Police failed to tell families of Nottingham attack victims 'that they were being stalked by a mentally ill man'

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 20:44 EDT, 1 September 2026 | Updated: 20:59 EDT, 1 September 2026 Police failed to warn the families of three Nottingham attack victims that a mentally ill man obsessed with the case had been hunting for them – and allegedly played down the danger he posed.The man, who had been sectioned and referred to the Government's Prevent programme over extremism, travelled to Somerset in an attempt to locate the families of victims Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar.He had also visited the GP surgery of Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace's father, after claiming he knew of a 'cover-up' surrounding the June 2023 attacks.Yet Barnaby's parents Emma and David were not told about the man's journey for 18 months, while the family of Ian Coates, the 65-year-old school caretaker also murdered by triple killer Valdo Calocane, say they were never officially informed.The man was later sectioned after threatening ambulance workers in London before absconding from hospital last October.Police eventually told the Webbers he was on the run, but failed to disclose his history of threatening behaviour or his fixation with the Nottingham killings.Emma Webber said it was 'profoundly upsetting' that her family had been left without any safeguarding advice, particularly as her other son Charlie was attending school nearby.She added that the police briefing was 'fundamentally misleading' and said: 'We have been denied the right to protect ourselves.' Emma Webber, mother of Barnaby Webber, wipes her eye during a press conference with the families of the Nottingham attack victims where she said those attacked by Valdo Calocane were failed by every agency An inquiry has been looking into how a mentally ill man was free to kill three people, (left to right) Ian Coates, Mr Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar. The findings will be published next year Mrs Webber (front) with husband Dave (back right), and sons Barney (Back left) and Charlie (Back centre), taken on their last family holiday in Palma in 2022, a year before Barney was stabbed to death in NottinghamMr Kumar said he was 'horrified to learn that [the patient] is known for violence, fixated on our case and seeking us out, yet we have not been given an official warning'.According to The Times, Nottinghamshire Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which is already investigating failures surrounding the Nottingham attacks.The IOPC has apologised for not informing the families about its dealings with the man.Calocane, who admitted manslaughter and attempted murder, was detained indefinitely in a high-security hospital instead of prison after prosecutors accepted his not guilty pleas to murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility in January 2024 - to the anger of the victims' families who had been told he would be sent to prison.Nottinghamshire Police has also been criticised over its failure to arrest him before the attacks, despite him being the subject of an arrest warrant.The public inquiry was held following a campaign by the victims' families. It heard there were repeated failings by both the police and the NHS.Former Chief Constable Kate Meynell told the inquiry the failure to apprehend Calocane before his killing was 'unacceptable'.He had been the subject of an arrest warrant issued in September 2022, but Meynell said the warrant went into an inbox that was not monitored regularly.The public inquiry into the attacks, which lasted more than three months and heard from 164 witnesses, finished in June and chairwoman Her Honour Deborah Taylor is expected to report back with her findings and recommendations next year.