Attorney General orders review into CPS handling of Nottingham triple stabbing: Probe to

The Attorney General has ordered an independent review into the CPS decision to accept Nottingham triple killer Valdo Calocane’s guilty pleas to manslaughter. 

The attacker killed nineteen-year-old university students Grace O’Malley Kumar and Barnaby Webber, as well as school caretaker Ian Coates in the early hours of June 13 last year. 

The investigation will include examining the CPS decision to accept Calocane’s guilty pleas to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility, and whether the CPS met its duties to consult with families ahead of accepting pleas.

Attorney General Victoria Prentis said: ‘The senseless deaths of Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates have horrified the country.

‘While nothing will bring their loved ones back, the families understandably want to understand what happened in this case.

Valdo Calocane (pictured) killed two nineteen-year-old university students as well as a school caretaker in the early hours of June 13 last year

Grace O’Malley Kumar, 19, (pictured) was killed by Calocane in a horrifying attack in June 

Barnaby Webber, 19, (pictured), was also stabbed to death on June 13 last year by Calocane 

Attorney General Victoria Prentis said: ‘The senseless deaths of Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates have horrified the country’ 

‘That’s why I have asked the inspectorate to carry out a prompt and thorough review of CPS actions so we can properly investigate the concerns raised by the families in this devastating case.’

Last week, Calocane was given a hospital order for manslaughter by diminished responsibility after Nottingham Crown Court heard he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Barnaby’s family called the hospital order a ‘huge insult’.

The victims’ families backed calls for a public inquiry. Rishi Sunak previously resisted them but it emerged on Monday night that he told the families at a meeting in Downing Street that he had not ruled one out.

Barnaby’s father David said: ‘We did get an assurance from the Prime Minister himself that if it’s required, they’re not ruling out a public inquiry, and they will do a public inquiry.’

Ian Coates was one of the three people killed by Calocane in June 

Speaking outside Number 10, Grace’s brother continued: ‘We’re not in a rush, we’ve lost our loved ones now, we’ve lost Grace, we’ve lost Ian [Coates], we’ve lost Barnaby [Webber] – we want [an investigation into the attacks] to be as thorough as possible to make sure those gaps are filled and the relevant people have been held accountable.

‘The Prime Minister said that there are plenty of options that could be taken [including] the public inquiry.’

Mr Coates’s son James said there had been failings by ‘all the different agencies’ involved in dealing with his father’s killer.

It emerged that Nottinghamshire Police failed to arrest Calocane for allegedly attacking two people weeks before the stabbings. A special review has also been ordered into the mental health trust that treated him before the killings. 

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.