Last year Nottingham City Council told the families of Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates that it was planning a memorial, with little news since
The devastated families of those killed in the Nottingham attacks have shared their anger at proposed changes to a memorial in honour of their loved ones.
Nottingham City Council wrote to family members last year to propose a permanent memorial to Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, as well as Ian Coates, 65. All three died at the hands of Valdo Calocane, a paranoid schizophrenic, who is now serving an indefinite hospital order after admitting manslaughter with diminished responsibility.
Little to no progress has been made since then. Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace’s father, told NottinghamshireLive : “I can’t even recall my correspondence from them. I definitely want a memorial, but they said it would be for generic victims of crime.
“I don’t want that at all. I’m not interested in that one bit, I want a memorial of Grace, Barney and Ian somewhere specific, I don’t want them all rolled into one.
“They all deserve respect in different ways, it doesn’t acknowledge the loss of each victim. I think if you roll them all into one, it’s just disrespectful.
“Our details are available to them through the police family liaison officers, we had a letter of apology from the head of the council when they found out their workers were in breach of the case notes.
“That’s the only contact we have had from the leader of the council. Local Nottingham politicians and the council have been more than useless. They have done absolutely nothing. It’s been shameful.”
In response, Nottingham City Council said it will reach out to the families to arrange a memorial in time for the second anniversary of the deaths, in June this year. A spokesman added: “The tragic events of June 2023 will never be forgotten by the people of Nottingham.
“People make Nottingham, and we saw that when our communities came together in their thousands at the Council House to remember Barnaby, Grace and Ian, and to stand with their families. Cllr Neghat Khan wrote to the families on the first anniversary of the attacks in June shortly after she became leader of the council, outlining plans to plant a memorial tree in the new Green Heart park in the middle of city centre as a lasting memorial to people who have lost their lives in tragic circumstances.
“There are no words to sufficiently describe what a difficult time this must have been for Barnaby, Grace and Ian’s families. Our hope has always been to work with them on taking forward a memorial. We will reach out again to discuss how we can work together to ensure an appropriate memorial can be put in place for the second anniversary this June.”
