Families of Nottingham attacks victims 'kept in dark' about mentally ill man pursuing them

The family of a student killed in the Nottingham attacks have criticised police for not warning them that a mentally ill man was "fixated" on the case.

According to reports, the unnamed man - who is said to have links to the Government's Prevent anti-extremism programme - travelled to Somerset to try to contact the relatives of University of Nottingham undergraduate Barnaby Webber.

Barnaby, fellow 19-year-old student Grace O'Malley-Kumar and school caretaker Ian Coates were stabbed to death by paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane during the attacks in June 2023.

In a statement on Wednesday, Barnaby's mother, Emma Webber, said her family had been "left completely in the dark" about the unnamed man and therefore had no opportunity to take steps to protect themselves.

Mrs Webber said the "revelations" were "yet another devastating example of the incompetence and institutional failure that has come to define the response of Nottinghamshire Police and the IOPC to our family".

She said: "We are told that a mentally ill man with a fixation on the Nottingham attacks, a history of concerning behaviour, and links to Prevent was able to travel to our hometown, actively seek out our family and the families of other victims, yet we were left completely in the dark.

"We were given no warning, no safeguarding advice, and no opportunity to take steps to protect ourselves, our workplaces, or our son Charlie's school."

Mrs Webber added: "For a family already living with the unimaginable trauma of losing Barnaby to a man who was known to services, known to have serious mental health issues, and known to present risks that were repeatedly missed, this latest revelation is utterly chilling.

"The idea that another individual displaying seemingly similar warning signs was able to travel across the country seeking us out, potentially visiting places connected to our family and our community, without us being told, is terrifying...

"What is perhaps most disturbing is that this information was not withheld for days or weeks, but for many months.

"During that time, officials were apparently discussing the matter internally, preparing profiles and consulting lawyers, while the families most directly affected remained uninformed and unprotected."

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The Times reported that the man also attended the GP surgery of Grace's father, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, but officers failed to tell bereaved families that they were being stalked and downplayed the risk the man posed, claiming he was reaching out to "offer his help".

Dr Kumar told the newspaper he was horrified to learn that the man, a patient at a mental health institution, was "known for violence, fixated on our case and seeking us out, yet we have not been given an official warning".

A Nottinghamshire Police spokesperson said: "We received a complaint and due to the nature of the complaint referred the matter to the IOPC on 24 August and are awaiting their response.

"Unfortunately, we cannot comment any further at this stage while an investigation is under way. We have updated the complainant throughout the process."

A spokesperson for the IOPC acknowledged a complaint from the families of Calocane's victims "about a potential witness who had tried to contact them" and said the watchdog was looking into the matter.

(c) Sky News 2026: Families of Nottingham attacks victims 'kept in dark' about mentally ill man pursuing them