Undated handout file photo issued by Nottinghamshire Police of Nottingham triple killer Valdo Caloca. (Image: PA)
Psychiatric doctors who freed Valdo Calocane into the community to slaughter three innocent victims must be named over their “catastrophic failures”, the devastated families have demanded.
They say that if the individuals’ identities remain secret, then “vital change can never happen” and will meet with the Government next week to demand a full statutory public inquiry.
An independent review, published today, lays bare a catalogue of failings in Calocane’s mental health treatment before he fatally stabbed Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both students aged 19, and Ian Coates, 65, a caretaker who was about to retire.
Emma Webber, mother of victim Barnaby, said evidence of the chronic NHS failures in dealing with her son’s killer would have been “brushed under the carpet” had it not been for their campaigning.
:
(left to right) Grace O’Malley-Kumar’s brother James, with their parents Dr Sanjoy Kumar and Dr Sine. (Image: PA)
She said: “None of us should be here today. Anything and everything that could go wrong did.
“Barnaby, Ian and Grace would be here today if those concerned across these agencies had just done their job properly.”
Mrs Webber said the indefinite hospital order handed to Valdo Calocane after he was allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility represented an “enormous miscarriage of justice” and said: “He got away with murder. Yes he was mentally ill, but he knew what he was doing. He planned the murders, he bought the knives and put them in a rucksack.”
But she said that instead of being in jail, he is being cared for in a hospital receiving state benefits, adding: “He serves no punishment for his crimes.”
Fighting back tears, Mrs Webber said: “To the Prime Minister and the rest of the Government, stop this trauma and our fight.
“You have confirmed there will be a public inquiry, but agree the terms that we’ve been pleading for, make it statutory so all of the agencies, organisations, institutions and, vitally, individuals must … and will be compelled to attend, give evidence and tell the truth.
“Do the right thing. We are, and we won’t stop until that happens.”
The father of Grace O’Malley Kumar, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, said he would be asking Health Secretary Wes Streeting to order a mental health trust to hold individual doctors responsible for the failures in his daughter’s killer’s care.
Don’t miss…
Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber, speaking to the media during a press conference. (Image: PA)
Dr Sinead O’Malley, the mother of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, speaking to the media. (Image: PA)
He said: “We’ve been failed at every intersection that Valdo Calocane had with any authority.”
Addressing the report on the care provided by Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust, Dr Kumar said: “He simply failed to take his medication, and he was fully culpable for failing to take his medication.
“This report published highlights the failures of the mental health trust, but it fails my wife and I, as clinicians working at the NHS, for the failure to treat Valdo Calocane appropriately.
“We will be asking the Secretary of State for Health to order the trust to hold individual doctors responsible as they know Valdo Calocane was an evil, violent man – a known risk to the public who did not take his medication.
“He (Valdo Calocane) was sectioned four times. Four times. The psychiatrist failed to change his treatment four times.
“They failed to put provisions in the community to make sure he took his medication, ultimately irresponsibly discharging him into the community to do harm.
“They failed to consider public safety in Nottingham.
“This report was meant to be more detailed than the failures found by the Care Quality Commission, but it fails because it does not name the psychiatrist who failed in their duty.
“A system is made out of individuals – if individuals are not held to account, systems will not change in our country, as you have seen with failings in other attacks and, ultimately, there will be no positive change, no change for us and no change for the community.”
James Coates speaking to the media during a press conference with the families of the victims. (Image: PA)
Concluding his statement, Dr Kumar said: “For the loss of our beautiful, brave daughter, Grace, there must be change.
“This is a watershed moment.
“We demand a public inquiry with statutory powers, powers to compel witnesses to appear to account for their failures.
“We demand accountability and we will not stop until we get justice for the Nottingham attacks.”
His wife, and fellow NHS medic Dr Sinead O’Malley-Kumar, said there had been poor decision-making and “laziness” among health staff who treated her daughter’s killer.
She said: “If any of them knew that Valdo Calocane was going to go out and share student accommodation with their children or live opposite their elderly parents then I suspect their choices may have been very different.” she said.
“Accountability on an individual level is essential.”
(left to right) Neil Hudgell, Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber, Dr Sanjoy Kumar and Dr Sine (Image: PA)
James Coates, the son of Ian Coates, warned that the report shows the people of Nottingham are not safe.
He said: “If they take shortcuts, it puts people’s lives at risk.”
The three families’ representative solicitor Neil Hudgell, said NHS England’s initial decision not to disclose the full report into Calocane’s care before their 1th hour U-turn had added “trauma upon trauma” for the families.
He said: “Without the full report, you wouldn’t know today how frightened health professionals were to visit Valdo Calocane, how they withdrew on occasion, how they planned their exits – yet at the same time were willing to discharge him from care.”