Police ask Post not to publish details around June 13 attacks
MEDIA TOLD CHIEF CONSTABLE’S BRIEFING WAS A ‘NON-DISCLOSURE’ MEETING
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE Police does not want the Post to publish details relating to police conduct around the Nottingham attacks.
Journalists from the Nottingham Post, and various other media outlets covering the horrific stabbings on June 13 last year, were invited to an off-the-record media briefing with Nottinghamshire Police at 12.30pm on Thursday.
But, before reporters were allowed into the call to hear from Chief Constable Kate Meynell, they were made to commit to this being a “non-disclosure” meeting. We believe some of the information disclosed at the meeting is of huge public interest and we believe this unprecedented step is an attempt to prevent reporting.
The Post understands one of Nottinghamshire Police’s reasons for not publicly disclosing the information is that current Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigations into their actions around contact with killer Valdo Calocane could be prejudiced by the information given out in the briefing – despite it being information the IOPC should already be aware of.
When Kate Meynell took the top job at Nottinghamshire Police in late 2022, she said: “It is really important if we are to be successful as an organisation that the public have trust and confidence and we are seen to be legitimate.”
We say that the public cannot have trust and confidence, nor the police be seen to be legitimate, without openness and transparency, and we question whether Nottinghamshire Police can truly say it has the trust of the public with this latest move, at a time when its practices are being called into question.
The News Media Association, which represents the interests of print and online media and lobbies on their behalf to government and regulatory bodies, said the news was concerning. Chief executive Owen Meredith said: “Good communication between the police and the media is essential to ensuring that the public interest is properly served.
“We are very concerned by reports of Nottinghamshire Police apparently using a non-disclosure agreement to prevent the media reporting matters in the public interest relating to a recent high-profile case in the county.
“This kind of tactic damages trust between the force and the media and has no place in an open democratic society.”
Students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’malley-kumar and school caretaker Ian Coates were stabbed to death by paranoid schizophrenic Calocane in the horrific attacks in Nottingham last year.
The public have since learned of the force’s nine-month failure to catch spree-killer Calocane before his vile crimes, and that a former officer chose to watch footage of the fatally-injured students.
The families of Mr Webber and Ms O’malley-kumar, both 19, and Mr Coates, 65, have consistently criticised the investigation and conduct of Nottinghamshire Police, with Mr Webber’s mum, Emma, stating Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin had “blood on [his] hands” for failing to capture Calocane after he assaulted a police officer in September 2022. A warrant was issued for his arrest but he was never tracked down.
Nottinghamshire Police were forced to apologise on Wednesday, after it emerged families had not been informed of the multiple investigations into officers and staff who had accessed information about the attacks, despite having no policing justification to do so. A Special Constable viewed body-worn video footage of the two University of Nottingham students being treated by medics on Ilkeston Road on his laptop, which was slammed by Mr Webber’s mum as “abhorrent voyeurism”.
He was dismissed at a behindclosed-doors accelerated misconduct hearing. The victims’ families were also outraged at not being told about the conduct hearing of police officer Matt Gell.
Mr Gell’s misconduct hearing was told 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”.
He 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”.
A separate investigation is ongoing regarding a Nottinghamshire Police staff member who has been arrested and interviewed on suspicion of accessing evidence on police systems when they had no legitimate policing purpose to do so.
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 IOPC, which is also considering the actions of Leicestershire Police in the weeks before the attacks, has confirmed that an investigation has been launched following complaints from the victims’ families.