The partner of a man who suffered brain damage when he was run over by paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane has told a public inquiry that authorities involved with the triple killer “tortured” the victims’ families “over and over again”.
Wayne Birkett was thrown feet into the air when Calocane deliberately swerved and hit him with a stolen van that he was driving in the early hours of June 13 2023 in Nottingham.
Mr Birkett’s attacker had already killed three people that morning – students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, whose van he used to run over three people.
Giving evidence to the Nottingham Inquiry, which is examining events leading up to and after the attacks, Mr Birkett and his partner Tracey Hodgson said the survivors of the attacks feel “forgotten”.
Ms Hodgson told the central London inquiry: “It should have not needed this inquiry for the police in particular to tell the truth and be honest as to what we are learning of so many failures.
“All the organisations involved in this inquiry should have been open from the beginning.
“They have caused extra suffering for the families, which could have been prevented, and they have prolonged their suffering when they should have been allowed to just get on with grieving.
“You have tortured these families over and over again.”
Mr Birkett said he wanted to know the “severity” of what Calocane did, but told the inquiry that their family liaison officer, Detective Constable Raj Johal, in an early meeting, did not tell them about the killer’s previous interactions with the police.
Ms Hodgson said: “She said there was no history at all with the police.
“She’s been sitting on all this information that she already knew.
“It’s so disappointing to know that she would have known all of this and she wasn’t allowed to tell us, obviously.”
Mr Birkett suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of two skull fractures, numerous lacerations, severe bruising and multiple fractures.
The inquiry previously heard that Calocane assaulted and stalked a former flatmate, and had attacked two members of staff at a warehouse a month before the Nottingham attacks.
A warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to attend court in September 2022, for assaulting a police officer on a separate occasion.
Mr Birkett said of the sentencing hearing for Calocane: “I thought it was horrifying listening to what happened because I wasn’t expecting it at all.
“I had to literally walk past VC, probably within two metres of him, every time I had to leave the court.
“How do you do that, staring at the man who did all this?”
Ms Hodgson said it was “not the right sentence”.
Calocane was handed an indefinite hospital order in January 2024 after admitting three counts of manslaughter and three counts of attempted murder.
In an email to former Nottinghamshire Police Chief Constable Kate Meynell, Ms Hodgson said it was “old news” that police officers had looked at sensitive information about the attacks without a policing purpose.
Ms Hodgson wrote: “Literally word for word had already been on social media and this shouldn’t be the way we find out.”
She added: “Wayne, Sharon & Marcin (the three survivors of the attacks) all seem to be forgotten because they are survivors of this horrendous crime that was committed by Valdo Calocane.”
The inquiry continues.
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