Nottingham attacks survivor wishes killer Valdo Calocane ‘had taken me instead’

Published

2 months ago

May 9, 2025

admin

Survivors of the Nottingham attacks have spoken for the first time about the devastating effect on their lives – with one saying she wishes she’d died instead of the two students.

Sharon Miller and Wayne Birkett were among three people who survived when Valdo Calocane ploughed into them with a van he’d stolen from 65-year-old Ian Coates, after stabbing him to death.

Calocane had already killed Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber as they walked home in June 2023. They were just 19.

“I thought I was dying. I just wish he had taken me instead of the students,” said Sharon of the teenagers, who had “their whole lives ahead of them”.

Sharon, 46, was on her way to her cleaning job when Calocane used the van as a weapon.

She has been unable to work since and rarely leaves the house.

“You should be able to go to work and they should be able to walk out from wherever they was, and Ian should have been able to go in his van and go to work. It’s just wrong,” she said.

Wayne, a former forklift driver, was catapulted into the air and left in a coma when he was hit from behind.

“My legs hurt all the time, my back hurts, my head – painful, headaches all the time,” he said.

“It’s horrible not having no memory, not remembering people you have known and worked for.”

The 61-year-old has also been unable to return to work and has even had to learn to read and write again – but he’s pleased he’s at least escaped the nightmares.

“I feel lucky because the other two people he ran over saw what happened. He hit me from behind. I don’t remember it,” said Wayne.

Wayne and Sharon were speaking in an interview with BBC East Midlands.

Calocane admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility and attempted murder and was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January last year.

It prompted fury that he was not convicted of murder.

Experts had said his schizophrenia meant he was not fully responsible for his actions, and since then a long list of missed opportunities to prevent him committing his crimes has emerged.

“He should be in prison,” said Sharon. “He should have been forced to have had his medication.”

Wayne and Sharon both welcomed the announcement last month of a public inquiry, which the justice secretary said must be “thorough in its assessment of the facts and unsparing in its recommendations”.

Read more from Sky News:
Woman found not guilty of illegal abortion
Who is the new pope?

Both want to have their voices heard, according to their lawyer.

“They don’t want to be forgotten about,” said Greg Almond, of Rothera Bray solicitors.

“Understandably, they have been concentrating on their rehabilitation, but I think they want answers to the questions that they have got, which are numerous; and they want to find out what’s going to change in the future so that this doesn’t happen again.”

That, for both the bereaved and survivors, it seems, is the key – the need for what follows the inquiry’s conclusions to be more than just words.

UK

Palace confirms dates of Trump’s state visit – as King and Queen to host him at Windsor Castle

Published

1 hour ago

July 14, 2025

admin

Palace confirms dates of Trump's state visit - as King and Queen to host him at Windsor Castle

The dates for Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK have been announced, with the US president due to be welcomed by the King from 17 to 19 September.

Buckingham Palace also confirmed that President Trump and first lady Melania will be hosted by the King and Queen at Windsor Castle.

It was expected that the three-day state visit would take place in September after Mr Trump let slip earlier in April that he believed that was when his second “fest” was being planned for.

Windsor was also anticipated to be the location after the US president told reporters in the Oval Office that the letter from the King said Windsor would be the setting. Refurbishment works at Buckingham Palace also meant that Windsor was used last week for French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit.

This will be Mr Trump’s second state visit to the UK, an unprecedented gesture towards an American leader, having previously been invited to Buckingham Palace in 2019.

He has also been to Windsor Castle before, in 2018, but despite the considerable military pageantry of the day, and some confusion around inspecting the guard, it was simply for tea with Queen Elizabeth II.

Further details of what will happen during the three-day visit in September will be announced in due course.

On Friday, Sky News revealed it is now unlikely that the US president will address parliament, usually an honour given to visiting heads of state as part of their visit. Some MPs had raised significant concerns about him being given the privilege.

But the House of Commons will not be sitting at the time of Mr Trump’s visit as it will rise for party conference season on the 16 September, meaning the president will not be able to speak in parliament as President Macron did during his state visit this week. However, the House of Lords will be sitting.

In February this year, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer presented the US president with the letter from the King inviting him to visit during a meeting at the White House.

After reading it, Mr Trump said it was a “great, great honour”, adding “and that says at Windsor – that’s really something”.

In the letter, the King suggested they might meet at Balmoral or Dumfries House in Scotland first before the much grander state visit. However, it is understood that, although all options were explored, complexities in both the King and Mr Trump’s diaries meant it wasn’t possible.

This week, it emerged that Police Scotland are planning for a summer visit from the US president, which is likely to see him visit one or both of his golf clubs in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire, and require substantial policing resources and probably units to be called in from elsewhere in the UK.

Precedent for second-term US presidents, who have already made a state visit, is usually tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.

UK

Fireball at Southend Airport after small plane crashes

Published

9 hours ago

July 13, 2025

admin

Fireball at Southend Airport after small plane crashes

A small plane has crashed at Southend Airport in Essex.

Essex Police said it was at the scene of a “serious incident”.

Images posted online showed huge flames and a large cloud of black smoke, with one witness saying they saw a “fireball”.

A police statement said: “We were alerted shortly before 4pm to reports of a collision involving one 12-metre plane.

“We are working with all emergency services at the scene now and that work will be ongoing for several hours.

“We would please ask the public to avoid this area where possible while this work continues.”

It has been reported that the plane involved in the incident is a Beech B200 Super King Air.

According to flight-tracking service Flightradar, it took off at 3.48pm and was bound for Lelystad, a city in the Netherlands.

One man, who was at Southend Airport with his family around the time of the incident, said the aircraft “crashed headfirst into the ground”.

John Johnson said: “About three or four seconds after taking off, it started to bank heavily to its left, and then within a few seconds of that happening, it more or less inverted and crashed.

“There was a big fireball. Obviously, everybody was in shock in terms of witnessing it. All the kids saw it and the families saw it.”

Mr Johnson added that he phoned 999 to report the crash.

Southend Airport said the incident involved “a general aviation aircraft”.

Four flights scheduled to take off from Southend this afternoon were cancelled, according to its website.

Flightradar data shows two planes that had been due to land at Southend were diverted to nearby airports London Gatwick and London Stansted.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said four crews, along with off-road vehicles, have attended the scene.

Four ambulances and four hazardous area response team vehicles are also at the airport, as well as an air ambulance, the East of England Ambulance Service said.

Its statement described the incident as “still developing”.

David Burton-Sampson, the MP for Southend West and Leigh, posted on social media: “I am aware of an incident at Southend Airport. Please keep away and allow the emergency services to do their work.

“My thoughts are with everyone involved.”

Local councillor Matt Dent said on X: “At present all I know is that a small plane has crashed at the airport. My thoughts are with all those involved, and with the emergency services currently responding to the incident.”

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the latest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

UK

Heidi Alexander says ‘fairness’ will be government’s ‘guiding principle’ when it comes to taxes at next budget

Published

16 hours ago

July 13, 2025

admin

Heidi Alexander says 'fairness' will be government's 'guiding principle' when it comes to taxes at next budget

Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.

Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.

Politics Hub: Catch up on the latest

Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.

Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.

“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”

Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.

“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”

👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app👈      

Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”

He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.

Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.

Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.

Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.

With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.

The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.