Nottingham attacks: Victim’s mother says she was ‘foolish to trust legal system’ – as review into hospital which treated killer ordered
The mother of one of the victims of the knife attack in Nottingham last year has said she was “foolish to trust the legal system” after the killer was sentenced to detention in a high-security hospital.
Emma Webber, whose son Barnaby Webber, 19, was stabbed to death along with Grace O’Malley-Kumar, also 19, and Ian Coates, 65, said she was “ill-prepared” to find out the killer’s manslaughter plea had been accepted.
Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar
“I feel now with hindsight that I was foolish to just trust in our legal system. And I hate to say that, because I do feel let down,” she told Sky News in an interview alongside her husband David.
“We were led to believe all of summer that it would be a murder charge for our son and the other two victims, and then attempted murder for the other three victims.
“It’s a massive, heinous crime. So we were ill-prepared for being told… that they were going to be accepting a diminished responsibility, which meant manslaughter. And I think that was the moment that everything turned.”
Valdo Calocane
It comes as a special review has been ordered by the government into the NHS trust where the killer, Valdo Calocane, was treated.
Calocane stabbed Mr Webber, Ms O’Malley-Kumar and Mr Coates and then tried to kill three others with a van in Nottingham on 13 June 2023.
The 32-year-old, who has paranoid schizophrenia, was sentenced to detention in a high-security hospital after prosecutors accepted his manslaughter plea rather than pursuing a murder conviction.
He had been detained in hospital four times under mental health laws before the attacks.
Now, health and social care secretary Victoria Atkins has ordered a special review into Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust, where Calocane was treated.
The review will provide further answers for the families of the victims and focus on wider issues in mental health care provision in Nottinghamshire, including at Highbury Hospital and Rampton Hospital.
Conducted by The Care Quality Commission (CQC), it will be carried out alongside the Independent Mental Health Homicide Review ordered by NHS England to examine the case of Calocane.
The CQC, which will have access to witness statements and evidence regarding health services which were called on during the criminal trial, will present its findings on patient and public safety, and on the quality of care provided across the trust in March.
The government will then issue its response to the review in due course.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Missed chances’ to stop killer
Confirming the review, Ms Atkins said: “My thoughts remain with the families and friends of Barnaby, Grace, and Ian, who lost their lives in such a tragic, cruel and barbaric way.
“It is crucial that our mental health services ensure both the care of patients and the safety of the public.
“I hope the review provides the families and public with some much-needed answers, and that it helps the trust to improve the standard of mental health care in Nottinghamshire.”
Read more:
Family of Nottingham attacks victim support calls for public inquiry
Valdo Calocane to remain in high-security hospital
The director of mental health at CQC, Chris Dzikiti, said the public body would conduct a “rapid review” into mental health services in Nottingham to “understand whether there are any practical actions which can be taken to improve the quality of services and ensure people receive safe and effective care”.
Meanwhile, Claire Murdoch, NHS national mental health director, added: “NHS England is commissioning an independent investigation into the case, and we will cooperate fully with the government’s review of the trust’s mental health services, while continuing to provide the trust with intensive support to protect patient safety in partnership with the CQC.”
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins
Last week, the victims’ families criticised Calocane’s sentence – as well as authorities they say could have prevented the tragedy.
A spokesman for attorney general Victoria Prentis, the government’s chief lawyer, confirmed a referral had been received.
She will now have to decide whether to refer the case to the Court of Appeal for judges to decide if the sentence is appropriate.
UK
Pictured: Boy killed in Gateshead industrial estate fire – 14 children arrested on suspicion of manslaughter
Tributes have been paid to 14-year-old Layton Carr who died in a fire at an industrial estate.
Eleven boys and three girls, aged between 11 and 14 years, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after the incident in Gateshead on Friday. They remain in police custody.
Police were alerted to a fire at Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area
Firefighters raced to Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area shortly after 8pm, putting out the blaze a short time later.
Police then issued an appeal for a missing boy, Layton Carr, who was believed to be in the area at the time.
In a statement, the force said that “sadly, following searches, a body believed to be that of 14-year-old Layton Carr was located deceased inside the building”.
Layton’s next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers, police added.
Layton has been described as a ‘beautiful soul’
A fundraising page on GoFundMe has been set up to help Layton’s mother pay for funeral costs.
Organiser Stephanie Simpson said: “The last thing Georgia needs to stress trying to pay for a funeral for her Boy Any donations will help thank you.”
One tribute in a Facebook post read: “Can’t believe I’m writing this my nephew RIP Layton 💔 forever 14 you’ll be a massive miss, thinking of my sister and 2 beautiful nieces right now.”
Another added: “My boy ❤️ my baby cousin, my Layton. Nothing will ever come close to the pain I feel right now. Forever 14. I’ll miss you sausage.”
A third said: “Rest in peace big lad such a beautiful soul taken far to soon my thoughts are with you Gee stay strong girl hear for u always.”
Read more from Sky News:
Eight arrests in connection with two terrorism operations
Compensation scheme scrapped for child sexual abuse victims
Detective Chief Inspector Louise Jenkins, of Northumbria Police, also said: “This is an extremely tragic incident where a boy has sadly lost his life.”
She added that the force’s “thoughts are with Layton’s family as they begin to attempt to process the loss of their loved one”.
They are working to establish “the full circumstances surrounding the incident” and officers will be in the area to “offer reassurance to the public”, she added.
A cordon remains in place at the site while police carry out enquiries.
Sky News can reveal that the government has rowed back on a national compensation scheme for victims of child sexual abuse, despite it being promised under the previous Conservative administration.
Warning – this story contains references to sexual and physical abuse
A National Redress Scheme was one of 20 key recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), but a Home Office report reveals the government has scrapped it because of the cost.
Marie, who is 71, suffered alleged sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at Greenfield House Convent in St Helens, Merseyside, between 1959 and 1962, and is still fighting for compensation.
Greenfield House Convent, where Marie says she was abused
As soon as she arrived as a six-year-old, Marie says her hair was cut off, her name changed, and she experienced regular beatings from the nuns and students.
She claims a nun instigated the violence, including when Marie was held down so that her legs were “spread-eagled” as she was sexually abused with a coat hanger.
Merseyside Police investigated claims of abuse at the convent, but in 2016, a suspect died before charges could be brought.
Marie has received an apology from the Catholic body that ran the home; she tried to sue them, but her claim was rejected because it was filed too long after the alleged abuse.
Marie, 71, is still fighting for compensation for the abuse she says she suffered as a child
In February, ministers said the law would change for victims of sexual abuse trying to sue institutions for damages, which was a recommendation from the IICSA.
Previously, people had to make a civil claim before they were 21, unless the victim could prove a fair trial could proceed despite the time lapse.
Campaigners argued for the time limit to be removed as, on average, victims wait 26 years to come forward. Changes to the 1980 Limitation Act could lead to more people making claims.
Peter Garsden, President of The Association of Child Abuse Lawyers
Civil cases ‘can take three to five years’
But Peter Garsden, president of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, worries that when it comes to historical abuse where the defendant is dead, institutions will still argue that it is impossible to have a fair trial and will fight to have the case thrown out of court.
Mr Garsden said it takes “between three and five years” for a civil case to get to trial.
He warned that claimants “can end up losing if you go through that process. Whereas the Redress Scheme would be quicker, much more straightforward, and much more likely to give justice to the victims”.
Victim awarded £10 compensation
Jimbo, who was a victim of abuse at St Aidan’s children’s home in Cheshire, took his case to the High Court twice and the Court of Appeal three times, but, after 13 years, all he ended up with was £10 for his bus fare to court.
Despite the Lord Justice of Appeal saying he believed that the abuse had occurred, Jimbo lost his claim because of the time limit for child sexual abuse claims to be made.
Read more from Sky News:
Call for Labour minister to resign over grooming gang remarks
PM says govt will fund further local grooming gangs inquiries if ‘needed’
Neither Marie nor Jimbo is likely to benefit from the removal of the time limit for personal injury claims, which is why Mr Garsden is calling on the government to implement a National Redress Scheme for victims of sexual abuse, as recommended by the IICSA.
Hundreds of millions paid to victims
The governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland have set up compensation schemes and paid hundreds of millions of pounds to victims.
In 2023, the then Conservative government said a similar scheme would be organised for England and Wales.
But the Home Office admitted in its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Progress Update that it “is not currently taking forward any further steps on the IICSA proposal for a separate, national financial redress scheme for all survivors of child sexual abuse”.
“In the current fiscal environment, this recommendation is very difficult to take forward,” it added.
For victims, the scheme was the last chance of compensation for a lifetime blighted by abuse.
“The money is about justice and about all the other people who have had to suffer this abuse,” Marie said.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway