Haunting moment students killed in Nottingham attack have their final conversation unaware knifeman was lying in wait
Pair were making their way home from a night out when killer stabbed them with dagger
THIS is the haunting moment two Nottingham rampage victims had a final chat together unaware a triple killer was lying in wait.
Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, both aged 19, were captured on CCTV walking together as they made their way home from a night out.
Tragically, just moments later Valdo Amissao Mendes Calocane pounced on them and stabbed them to death before also killing caretaker Ian Coates, 65.
The killer, who was today handed an indefinite hospital order, had been lurking in the shadows ready to attack any strangers he came across.
It comes as…
- Calocane has been sentenced to an indefinite hospital order
- Dramatic bodycam of the moment Calocane was Tasered is released
- Shocking list of six missed chances to catch triple killer have been revealed
He followed the chatting pair from behind before pulling out a dagger and stabbing them.
Brave Grace had thrown herself between Barnaby and the attacker in a desperate bid to save him but nothing could be done.
She managed to push Calocane into the road but this led him to turn his attention to her.
The killer was then “as uncompromisingly brutal in his assault of Grace as he was in his assault of Barnaby” and she collapsed while Barnaby tried to defend himself from the ground.
In a harrowing 999 call, a witness can be heard saying “I think they’re dead” as he describes the horror scene.
Calocane was then captured on CCTV calmly walking away after stabbing the innocent pair to death.
While continuing on his rampage, the killer attempted to gain access to a home through a window but was shoved away by a resident.
Undeterred, Calocane made his way to Magdala Road where he came across caretaker Ian, who he also fatally knifed.
He then jumped into Ian’s van and began ploughing into pedestrians – leaving Sharon Miller, Marcin Gawronski and Wayne Birkett injured.
His rampage was finally brought to an end when armed police swooped on a residential street to arrest him.
An officer could be heard yelling “stay where you are, stay where you are” in dramatic footage.
As he points a Taser at the killer, Calocane tries to shield his head.
The footage then shows him being led away in handcuffs by officers after his arrest.
Calocane previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He also admitted attempted murder, with all his pleas accepted by prosecutors.
Nottingham Crown Court was told Calocane was suffering from “extreme” mental illness at the time.
It also emerged that at the time of the killings he was “unlawfully at large”.
An arrest warrant had been issued in September 2022 when Calocane failed to attend court for assaulting a cop that was still outstanding.
Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin, from Nottingham Police, admitted: “We should have done more to arrest him”.
The victims’ families wept as their harrowing final moments were revealed in court for the first time.
They also slammed the “monster” triple killer in powerful victim impact statements as they bravely faced Calocane.
Grace’s dad, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, told the brute he was a “a cold, cowardly and calculating killer”.
He also praised his daughter who “heroically and valiantly fought you. Like a hero she put herself in harm’s way.”
The dad said: “The love of our life has been taken away from us. [The] music from my ears has been taken away. Our landscape has turned from vivid colour to black and white.”
Barnaby’s mum Emma Webber said her son’s life had been “stolen in the most vicious, unprovoked, senseless and evil way imaginable”.
She added: “I have utter rage and pure hatred for you, the murderer that sits before me today.
“I do hope that what remains of your dark soul will feel true remorse for what you have done.”
While Ian’s son James Coates branded Calocane a “selfish monster who decided to go on a killing spree”.
“To have a life taken so horrifically is something you will never come to terms with”, he added.
'Got away with murder' - families react to sentencing
Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber, said the assistant chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police has “blood on his hands”.
In a message directed at Rob Griffin, the devastated mum said: “If you had just done your job properly, there’s a very good chance my beautiful boy would be alive today.”
Emma added: “True justice has not been served today.
“But for today, our darling son, his dear friend Grace, and a wonderfully kind grandfather, Ian, have been stolen from us for ever and let down by the very system that should have been protecting them”
“We as a devastated family have been let down by multiple agency failings and ineffectiveness.
“The CPS did not consult with us as has been reported. Instead, we have been rushed, hastened and railroaded.”
She added: “We were horrified. At no point in the previous five and a half months were we given any indication that this could conclude in anything other than murder.
“We trusted in our system, foolishly as it turns out. We do not dispute that the murderer is mentally unwell and has been for a number of years.
“However, the pre-meditated planning, the collection of lethal weapons, hiding in the shadows and the brutality of attacks are of an individual who knew exactly what he was doing.
“He knew entirely that it was wrong but he did it anyway.”
Meanwhile James Coates, the son of Ian Coates said: “This man has made a mockery of the system and he has got away with murder.”
He added: “My heart from the very beginning has gone out to the family’s of Grace and Barnaby.
“It will continue to go out to them as we all now celebrate an anniversary every June that will never be celebrated.”
Dr Sanjoy Kumar, the father of Grace O’Malley-Kumar said that their family will “never come to terms” with her loss and how she died.
“She was a gift to us, she was a gift to the country,” he says.
Dr Kumar says Grace’s family have never questioned Calocane’s diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.
But the heartbroken father said there were “missed opportunities” to “divert [Calocane’s] lethal calls” that will “forever play on our minds”.
“We will look for answers regarding missed opportunities to intervene and prevent this horrendous crime,” he says.
Calocane came to the UK from Guinea-Bissau with his family in 2007 when he was aged 16.
He grew up in a devout church-going family in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire and was described as “bright and studious”.
He had been receiving treatment from mental health services since 2020, including being treated with anti-psychotic medication.
It is understood his health spiralled during the Covid lockdown and complained of hearing voices telling him he needed to kill people.
Calocane had been sectioned at least four times before the attack but “actively concealed symptoms of psychosis”.
The killer also refused to take his medication and was admitted to hospital in 2020 after smashing down doors in his block of flats.
On occasion in May 2021, Calocane visited MI5’s London headquarters to ask them to stop “controlling him”.
The prosecutor said: “There is a photograph taken by their systems at Thames House, saying ‘please arrest me’ – effectively ‘stop controlling me’.”
Calocane also assaulted a police officer during a search of his flat, with the court told there were “missed opportunities” to alter the tragic chain of events.
