It was a sunny morning in June 2023 as news broke that a major incident had been declared in Nottingham. As the hours went by it emerged three people had been stabbed. 

Students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar had been walking home from a night out when they were fatally attacked. School caretaker Ian Coates was heading into work when he was killed.

Across the city, Delvin Marriott was following the news in horror. “I just had a sinking feeling – emptiness – I felt devastated,” he says. “You know, the Nottingham attacks wouldn’t have happened if they listened to us. It wouldn’t have happened.”

He says he knew instinctively that the killer of Barnaby, Grace, and Ian would turn out to be a mental health patient and blames the loss of his brother on the same system that allowed paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane to be out on the streets armed with a knife.

Read more:
Police watchdog reopens probe into killer
Victims’ families react to review into murderer
Triple murderer refused medication, report reveals

Ten months earlier, in August 2022, 58-year-old Brenton Marriott had been killed by his son.

Rudi Marriott stabbed his father 75 times in a frenzied attack at home in Nottingham.

The family says they had repeatedly called the police and mental health services about Rudi’s violence but their warnings were ignored.

Over a decade earlier, as a teenager Rudi had been attacked with a baseball bat, leading to a bleed on the brain. His family says after that he began hearing voices and grew increasingly violent. As his health deteriorated he believed he had a microchip in his head that was controlling him.

“I knew he was dangerous, I was living with him,” says his mother Juliette, who recalls barricading her bedroom door when she could hear him having a psychotic episode.

The family called the police on many occasions. “We would phone the police hoping the mental health service would come with them, hoping that this is an opportunity for him to be assessed and receive the help that he needs,” Juliette says.

“That was the main reason for phoning the police – not to have him arrested, but for the assessment to happen.”

They say they repeatedly questioned why he wasn’t being sectioned. Rudi’s sister Charise says she once asked a mental health nurse: “Is it going to take him to kill someone for something to be done?”

But none of their warnings were heeded. Rudi didn’t receive any mental health support until after he stabbed his father to death. He later received a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.

‘I lost my best friend and my son’

Juliette breaks down as she reflects on the double tragedy. “I’m devastated because I’ve lost two of them. Lost his dad – he was my best friend for 35 years, my best friend. And I’ve lost my son, who up until his illness was very loving.”

Rudi was sentenced to a hospital order. A domestic homicide review is examining what more the authorities could have done.

Delvin says his brother Brenton was just desperate to help Rudi. “Brenton in my eyes is a hero,” he says. “If he wasn’t doing what he was doing, that could have been anybody that Rudi attacked. He could have gone out and gone on a frenzied attack.”

A recent NHS report found that in the four years before Calocane carried out his attacks there were 15 incidents of patients either under the current care of the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust or who had been discharged perpetrating serious violence towards members of the community. Most of the incidents involved stabbings and three cases resulted in fatalities.

Neil Hudgell, a lawyer representing the families, says the public inquiry due to begin into the deaths of the Nottingham attack victims needs to ensure the trust is held accountable for failings.

“I think we’ve seen tragic story after tragic story where patients, their families, and victims have been let down,” he says.

“We need to get to the bottom of why that happened, who’s responsible for that and to have some genuine change.”

Delvin says his family feels “failed by the NHS, by the police, by the mental health service”.

Ifti Majid, chief executive of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trus, said: “Any loss of life in such circumstances is an absolute tragedy, and on behalf of the trust I again offer my sincerest condolences to Brenton’s family and friends.”

Nottinghamshire Police told Sky News “our thoughts remain with all family members affected by this tragic incident”, adding that they are fully participating in the domestic homicide review.

Delvin describes the failure to deal with the mental health crisis as “a ticking timebomb, waiting for another disaster”.

Juliette agrees. “This is a real epidemic,” she says. “And as a result of the broken system the public are at risk. Everybody’s at risk.”

Labour faces a major challenge from its own backbenchers ahead of an announcement to restrict some sickness and disability benefits.

The plans are likely to be opposed by those in the party who are concerned about attempts to slash the ballooning welfare bill and encourage adults back to work.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is expected to set out the reforms on Tuesday, but details of where those cuts could fall is proving highly divisive within Labour.

Total welfare spending in 2023-23 was about £296bn, by the end of the decade it is forecast to reach almost £378bn.

Explainer: Where could welfare cuts be made?

The chancellor needs to find savings to meet her strict fiscal rules and Rachel Reeves has previously insisted “we do need to get a grip” on the welfare budget.

One proposal reportedly under consideration is to save around £5bn by freezing or tightening the rules around the personal independence payment (PIP).

But Labour’s Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, a former Labour health secretary, has “urged great caution on how changes are made” although, writing in The Times, he accepts “the benefits system needs a radical overhaul”.

“I would share concerns about changing support and eligibility to benefits while leaving the current top-down system broadly in place. It would trap too many people in poverty,” he added.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting argued on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that the current system is “unsustainable” and welfare reforms are needed. He also said mental health conditions are often overdiagnosed.

PIP is a payment of up to £9,000 a year for people with long-term physical and mental health conditions.

Campaigner Steve Morris is one of those 3.6 million PIP claimants and says freezing it at the current level would make his life much harder.

“I’m deafblind. PIP makes a huge difference to my life. It enables me to, afford some of the additional costs that are associated with my disability.

“For so many disabled people benefits are a lifeline. So to hear that lifeline might be taken away or severely restricted is hugely concerning.”

Liz Kendall told The Sunday Times it was an “absolute principle” to protect welfare payments for people unable to work. “For those who absolutely cannot work, this is not about that,” she said.

But she said the number of people on PIP is set to more than double this decade, partly driven by younger people.

Read more from Sky News:
Streeting: NHS ‘addicted to overspending’
Teaching unions ready for fight over AI

Sky’s political correspondent Liz Bates said the government had been expected to announce a detailed plan over welfare spending last week.

“This particular issue of PIPs stopped that plan being announced because of the strength of backlash… from the backbenches all the way up to cabinet level.”

She added that talks were going on behind the scenes about whether the policy could be softened in some way, although it was unlikely reforms could be avoided completely ahead of the spring statement on 26 March.

“Could there be a bit of backtracking from Number 10 and from the department? This is what we’re going to find out on Tuesday. There is, of course, a lot of pressure coming from the chancellor.”

Labour is also aiming to tackle economic inactivity – especially among those under 35 – with an increasing proportion out of work due to long-term sickness.

A recent PwC report warns “a significant proportion of working adults are close to becoming economically inactive” and ill-health “is a major driver”.

The poll of 4,000 people shows 10% of the workforce are currently actively considering leaving work, and not just their current role.

That rises to 37% of those aged 18-24, who say they have either seriously considered leaving work in the last year, or are actively considering doing so now.

While the factors are complex and vary by age, the report reflects mental health is a major concern with 42% of 18-24 year-olds citing it as the biggest reason to leave work.

On Sunday, Ms Kendall teased one policy announcement to attract people back to work, effectively giving disabled people the right to try employment without the risk of losing their benefits.

The so-called “right to try guarantee” aims to prevent those people who receive health-related benefits from having their entitlements automatically re-assessed if they enter employment.

The Conservatives support welfare reform but claim Labour is “divided” over the issue and “cannot deliver the decisive change we need”.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said: “The government’s dithering and delay is costing taxpayers millions every day and failing the people who rely on the welfare system.”

Two teenagers have died and another is fighting for his life after a late night car crash in Shropshire.

A collision involving a silver Audi A1 occurred shortly before 11.15pm on Friday in Offoxey Road, Tong – near the town of Shifnal, West Mercia Police said.

It has since been confirmed an 18-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene, while a 17-year-old boy died in hospital.

Another 17-year-old boy is still being treated in hospital and is in a critical condition after sustaining life-threatening injuries in the crash.

A fourth, also a 17-year-old boy, sustained what has been described as “life-changing” injuries but is in a stable condition, police said.

“Officers investigating the collision are continuing to appeal for anyone who may have information about the incident to get in touch,” a police spokesperson said.

Anyone with information is footage is asked to contact DC Rich Owen on 07814773916 or SCIUNorth@westmercia.police.uk quoting incident number 554 of 14 March