No images or videos were ever shared of city attacks victims, says county force
POLICE have reiterated that no videos or images relating to the Nottingham attacks victims were ever shared by officers or other members of policing staff.
Deputy Chief Constable Steve Cooper addressed reports that a special constable had been dismissed after viewing bodyworn video footage of Grace O’malley-kumar and Barnaby Webber being treated by medics in the street.
The special constable has been barred from working as a police officer and was dismissed at a behind-closeddoors accelerated misconduct hearing in December. DCC Cooper said the footage viewed by the special constable was never shared. And he confirmed a wider police investigation had found no evidence of any images or video footage having been shared at all by members of the force.
DCC Cooper said: “Nottinghamshire Police has carried out a thorough and extensive investigation into those who viewed material related to the Nottingham attacks which had no policing purpose to do so.
“Two officers have faced misconduct hearings as a result. A special constable was sacked for viewing bodycam footage of the incident in Ilkeston Road. He was immediately removed from the organisation by the Chief Constable following a misconduct hearing in December.
“None of this footage has ever been shared. A police officer was also given a final written warning by an independent legally qualified chair for viewing information about Valdo Calocane and sharing a single Whatsapp message. This misconduct hearing was held in January. None of the message contained any video or images.
“For clarity, the investigation has found that no one has ever shared any images or video in relation to these horrific attacks.”
The Post has learned that the special constable – who worked for the force on a voluntary basis – used his police laptop and viewed footage relating to officers and paramedics providing medical assistance to University of Nottingham students Mr Webber and Miss O’malley-kumar at the scene, and after they had died.
The students, both 19, were walking home from an end-of-term night out when they were stabbed repeatedly by killer Valdo Calocane in Ilkeston Road, Radford, near their student accommodation. Miss O’malley-kumar had tried in vain to fight off Calocane who attacked Mr Webber with a dagger before turning on her.
The then-special constable viewed the footage of the students on August 31.
Calocane would go on to stab Huntingdon Academy caretaker Ian Coates to death in Magdala Road, Mapperley Park, before stealing the 65-year-old’s van and driving it into three pedestrians in the attacks of June 13 last year.
The police handling of the attacks has been heavily criticised by the families of the victims who said they had only found out through the media about a public misconduct hearing which took place into the actions of police officer Matt Gell. He had received a final written warning after the hearing was told he had shared information about the attacks in a text message and breached confidentiality standards. Another officer received “management intervention”.
Mr Gell’s misconduct hearing was told that he, along with several other officers, received a Whatsapp message in their shift group regarding the attacks, with the message being described as “distasteful” during the hearing. The message was written by another officer. After receiving messages from his wife and a friend asking about the situation in Nottingham city centre, PC Gell forwarded the message to them, an action he admitted was “a mistake”.
The misconduct hearing was told that the message included descriptions of the injuries sustained by the victims and how the police were dealing with the incident. The message also incorrectly stated that the incident was declared a terror attack, the hearing was told.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Victoria Prentis confirmed she will refer Calocane’s sentence to the Court of Appeal for reconsideration after concluding it was “unduly lenient”.
Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order last month. He admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility after Nottingham Crown Court heard he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
It was announced earlier this month that Nottinghamshire Police will be investigated over previous contact with Calocane and the way they handled the investigation into the deaths of Mr Webber, Miss O’malley-kumar and Mr Coates. The Independent Office for Police Conduct, which is also considering the actions of Leicestershire Police before the attacks, has confirmed that an investigation has been launched after complaints from the victims’ families.
No one has ever shared any images or video in relation to these horrific attacks.
DCC Steve Cooper