MUMS' AGONY
Nottingham attack: We can’t look at pics of our children anymore – we feel like a statistic, say mums of 2 teen victims
Killer Calocane was handed a hospital order for manslaughter by diminished responsibility
THE mums of two of the Nottingham stabbing victims have told how looking at photos of their children is too difficult - as they vowed to keep fighting for justice.
Valdo Calocane stabbed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, to death with a dagger in June last year.
6
6
6
6
Calocane, 32, was handed a hospital order for manslaughter by diminished responsibility after Nottingham Crown Court heard he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Speaking to , Dr Sinead O'Malley-Kumar, 54, and Emma Webber, 51, said they felt "foolish" for thinking they would see justice properly served and suggested any evidence given to the authorities that "did not fit their narrative" was dismissed.
Ms Webber said: "I feel like it's a statistic. A cheaper, easier win.
"I know it's contentious to say it. However, I've lost my precious son so I feel entitled to have that opinion."
MORE ON NOTTINGHAM ATTACK
Ms O'Malley-Kumar said: "Grace is gone. Barney is gone. We've got nothing else to fight for.
"All we can do is have no regrets that we have done our best to get the answers we want.
"And we're going to get justice for our children."
They said it was often too difficult to look at photographs of their children, and hard to see their friends because of their "overwhelming" pain.
Most read in The Sun
Ms Webber explained: “It’s so very hard to explain the pain of even looking at him.
“And in my head I say, ‘I’m really sorry, Barney. I’m not looking at you because I just can’t, because it’s too painful.’ ”
Dramatic moment Nottingham attacker is Tasered and arrested after killing three in knife and van rampage
The Attorney General ordered an independent review of the CPS's handling of the case, after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised victims' families that "we will get the answers".
But the women and their families said they now wanted a public inquiry to fully examine any prior failings by the NHS and police with Calocane, and the decision-making process in the justice system.
University students Grace and Barnaby were making their way home to student accommodation from a nightclub on the morning they died.
The teens were said to be just five minutes from home when the horror unfolded.
Barnaby was a keen cricketer, and his family dubbed him "beautiful, brilliant, and bright".
Grace was an up-and-coming England hockey star, and had risen up the ranks through London's Southgate Hockey Club.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Ian Coates, a school caretaker, was also killed.
The headteacher where Ian worked dubbed him "a much-loved colleague who always went the extra mile for the benefit of our children".
6
6
Topics