The parents of a victim of the Nottingham attacks have stated that medical professionals have a duty to violate patient confidentiality when the individual they are treating poses a threat to others. Speaking at a press conference in London on Monday, following the conclusion of evidence in a 14-week public inquiry into the attacks, the families of the victims accused local authorities of prioritizing the protection of Valdo Calocane over public safety in the years leading up to the stabbings of Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, and Ian Coates. They warned that without immediate government intervention, such a tragedy "will happen again."
Webber and O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Coates, 65, were killed in the early hours of June 13, 2023. Calocane, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, was found guilty of three counts of manslaughter and received a suspended hospital order in January 2024.
Families Blame Psychiatrists
Sinead O'Malley-Kumar, mother of Grace O'Malley-Kumar, expressed that "a lot of the fault lies" with the psychiatrists involved in Calocane's care. She stated she would "never forgive them for their lack of treatment and their incompetent discharge" of him. The inquiry heard that Calocane was discharged from mental health services months before the attacks because healthcare workers could not locate him. "I blame the psychiatrists for discharging him," she said. "I do not believe they're fit to practice and I think the regulator does need to take a look at some of these psychiatrists."
The public inquiry, led by retired judge Deborah Taylor KC, was established to examine the events leading up to the attacks and the subsequent response. The hearings revealed repeated contact between medical staff and police with Calocane, as well as a series of violent incidents he committed before June 2023. Calocane was sectioned four times prior to the attacks, the first in May 2020. Many of these interventions occurred after Calocane had committed a violent act. During his second hospitalization, a doctor warned that Calocane could "end up killing someone."
Failures in Information Sharing
At the start of the inquiry, two police forces apologized to the bereaved families and survivors for failing to act on an arrest warrant for Calocane that was issued 10 months before the killings. The inquiry also highlighted failures in sharing information across different agencies, including police, medical staff, and Calocane's family. In evidence, Calocane's mother, Celeste, stated she was unaware of decisions regarding her son's care until after the June 2023 attacks, including his fourth hospital admission in 2022. She noted that Calocane had withdrawn consent for details to be shared with her in December 2021, but she argued he lacked the capacity to make that decision.
Speaking after the press conference, Grace's parents, Sanjoy Kumar and Sinead O'Malley-Kumar, both medical doctors, emphasized that medical staff have a duty to breach confidentiality guidelines if public safety is at risk. "I think the safety of society as a whole, even as a doctor, overrides the autonomy of a single patient," Kumar said. "There are well laid guidelines, if a doctor knows that a patient may bring harm to someone else, the doctors are obliged to actually break that confidentiality. It didn't happen in our case."
Calls for Accountability
The families of Webber, O'Malley-Kumar, and Coates stated that the inquiry exposed a "lack of candour and blatant cover-ups" and left them with "many more questions." Lee Coates, son of Ian Coates, added: "It has shown the catastrophic failings from all services and agencies involved." Emma Webber, Barnaby's mother, described the inquiry hearings as "brutal, bruising and harrowing beyond measure," adding: "Mental health services failed to treat and manage. Police repeatedly failed to act. Agencies didn't talk. Individuals chose to look the other way."
Taylor is expected to hear closing statements from core participants in September and publish her final report with recommendations next year. The Royal College of Psychiatry and Nottinghamshire NHS trust have been contacted for comment.
