Grace’s father tells of disgust at WhatsApp shame police
THE father of one of three people killed in the nottingham stabbings has written to the county’s chief constable to express ‘ disgust’ after it emerged descriptions of their injuries were shared in a police WhatsApp group.
A gross misconduct hearing was told the ‘distasteful’ information concerning victims Grace O’Malley Kumar and Barnaby Webber, both 19, and school caretaker ian coates, 65, was sent into the group by an unidentified officer.
The message was then forwarded by Pc Matthew Gell to his wife and another person outside of the nottinghamshire force, after the pair asked about the unfolding situation in nottingham city centre last June.
Last night Grace’s father, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, said he had written to nottinghamshire chief constable Kate Meynall to express his ‘disgust’ at the conduct of her officers.
Dr Kumar, from Woodford Green, east london, added: ‘i have additionally asked that she provide me with detail of what was contained within
‘Crude and distasteful’
the messages that were sent. i am also disappointed that she has not taken any opportunity to make contact to discuss this data breach and express her apologies. Being a mother herself, i thought she would have more empathy.’
His daughter, her friend Barnaby and Mr coates were victims of the paranoid schizophrenic Valdo calocane, 32, who admitted manslaughter over the killings and was given a hospital order.
Pc Gell was handed a final written warning after being found guilty of gross misconduct last month. He had ‘trawled’ police systems for calocane’s custody records despite no real involvement in the investigation. Another ten police staff also accessed the file without good reason. the force said a second officer awaits a misconduct hearing, and a third has been sacked.
James coates, one of Mr coates’ three sons, said he only found out about the WhatsApp group after the misconduct hearing – which the families were not notified about. He added: ‘ this is another failure.We have been let down and lost faith in nottinghamshire Police.’
Yesterday, as it was announced a review into the crown Prosecution Service’s handling of the calocane case was being widened, the nottinghamshire force faced more questions about how many officers were in the group and if any of them reported the offending message.
The bereaved families will hold an online meeting with Attorney General Victoria Prentis today and expect to be told whether calocane’s sentence of a hospital order – after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility – will be referred to the court of Appeal as unduly lenient.
Deputy chief constable Steve cooper said the force took action against one message posted to the group which he said contained ‘crude and distasteful’ language. Another officer was ‘subject to management intervention’.