Three years after her 19-year-old son was stabbed to death on a Nottingham street, Emma Webber posted four photographs of Barnaby – one showing him as a toddler on her lap – and made a promise: “Barney, I promise you there will be accountability. For You. For Grace. For Ian.”
Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, also 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, were killed by Valdo Calocane in the early hours of June 13, 2023. Calocane, 32, a paranoid schizophrenic, is detained indefinitely in a psychiatric facility after admitting manslaughter on diminished responsibility grounds.
“Barnaby Webber's mother vows accountability three years after Nottingham attacks as she warns new Mental Health Act will make streets less safe.”
Mrs Webber has since demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, saying Calocane “got away with murder.” A three-month inquiry into the circumstances of the killings heard evidence and is set to publish its findings in May 2026. At its conclusion, Mrs Webber said: “No murder conviction, no trial, no proper punishment… Clear evidence has come forward to prove that Calocane did have a history… Evidence of his insight, his planning, and his culpability was overlooked by a weak prosecution and poor-quality expert witnesses.”
But as the anniversary passed, Mrs Webber turned her anger toward a new law she says will only make such tragedies more likely. The Mental Health Act 2025, which came into force in January, halves the time anyone can be sectioned and increases their opportunity to refuse medication. It emphasises “least restriction,” “reduced detention” and “patient choice.”
“Psychiatry has been a catastrophe that has ruined our lives,” Mrs Webber told The Sun. “It is in crisis and the new Mental Health Act is only making it worse. It reduces the time someone can be held and it gives more autonomy. There’s no recognition of risk. Since the Nottingham attacks, we’re nearly three years on and another 300 people have lost their lives. Just an example, those three little girls in Southport. And it could have been and should have been prevented. It’s still happening. As we finish this conversation, there are countless Calocanes out there all over this country. And it’s just a case of when not if.”
The inquiry heard how Calocane – referred to mental health teams multiple times between May 2020 and the attacks – was given a hammer back by a senior medic because it was his “personal property,” and that one doctor described him as a “gentle, law-abiding young man” in a risk assessment to avoid “stigmatising” him, even though he knew the patient had just attacked a police officer.
Hundreds shared messages of support under Mrs Webber’s anniversary post. Louise Dixon wrote: “Thinking of you especially today and always. Barnaby, Grace and Ian.”