Mum of Nottingham attack victim criticises police WhatsApp group

The mother of one of the Nottingham attack victims has shared an open letter to members of a police WhatsApp group chat, in which a message was posted describing her son as being "properly butchered".

Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber, 19, who with Grace O'Malley-Kumar, 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, was stabbed to death by Valdo Calocane, has written to the Nottinghamshire Police officer who she says posted graphic details of the victims' injuries in the chat group.

Mrs Webber said the "callous, degrading and desensitised manner" of the comments has caused "more trauma than you can imagine".

She added: "When you say 'a couple of students have been properly butchered' did you stop to think about the absolute terror that they felt in the moment when they were ambushed and repeatedly stabbed by a man who had planned his attack and lay waiting in the shadows for them.

"When you say 'innards out and everything' did you think about the agony they felt and the final thoughts that went through their minds as this vicious individual inflicted wounds so serious that they had no chance of surviving.

"Did you relate the excited urgency in your message of spreading 'big news' and preparing for a busy shift that countless lives had been destroyed forever."

The officer who wrote the message has received a management warning, Mrs Webber said she understands.

Speaking directly to the author of the message, she said: "I pray you will read this and pause for a while. Dig a little deeper for compassion and care. Show the respect in the future that you did not afford Barney.

"My aim is not to cause undue shame, or to have anyone publicly vilified; there's no need to add yet more pain; I just hope that by reaching out to educate and explain, my voice might make a difference.

"If you feel able and wish to make contact know that you can and it will be kept fully private. I have written this open letter only because of the actions of your Chief Constable and her senior leadership team."

Calocane, 32, carried out the fatal stabbings with a dagger in Nottingham in the early hours of June 13 last year, and attempted to kill three others.

In January he was given an indefinite hospital order for manslaughter by diminished responsibility, after Nottingham Crown Court heard he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

On May 8 the sentence handed to Calocane will be reviewed at the Court of Appeal, after Attorney General Victoria Prentis concluded it was "unduly lenient".

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