Attacks in Nottingham: Remembering the victims

Side by side and united in their grief, the families of two students killed in the Nottingham attacks retraced the path they had taken exactly one year ago before their lives were cruelly taken.

Valdo Calocane killed Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, along with school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, on June 13.

On Thursday morning, their families walked the same route home along Ilkeston Road in Nottingham that Miss O’Malley-Kumar and Mr Webber had taken before they were fatally stabbed.

The walk in her memory was followed by ceremonies at the University of Nottingham and Huntingdon Academy, St Ann’s, where Mr Coates worked as a caretaker.

Family members and friends of the victims joined the procession and laid dozens of roses on Ilkeston Road.

Calocane stabbed Mr Coates in a separate attack on Magdala Road. He stole his van and later drove at three pedestrians.

Hundreds gathered at the university ceremony to pay their respects to the victims.

David Webber, who took part in the march in memory of his son, told BBC Breakfast that the world had changed “immeasurably for us” a year ago and that being in Nottingham felt “surreal”.

He added: “Barnaby and Grace loved this university. Ian loved this city. We are here for them.”

Mr Webber added that returning to the city on the first anniversary of the attacks was “bittersweet”.

“The hardest part is getting into the city, and that has nothing to do with the city,” he continued.

“It has to do with what happened here and knowing that my son took his last breath here.

“If you asked me what I really wanted to do, I’d just curl up in the corner of my bedroom and not leave, but that’s not what Barnaby would want me to do. And that’s probably not what Grace or Ian would want me to do, either.”

According to prosecutors, medical experts presented “overwhelming” evidence that he was suffering from a serious mental illness at the time of the attacks.

Calocane’s sentence was appealed by the victims’ families, but the appeals court ruled in May that it was not unduly lenient.

Mr Webber said all three families of the victims had “paid the ultimate price” and called for change in the country’s justice system.