26 January 2024 , 12:34
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Keir Starmer has thrown his weight behind calls for a public inquiry into failings that led to the Nottingham attacks.
The families of the victims of knifeman Valdo Calocane have said there were "missed opportunities" to prevent the violent deaths of 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates, 61, last June. A judge handed down a hospital order to the 32-year-old, who has paranoid schizophrenia and whose pleas to manslaughter by diminished responsibility were accepted earlier this week.
It was confirmed today that Attorney General Victoria Prentis is considering whether judges should review his sentence after a complaint that it was too lenient. Mr Webber's mother Emma has said "true justice has not been served" and accused the Crown Prosecution Service of presenting the family with a "fait accompli that the decision had been made to accept manslaughter charges".
The Labour leader, a former head of the Crown Prosecution Service, called the deaths "absolutely awful" as he backed the demand for a inquiry into the case. He told ITV's This Morning programme: "As far as the sentence is concerned, obviously there are mental health issues in this particular case, and the Attorney General has got the power to review it and I think that probably makes sense and have it double checked by the Court of Appeal.
Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar (l-r) were killed by knifeman Valdo Colocane in Nottingham (PA)"But I think alongside the sentence, I am very worried by what appear to be a number of points at which action could have been taken that would have prevented this happening. The family are saying that needs to be an inquiry into that. I think they're right about that.
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"I think somebody outside of this independent needs to look at exactly what happened, what were the points of which there could have been an intervention and why it didn't happen. That is the least that these families are owed."
Mr Starmer said speaking to parents who have lost children to knife attacks is one of the most difficult things he's done as a lawyer and as a politician. "You can't say anything, you just have to be there," he said.
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Labour has vowed to cut knife crime in half within five years if it forms the next Government. Its plans include referring young people found with a knife to a Youth Offending Team, where they would face sanctions including curfews, tagging, or behavioural contracts, alongside requirements for parents to prevent it happening again.
Mr Starmer said the prevalence of knife crime created a culture of fear on the streets. He said: "I've got a 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl. I worry, of course I do. I think any parent, particularly with teenage children, worries about how safe they are on the streets. Of course they do. I'm not pleading anything special for my children, I'm just expressing the concern of a father, which any parent would share across the country."
Rishi Sunak is resisting calls for an inquiry into any state failings linked to the Nottingham attacks. A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said: "We believe that it's important that as the first action that the relevant agencies look back and ensure that all the proper processes were followed and that reasonable steps that could have been taken were taken to ensure that where there are lessons to be learned we do so. That is the first thing that needs to happen."
Asked if No10 was not ruling out an inquiry, she said: "We think that it's right that what happens now is that the relevant agencies look back. We're going to let that process take place."