The younger brothers of Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber have spoken about being lost since the Nottingham killings – revealing how they are struggling to navigate life without their ‘hero’ siblings.
In heart-wrenching video tributes played at the public inquiry into the 2023 attacks, James O’Malley-Kumar and Charlie Webber spoke publicly in detail for the first time about the agony of losing their older brother and sister.
James, now 19, told how he sleeps with Grace’s hockey T-shirt under his pillow and has pierced his ears to wear her jewellery in tribute.
‘She’d just blaze a trail for me and I’d follow. But now I’m 19 and Grace is stuck in time at 19. I’m lost, to be honest, really lost,’ he said in a clip.
Charlie, 18, described how there is never a moment when his older brother Barney is not in his thoughts.
‘There’s not a second in a day where I don’t think about him, or I’m not thinking about something to do with him,’ he said, recalling their final long car journey together before Barney was killed.
Grace and Barnaby were stabbed to death by paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane in the early hours of June 13, 2023, as they walked home at the end of a night out in their first year at university.
Caretaker Ian Coates, 65, was also killed before Calocane stole his van and drove into pedestrians, seriously injuring three more people.
James O’Malley-Kumar, now 19, told how he sleeps with Grace’s hockey T-shirt under his pillow and has pierced his ears to wear her jewellery in tribute
Grace’s father, Sanjoy Kumar (left), a GP, told how the family home fell silent after her death: ‘She literally brought the music’ he said, recalling how she would sing loudly in the shower
Barnaby Webber (left) with his mother Emma Webber and brother Charlie Webber (right). Charlie described how there is never a moment when his older brother Barney is not in his thoughts
One of his sons, Ian, described his fishing- and football-loving father as ‘a massive kid’.
He said: ‘My biggest regret is not valuing the time I had with my dad, not wrapping him up and telling him I love him.’
Calocane, now 34, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and is serving an indefinite hospital order.
The inquiry this week heard powerful tributes from the bereaved families, laying bare the scale of their grief.
Barney’s father, Dave Webber, said he would ‘like people to remember him as he was, this fantastic bundle of energy and life’.
While his mother, Emma Webber, described how her son, who had been considering becoming an RAF pilot, was ‘just coming into manhood, he was really good company.’
She fought back tears speaking of the tattoo inked on her arm bearing Barney’s initials, his cricket number – 53, his university colours and two butterflies.
‘There’s one for Grace and one for Barney. I hope they’ve got each other and they keep each other amused wherever they are.’
Grace’s father, Sanjoy Kumar, a GP, told how the family home fell silent after her death: ‘She literally brought the music’ he said, recalling how she would sing loudly in the shower.
And her mother, Sinéad O’Malley-Kumar, described her daughter Grace, who represented England in hockey, as her ‘best friend’.
Barnaby Webber’s family (left to right) father David Webber, mother Emma Webber and brother Charlie Webber, arrive at Nottingham Crown Court in January 2024
Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber – known as Barney – and Grace O’Malley-Kumar were killed in Nottingham in a series of supposedly random knife attacks by one man
Grace’s mother, Sinéad O’Malley-Kumar (right), described her daughter Grace, who represented England in hockey, as her ‘best friend’
Charlie Webber says there isn’t a day that goes by that he isn’t thinking about his brother
She said: ‘Her future that we anticipated with her, her graduating from medical school, or maybe marrying and having children, has been stolen from us.
‘That’s very difficult to come to terms with, and I don’t think we ever will come to terms with it. People say time heals. But it doesn’t heal when you’ve lost a child.
‘In fact, I would say it gets worse, because you feel the separation between yourself and your child growing as the years go by.’
Earlier in the inquiry it was claimed the killings were the result of ‘entirely predictable structural, systemic and individual failure’.
Calocane had been sectioned four times in the three years before the attack but was repeatedly released into the community despite concerns over his deteriorating mental health.
He had a history of violence and reportedly assaulted two colleagues at the factory where they worked just weeks before he struck.
Yet Leicestershire Police called to the scene did not realise Calocane already had an outstanding warrant for his arrest by Nottinghamshire Police for allegedly assaulting an emergency worker – something the inexperienced officer called to the scene admitted was an ‘operational mistake’.
The inquiry also heard police evidence went missing, with information not properly shared, while Mr Coates’ family first discovered he was killed through social media.
Calocane repeatedly misled medical professionals in Nottingham, refusing to take a certain type of medication because of his supposed fear of needles – despite getting Covid jabs.
Valdo Calocane, now 34, has been jailed for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished reponsibility
He was discharged from his specialised mental health team to his GP around nine months before he struck, after failing to engage with them.
The months-long public inquiry, chaired by senior retired judge Deborah Taylor, is examining whether opportunities were missed by police, healthcare services and other agencies to prevent the tragedy.
For James and Charlie, however, the legal arguments cannot undo the empty spaces left at family dinner tables.
They should be turning to their older siblings for advice about university, sport and adulthood.
Instead, as James said he is left trying to move forward while his sister remains forever 19.
Three others were left with serious injuries when Calocane stole Mr Coates’ van as he lay dying, and drove into members of the public.
One of them, Wayne Birkett, told the inquiry that while he was lucky to be alive, he ‘wished his life had been taken rather than those of Grace, Barney and Ian’.