The families of the Nottingham knife attack victims have said they were “very upset” when the killer’s brother sent them an apologetic letter.

James Coates, whose father Ian Coates was killed by Valdo Calocane in Nottingham last year, said he received a letter from Calocane’s brother Elias “months ago” in which he offered condolences and apologised.

Mr Coates said it “wasn’t the right time” and the other families of the victims were “very upset that this letter had been passed on to them”. 

Calocane killed Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19-year-old students, as they returned from a night out in June last year, before killing Mr Coates, a 65-year-old school caretaker on his way to work.

He then stole a van and crashed into three other people, who were seriously injured.

 

James Coates told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’ve received a letter months ago from his brother but it wasn’t the right time and it has fallen on deaf ears.

“Me and my brother Lee read it, but I know the other families had not read it at the time and were very upset that this letter had been passed on to them.

“Since then a few of them have read it but I’m pretty sure there’s a couple of the family members who just don’t think they could ever bring themselves to read this letter.”

He continued: “It was basically offering condolences and apologising for what happened and saying they can’t imagine what we’ve gone through.”

 

A report by the health watchdog revealed that Calocane, a paranoid schizophrenic, was sectioned under the Mental Health Act four times before NHS services lost track of him and then discharged him.

The Care Quality Commission identified five missed opportunities to deal with Calocane’s violent psychosis before the killings.

Speaking to Emma Barnett, the Today presenter, Mr Coates said: “[Calocane] knew what he was doing and his family have still got him, they can still speak to him on the phone.”

He added: “I can’t ring my dad. I can send him a message but it will bounce back because his phone is not in use anymore. 

“I will never be able to see my father again. My child will never be able to see my father again.

“Grace and Barnaby’s parents will never see their child grow up, because the NHS and the police and the Calocane family didn’t do enough.”

More than a year on from the killings, James Coates said he still messages his father’s phone.

He said: “I felt I wanted to keep that up as a way to speak to him. I continued to send him messages on Father’s Day and my birthday and, as time went on, his funeral, but it got to a point where the messages were bouncing back because his phone was not in use anymore.

“I did continue to send the messages knowing full well they will bounce back.”

 

Calocane’s family spoke for the first time during a BBC Panorama that aired this week, saying they also wanted answers and a public inquiry into the failings of the care he received.

Emma Webber, the mother of victim Barnaby, told the The Telegraph’s Daily T Podcast that the programme “wasn’t balanced enough” and ignored evidence of Calocane’s “insight and his ability to make judgments”.  By Albert Tait, Telegraph / Yahoo News