coates, 65, were killed by Calocane on 13 June 2023.

NHS England (NHSE) published a full report into the mental health care received by Calocane prior to the attacks, after initially intending to only publish a summary.

Mrs Webber said: "We were forced to sign NDAs by NHSE to promise that we would not disclose their investigation into Calocane's care.

"Under pressure from us, they were forced to U-turn and disclose the report in full themselves.

"As [Health Secretary] Wes Streeting himself said, sunlight is the best disinfectant - the same principle applies to the IOPC investigations into the numerous police failings in our case."

Mrs Webber added: "Like the NHS, the IOPC have also sought to gag us from speaking publicly and have forced us to sign NDAs saying we will not reveal their reports and findings.

"I now call on the IOPC to do the right thing like the NHS did and disclose their reports to the public so that full scrutiny can take place.

"It is the only way that real lessons are going to be learned and lasting change put in place so that no other family should have to endure the torture that we are."

Radd Seiger, an adviser to the victims' families, said: "It is inexcusable for any watchdog to seek to gag families of victims of serious crimes in this manner.

"That practice must be stopped."

Derrick Campbell, director at the IOPC, added: "We completed an investigation into Leicestershire Police contact with Valdo Calocane prior to the killings and in particular the actions and decisions of officers investigating alleged assaults by him.

"In order to share our report and underlying evidence with the families of his victims at the earliest opportunity, a confidentiality agreement was needed.

"It remains in place until an appropriate time when the investigation findings and outcomes can be published, which we anticipate being able to do in coming weeks."

The IOPC is also investigating the prior contact Nottinghamshire Police had with Calocane before the killings.

The force previously admitted it should have done more to arrest him sooner, revealing that an arrest warrant was issued in September 2022, over the alleged assault of a police officer in 2021.

The warrant was issued one day before Calocane was discharged to his GP.

On Thursday, Mrs Webber also appeared on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour alongside Ms O'Malley-Kumar's mother, Sinead O'Malley-Kumar.

The pair talked about the close bond they had formed since their children were killed and explained why they continue to campaign for major reform in the wake of the attacks.

Mrs O'Malley-Kumar said: "I've read criticism in the papers about 'these campaigning parents who do nothing but go on breakfast TV, bang their drum' and it's so insulting.

"Because all we're doing is, it's for Barney and Grace, what else? We've got nothing else left."

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