Emma Webber said the families need answers on ‘so much’, before the inquiry begins next week.
The mother of one of the Nottingham attacks victims has said she believes the public inquiry will lead to “ramifications” for those responsible for the management of her son’s killer.
Speaking ahead of the inquiry, which is to begin in a week’s time, Emma Webber said the families of those killed “need answers on so much” because “pretty much every single institution and organisation has failed in one way or another”.
Valdo Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, killed her son Barnaby Webber, fellow University of Nottingham student Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and caretaker Ian Coates, 65, and attempted to kill three more people, in Nottingham in June 2023.
Mrs Webber called on all inquiry witnesses to “tell the truth”, adding: “If that means that an individual is compromised in their career, or even worse, then so be it.”
The public inquiry into the attacks, chaired by senior retired judge Deborah Taylor, is expected to start on February 23 and aims to report back within two years.
Asked what questions she wanted the inquiry to answer, she told the Press Association: “There are so many questions that need to be answered.
“We need the truth and we need answers now on so much – from all of the institutions.
“Pretty much every single institution and organisation has failed in one way or another.
“So we need the NHS to answer what happened, what didn’t happen, with regard to his (Calocane’s) diagnosis and treatment and management and sectioning and discharge etc, also what happened once he was in custody with regard to his mental health attention.
“With the police forces, particularly with Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire police forces, we need to understand their previous failures and contact with him, why they didn’t stop him? Why they didn’t investigate properly? And also why they didn’t conduct the investigation of the attack to a satisfactory level, leaving so many questions unanswered?
“Those are probably the key things that we need, but all of those encompass much, much wider as well.
“So it’s a huge amount because the inquiry is going to be running for so long, you know, February 23 to June 10, four days a week. So it’s pretty intense.”
Mrs Webber said she believed the inquiry would lead to “accountability on an individual and an organisational level”.
She continued: “There have been very many… scandalous revelations and failures and negligence and cover-ups that we have actually uncovered and pretty much nothing has come through due process.
“It’s been because of the families, united, challenging and challenging authority.
“Do I think we’ll get what we want? We won’t get everything that we want, definitely won’t get everything.
“I have to be realistic, but we will get a lot and we will get answers.
“I do feel, having seen what I’ve seen with regards to information that’s coming in and those taking the witness stand, that I think there will be ramifications for further investigations and further action.
“As we’ve always said, it’s fairly clear what we want. We want the truth. We want accountability on an individual and an organisational level, which I believe a lot of this inquiry will do.”
Asked whether she had any particular concerns heading into the inquiry, Mrs Webber said: “I can’t even begin to tell you how many meetings at the very highest level we have all sat in, where we’ve had the head tilt and the promise of candour and transparency and independent investigation, and almost without exception, all of that is utter rubbish.
“We’ve not had one single result so far in any of the investigations that have taken place separately, I think there’s 11 now, that have given us any real reassurance that the truth properly is being given.”
She added: “You can tell the truth, can’t you?
“But you can tell the whole truth and that can be two very different things – and it’s the detail that’s lacking, as we’ve evidenced in everything that we’ve uncovered so far.
“So we shall see. I have to be positive and optimistic because I recognise how huge this inquiry is and the importance of it and I’m also thankful that we’ve got it. You’ve just got to make it count.”
Mrs Webber said the families would not stop until they have the truth about what happened with the management of Calocane.
Asked what her message to potential inquiry witnesses would be, she said: “It’s a simple message, just actually do the right thing. Just tell the truth.
“Say what you did, what you didn’t do properly.
“I think we’ve made it clear we’re not going quietly into the good night, which is something we’ve said since the very beginning when we were sat in Downing Street with the Prime Minister.
“We won’t stop until we’ve got that, because all we have is the truth. We’ve got nothing to defend. We’ve got nothing to embellish whatsoever.
“So we just want the proper full facts and the truth – and if that means that an individual is compromised in their career, or even worse, then so be it.
“Because if you don’t do your job properly, you have to be held accountable.”
Mrs Webber said she did not think the grief of losing her son would ever go away, but hoped the inquiry would help bring “some peace”.
She said: “I have to start because speaking from our family’s perspective… we have to look at what our future is going to look like post all of this horror.
“Most importantly, Charlie (Barnaby’s brother), he’s 18 years old, he’s going to be 19 in September, which I can’t believe, which was the same age as when his brother was taken by Calocane.
“So we’ve got an awful lot to build and think on.
“And the grief, I don’t think it’ll ever go away. You try and manage it, but there has to be some peace where we can try and deal with our loss rather than dealing with the fight that we’ve had to do for the last two and a half years.”
