Police failed to tell Nottingham stabbing families about 'utterly chilling' threat from mentally ill stalker

Police failed to tell the victims of the Nottingham stabbings they were being stalked by a mentally ill man.The unnamed suspect is said to have had a 'fixation' on the 2023 atrocity, in which paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane was free to kill students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, and school caretaker Ian Coates.It has since emerged that a second mentally ill man sought out Barnaby's family home in Somerset, and the GP surgery where Grace's father Dr Sanjoy Kumar worked, after absconding from a mental health hospital.Yet police did not notify the grieving families at the time, despite being aware of the threat. Officers are said to have downplayed the risk he posed because he was supposedly trying to 'help' them.Nottinghamshire Police, whose bungled handling of Calocane's case has featured heavily in a public inquiry into the attacks, has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).The police watchdog is already examining several potential failures in the case, including how Calocane was at large and free to strike despite an outstanding warrant for his arrest on another matter.Barnaby's mother, Emma Webber, said families were 'exhausted by repeat failings', after noting similarities between the cases of Calocane and the stalker.She said: 'We are told that a mentally ill man with a fixation on the Nottingham attacks, a history of concerning behaviour, and links to Prevent was able to travel to our hometown, actively seek out our family and the families of other victims, yet we were left completely in the dark. Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar were stabbed to death by a paranoid schizophrenic in Nottingham three years ago Emma Webber (front) with husband Dave (back right), and sons Barnaby (back left) and Charlie (Back centre), taken on their last family holiday in Palma in 2022, a year before Barnaby was stabbed to death It has since emerged a stalker tried to visit the workplace of Grace's father, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, pictured here with Dr Sinead O'Malley, Grace's mother, and James, her brother'We were given no warning, no safeguarding advice, and no opportunity to take steps to protect ourselves, our workplaces, or our son Charlie's school.'For a family already living with the unimaginable trauma of losing Barnaby to a man who was known to services, known to have serious mental health issues, and known to present risks that were repeatedly missed, this latest revelation is utterly chilling.'The idea that another individual displaying seemingly similar warning signs was able to travel across the country seeking us out, potentially visiting places connected to our family and our community, without us being told, is terrifying.'She said it was 'most disturbing' that the information pertaining to a potential new threat was withheld 'for many months'.She said: 'During that time, officials were apparently discussing the matter internally, preparing profiles and consulting lawyers, while the families most directly affected remained uninformed and unprotected.'It is believed the stalker has since been returned to hospital. However, his 'visits' only came to light over the summer with the disclosure that the mental health patient had complained that the IOPC did not take his cover-up allegations seriously.A Nottinghamshire Police spokesman: 'We received a complaint and due to the nature of the complaint referred the matter to the IOPC on August 24 and are awaiting their response.'Unfortunately, we cannot comment any further at this stage while an investigation is underway. We have updated the complainant throughout the process.' Valdo Calocane is serving a hospital order after he was convicted over the 2023 Nottingham killings that left three people deadAn IOPC spokesman said: 'We can confirm that we received the referral of a complaint from Nottinghamshire Police in relation to information the force allegedly withheld from the families of Valdo Calocane's victims about a potential witness who had tried to contact them.'We are now assessing the referral to decide what further action is required.'After originally receiving information from Nottinghamshire Police we spoke to a potential witness in January 2025 in connection with our investigation concerning the force's interactions with Calocane prior to the attacks.'It was unclear whether Calocane was the suspect for the matters that had been reported to police by the witness and the information was assessed as not relevant to our inquiries.'We did however make the force aware of the information provided by the witness so it could take the appropriate safeguarding measures.'We recognised that the families should have been updated that we'd spoken to this witness at the time and acknowledged that in a recent update to them.'Guinea Bissau-born Calocane had a history of violence and had been sectioned four times, but was repeatedly released into the community.A consultant psychiatrist even warned he 'could end up killing someone' when he was first sectioned in 2020.He was later handed an indefinite hospital order after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.An inquiry into what happened, which was held in London this spring, heard Calocane repeatedly misled medical professionals in Nottingham, refusing to take a certain type of medication because of his supposed fear of needles – despite getting Covid jabs.He was discharged from his specialised mental health team to his GP around nine months before he struck, after failing to engage with them.And it was revealed the mental health team previously flagged concerns about sectioning Calocane in case it was seen as racist.Calocane had a history of violence and assaulted two colleagues at the factory where they worked just weeks before he struck.The inquiry is due to resume next week with closing statements, before a final report is published next year.