Stab victims’ families sickened by ‘voyeurism’
Police officers shared vile WhatsApp texts detailing fatal injuries
THE families of three people killed in a stabbing incident have been left ‘sickened’ after graphic details of their injuries were shared to a UK police WhatsApp group – then forwarded to others.
An officer posted a message detailing injuries suffered by students Grace O’MalleyKumar – who had Irish heritage – and Barnaby Webber, as well as caretaker Ian Coates, 65, during Valdo Calocane’s rampage in Nottingham last June.
Another officer, PC Matthew Gell, sent the ‘distasteful’ message to his wife and a friend, a gross misconduct hearing was told. A source told the Mail that a shift WhatsApp group, which included PC Gell, was sent details of the injuries, as well as how the police were responding to the unfolding incident.
Speaking on behalf of the three families who lost loved ones, 19-year-old Barnaby’s mother, Emma Webber, last night said revelations of the ‘needless voyeurism’ by officers ‘sicken us’.
Mrs Webber, 51, said: ‘What an abhorrent way to conduct an investigation. We cannot emphasise how painful this tragedy is for all our families, and to learn there has been internal needless voyeurism of the vicious knife attacks on our loved ones is unforgivable. We were not, at any point, made aware of this (data breach).’
Former UK Victims’ Commissioner Vera Baird said: ‘This is absolutely shocking. Extraordinary behaviour from police officers who should know better.’
The panel was told PC Gell had forwarded the message, which incorrectly stated the atrocity had been declared a terror attack, after his wife and a friend messaged him asking about the situation in Nottingham.
PC Gell was issued with a final written warning after being found guilty of gross misconduct at the hearing, held with little advance notice on Friday, January 19 – two working days before the start of Calocane’s sentencing hearing.
Nottinghamshire Police said the officer who sent the original message was ‘dealt with informally’ and carried out ‘developmental learning’. The Police Federation’s Tom Hill, for PC Gell, said his client was a ‘sacrificial lamb’ who had been treated ‘unfairly and harshly’ in comparison to others.
This is the latest in a string of scandals involving UK police officers acting inappropriately over WhatsApp. In June 2020, two Metropolitan Police PCs were jailed for taking and sharing photos of the bodies of murdered sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry. Also, firearms officer Wayne Couzens joked with colleagues about rape two years before he murdered Sarah Everard. Paranoid schizophrenic Calocane, 32, has admitted manslaughter.
‘They should know better’