Nottingham attacks: victim's friend calls for more accountability

The friend of one of the victims of last year's attacks in Nottingham says people need to 'take responsibility' for what happened.

Emily Yap, who studies at the University of Cardiff, has been speaking out after yesterday's sentencing of 32-year-old Valdo Calocane following the incident back in June - which saw three people killed.

One of those who tragically lost their life was 19-year-old Taunton student, Barnaby Webber, who was studying at the University of Nottingham.

Shortly after the incident in 2023, the passionate cricketer's parents, David and Emma, and younger brother Charlie said he was "at the start of his journey into adulthood and was developing into a wonderful young man".

Yesterday, families of all three victims of the attacks reacted angrily - after their killer was given an indefinite hospital order by the judge at Nottingham Crown Court.

He had admitted three counts of manslaughter by diminished responsibility and three counts of attempted murder following a spate of attacks back on June 13th.

Emily Yap, who's known Barnaby since the age of two, tells us she thinks more should have been done to help the attacker.

She was two weeks into a four-month stay, working at a summer holiday camp in America at the time of the attacks - and only found out about her close friend's death when she called back her mum later that day.

Emily said: "I am angry at Valdo, but I do think that he was failed by the police, by society, by the mental health services - just as much as Barnaby, Grace, Ian - and those three that he attempted to murder.

"My life changed back on that day in June. It's not gone back to what it was, and I don't think it ever will.

"When I was told Barney was dead, I had time to process my emotions, and I found myself getting comforted by people I'd literally known for just a week, as I was at the summer camp.

"I had to stay out there for the summer and watched it all unfold from afar. I had to do that because of the contract I was under, which was a really emotional time for me."

Emily told us there are still questions to answer.

She said: "Quite frankly, how did the police have a warrant out for Calocane's address nine months before the address and not track him down?

"If the police can't find someone who's not hiding, then what chance do we have in fighting organised crime, or terrorism, or those people who are intentionally trying to hide from them?

"There's bits that I don't understand in this case - and what he's been sentenced for is really difficult to take, when you think about what he did that day."

Later this year, Emily is taking a 100 kilometre ultra-marathon in Barnaby's memory - raising money for the foundation set up in his name.

She added: "There are two focuses.

"One of those is to carry on talking about my friend, and his foundation.

"The other is to assess where it went wrong, and the people who were a part of this case - they really need to take accountability.

"I didn't really know what an ultra-marathon was - but I thought it would be a great to carry on, quite frankly, the work that he would have done if he was still here.

"I am so lucky to have the support network that I do have, and if anything positive has come out of this, it's that we're doing this together.

"I don't know how you're expected to deal with something like this, and I'm taking it one step at a time."

The families speak out after the sentencing

The families of all three people who were killed last year have said "true justice has not been served" as Valdo Calocane was handed a hospital order by a judge.

Speaking on the steps outside Nottingham Crown Court after the sentencing hearing concluded, Emma Webber - Barnaby's mum - said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) only met the bereaved families on November 24.

She said: "We were presented with a fait accompli that the decision had been made to accept manslaughter charges.

"At no point during the previous five-and-a-half-months were we given any indication that this could conclude in anything other than murder.

"We trusted in our system, foolishly as it turns out.

"We do not dispute that the murderer is mentally unwell and has been for a number of years.

"However the pre-meditated planning, the collection of lethal weapons, hiding in the shadows and brutality of the attacks are that of an individual who knew exactly what he was doing.

"He knew entirely that it was wrong but he did it anyway."

Addressing Nottinghamshire Police's Assistant Chief Constable, Rob Griffin, Mrs Webber said: "If you had just done your jobs properly, there's a very good chance our beautiful boy would be alive today.

"There is so much more to say and clearly serious questions regarding this case and events leading up to this monster being out in society.

"But for today, our darling son, his dear friend Grace, and a wonderfully kind grandfather, Ian, have been stolen from us forever and let down by the very system that should have been protecting them."

The IOPC

An investigation by the police watchdog has found an officer who drove behind a van that had been stolen by triple killer Valdo Calocane before he ran over pedestrians in Nottingham city centre was not in pursuit and could not have foreseen the collision.

The 32-year-old "mercilessly" stabbed students Barnaby Webber, from Taunton in Somerset, and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, from Woodford in London, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, to death and went on to run over three pedestrians in the van he had stolen from Mr Coates.

Nottinghamshire Police referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) for investigation after it emerged that a marked police vehicle was following Calocane after he had already struck one man, but moments before he deliberately drove into two pedestrians who were walking to work across a central reservation at a junction of Market Street.

The police vehicle, which had blue lights activated, was responding to an incident in Milton Street, where the first pedestrian had been struck by a van.

At the junction of Burton Street and South Sherwood Street, the officer caught sight of a white van matching the description being given out, the IOPC said.

The officer drove behind it at "speeds of under 30mph for 28 seconds" while making checks on the vehicle's registration prior to the collision on the crossing.

Immediately after the collision, the constable driving the police vehicle stopped to attend to the injured pedestrians.

In a statement released at the conclusion of criminal proceedings against Calocane on Thursday, IOPC regional director Derrick Campbell said: "Our sympathies are with everyone affected by the terrible events in Nottingham city centre that day.

"Our investigation considered the interaction between police and the suspect's van before two people were injured.

"At the outset, the officer who spotted the van was not aware of a link between the incident in Milton Street and earlier stabbings.

"The Pc was not pursuit trained and it was our view that the evidence did not indicate that he had engaged in a pursuit or could have foreseen the actions of the van driver.

"The evidence supports the conclusion that the officer placed himself behind the white van in order to relay information regarding the registration and its movements to the control room, so this could be passed to other officers in the vicinity."

The IOPC said all officers involved were treated as witnesses during their three-month investigation and they did not identify any conduct or performance issues in relation to the incident.

Read more: Man sentenced to a hospital order over Nottingham attacks

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