David and Emma Webber, heartbroken parents of, Barnaby Webber, a young man killed in a Nottingham attack, are speaking out at a public inquiry about offensive messages sent by police officers describing their son's injuries.
Barnaby, 19, a university student, along with fellow student, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, 19, and school caretaker, Ian Coates, 65, were killed by Valdo Calocane on 13 June 2023 in Nottingham.
The Webbers gave evidence to the Nottingham Inquiry on Wednesday., saying they could "never forgive" Nottinghamshire Police over a WhatsApp group chat in which officers referred to the victims' injuries.
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Officers in the group chat used graphic language about the victims' injuries, as the parents stressed the pain this caused, while they were grieving their son.
Emma told the inquiry how a family liaison officer warned her that some messages may appear in the media with no further details given at first, until Grace's father, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, had to contact the chief constable to learn more.
It was only after Dr Kumar pressed for information, that the families were told the content of the messages.
Emma Webber said, “Reading the content of that WhatsApp message was so destructive, so destroying, so awful. And I don’t mind the words being made public because the author of that message chose to refer to our children as being ‘properly butchered’. That’s disgusting and grotesque.”
The inquiry previously heard that the officers involved received disciplinary action.
Mr. Webber said his family were continuously reminded how Valdo Calocane’s privacy was “massively important”.
He said: “At the very core of this is a tragic, disgusting, horrible incident that’s happened and resulted in the loss of our child. It just makes me feel physically sick to be honest with you.”
Dr Kumar expressed his “disgust” that Grace and Barnaby were tested for drugs and alcohol after the stabbings but Valdo Calocane was not.
The inquiry heard that Calocane refused consent for toxicology samples when he was detained.
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