The families of the three people fatally stabbed in Nottingham are to meet the prime minister next week to push for a judge-led statutory inquiry into the killings.
Valdo Calocane killed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and caretaker Ian Coates, 65, before attempting to kill three other people in the city in June 2023.
A major review of Calocane’s NHS care, released last Wednesday, set out in detail the contact he had with mental health services and highlighted failings in his care.
The victims’ families will meet Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday at Downing Street.
Mr Webber’s mother Emma Webber said the families hoped the meeting would confirm that the promised inquiry had the “teeth” to make sure all those involved in Calocane’s care leading up to the attack and those who investigated it were “finally made to tell the truth”.
Radd Seiger, adviser to the families, said they had been invited to No 10 to discuss next steps.
Downing Street has said Sir Keir was committed to a judge-led inquiry and has not ruled out a public inquiry with full statutory powers.
Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order for manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and attempted murder in January 2024.
Prosecutors accepted his not guilty pleas to murder after medical evidence showed he had paranoid schizophrenia.
The independent review, commissioned by NHS England, found the “the system got it wrong” with Calocane and this was “not unique” to his case.
It detailed two years of violent and disturbing behaviour, four hospital admissions between 2020 and 2022 and multiple contacts with community teams before he was discharged to his GP because of a lack of interaction with mental health services.
It also revealed Calocane was not forced to have long-lasting antipsychotic medication because he did not like needles.
Ms Webber said: “It has been a long and traumatic battle for the families.
“But we are glad to finally have the opportunity to meet with the PM and senior cabinet ministers, in what we hope will be the moment we get confirmation that the already promised public inquiry is going to be statutory.
“Meaning that it has the teeth it needs to ensure all organisations, institutions and individuals involved in the care, treatment of Calocane, and the investigation and prosecution of his crimes, are finally made to tell the truth.
“It has to be a watershed moment in this country to hold those who fail to account, address miscarriages of justice and, crucially, bring in changes needed to keep the public safe and make sure this can never happen again.”
Mr Seiger said the inquiry must be a judge-led statutory inquiry where witnesses are compelled to attend to give evidence.
“The families will not stop in the name of their loved ones until a light is shone on exactly what went wrong at every step of the way that led to the killings in Nottingham, that those responsible are held fully to account, and that steps are taken once and for all to ensure atrocities like this never happen again,” he added.
