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Nottingham attacks
The mum of one of the killer’s victims has claimed the officer has blood on his hands
One of Nottinghamshire Police’s most senior police officers was questioned over how the force responded to Valdo Calocane’s city killings in 2023.
Temporary deputy chief constable Rob Griffin, who led the force’s policing response to the paranoid schizophrenic’s triple killings on June 13, 2023, gave evidence to the Nottingham Inquiry into failings that allowed this to happen on Monday, March 23.
The senior officer, who was assistant chief constable at the time, was the chief officer on call on the day that Calocane fatally stabbed University of Nottingham students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Nottingham grandad Ian Coates, 65, before trying to run over Wayne Birkett, Marcin Gawronski and Sharon Miller with Mr Coates’ stolen van.
As well as being questioned on the force’s response to these horrific killings, the police officer also addressed Nottinghamshire Police’s failure to apprehend Calocane.
The then 31-year-old had been wanted for not turning up to court over the assault of a police officer in the eight months before he terrorised Nottingham, but no officers had looked for him.
Temporary deputy chief constable Rob Griffin has described this as “a serious systemic operational failure on the part of Nottinghamshire Police”.
However, he said it was not realistic that Calocane would have been imprisoned for this assault.
Later this week, evidence will be heard from the bereaved families of Calocane’s victims and two of his survivors, as well as more Nottinghamshire Police officers.
Emma Webber, the mum of student Barnaby, previously said Rob Griffin had “blood on your hands”.
The inquiry continues.
Key Events
Kirsten Heaven, counsel for Valdo Calocane’s family, has now had the chance to question the senior officer who had led Nottinghamshire Police’s response to his attacks.
The Nottingham Inquiry has been shown a document that notes police had decided not to come out and confirm that Calocane was not an asylum seeker or illegal immigrant.
“Would you accept that information about VC’s immigration status in the UK should have been put into the public domain by the police on June 16 to calm tensions and to encourage accurate media reporting?” Ms Heaven asked the officer.
“I think we were successfully calming tensions through other means,” the temporary deputy chief constable said.
However, he did acknowledge there was some inaccurate media reporting regarding Calocane, and that confirmation of his status as not an asylum seeker or illegal immigrant could have prevented some inaccurate reporting.
Ms Cartwright has asked if the Italian student who broke her back fleeing Calocane in 2020 had been contacted and if officers had explained how they had failed her.
“No, I don’t think they have, no,” temporary deputy chief constable Griffin told the hearing.
The woman, who previously gave evidence to the Nottingham Inquiry anonymously with the help of an Italian interpreter, said she initially thought a group of people was trying to break into her flat at Brookhill Court in Nottingham, in 2020.
The student, who was 22 at the time, leaned out of her window after Calocane broke in.
You can read her harrowing story from the first week of the inquiry here.
Ms Cartwright KC asked if the officer understood why there was a “huge amount of skepticism” about why Nottinghamshire Police did not include the 2020 incident where an Italian student who was scared of Calocane jumped out of her window – causing injuries that amounted to grievous bodily harm – in the account of the killer’s contact with police.
The survivors’ counsel suggested that police were trying to “blame it all on health” and deflect scrutiny from themselves.
“I can’t agree with that assessment, my intention was given the limitations that were placed on me by the virtue of the fact that information had not been shared previously,” the senior cop answered.
Sophie Cartwright KC, counsel for Calocane’s survivors, told the inquiry that they were never told by the force about how officers had failed to make any effort to find wanted man Calocane before his rampage through the city.
“I hadn’t realised that that information had not been communicated to the surviving victims,” the senior officer said.
“I would disagree that I took no steps,” he said under questioning by Ms Cartwright KC.
“Is the direct answer that you personally took no steps to correct the misinformation that was with the survivors,” she asked, but the officer said the force had written to them and asked them for a meeting.
Later the officer was asked if the failure to inform Calocane’s survivors was a “fundamental communication failure” that was contrary to the principles of openness and honesty.
“The fact that the surviving victims were not given information about previous contacts with VC is a fundamental failing, yes, I agree,” the officer said, before accepting he shared part of the responsibility for this.
Tim Moloney KC, counsel for the bereaved families, has asked the officer why Ian Coates was left in the street for so long after his death.
He said that while Mr Coates was pronounced dead at 5.52am, he was only properly covered by a tent at 7.55am.
Until that time he lay in the street with a blanket over him, the inquiry was told.
Asked if could imagine the hurt this caused Mr Coates’ sons, he answered: “I actually can’t imagine it. It’s awful.”
“Would you think it would be a good idea to prioritise a scene where a man lay dead,” Mr Moloney asked.
“Yes,” the senior officer replied.
Temporary deputy chief constable Griffin is now being questioned about what has changed at the force.
The officer said police were currently considering if a police officer should be quickly deployed to the city council’s Woodlands CCTV control centre should a similar incident occur in the future.
He added that the National Police Air Service was not available over the night or during the early hours of June 13, 2023.
“I would say that a drone is as effective,” the officer said, before being questioned why this was not used.
“A drone officer was deployed on the night,” the officer said, stating that the force had enough drones.
“I would have to defer to the expertise of the drone officer over whether or not it is a viable tactic.”
Mr Blake asked about if the free flow of information through radios could be made, to which the officer said improvements had been made already – like moving firearms officers to a specific channel.
On staff members’ inappropriate access of Nottingham attacks information, the senior officer said: “I don’t think it’s the systems that need changing there, I think it’s the culture that needs a change.”
When questioned on how it had failed to share information properly, he added: “We collectively recognise that we got the sharing of information during this incident really wrong”
The inquiry has now heard that Mr Coates body had remained where he was killed on Magdala Road until 8.30pm.
Mr Blake asked if that was unusual as it sounded a “very long time”.
DCC Griffin said he was not aware of this until recently and said: “It does seem like a long time.
“And for Ian’s family that is particularly traumatic but given the number of scenes that were being managed at that time, the availability of crime scene varies, the approach taken by the crime scene coordinator, the thoroughness with which that scene was managed, I have to trust those who say that that amount of time was necessary in order to ensure that all forensic opportunity was maximised.
“Unfortunately I can’t go any further than that because I haven’t personally investigated every single document that relates to that matter.”
The inquiry has been told that Nottinghamshire Police had wanted to tell the families about misconduct first so that they did not learn from the media beforehand.
Documents shown to the hearing showed that the deputy chief constable had decided to delay revealing information about the special constable who viewed footage of Calocane’s attacks, believing that doing so just before his sentencing would be inappropriate.
The senior officer said that now-retired investigator Leigh Sanders should have kept the families informed of the related misconduct cases, but admitted he should have stepped in to make sure the information was shared.
“I thought it had been shared. I expected it would have been.”
“I’ve reflected ever since this moment, that all of that pain, additional pain, that the bereaved families and surviving victims have suffered because of that, could have been avoided if I’d have stepped into that space and made sure that it happened and I regret that.
“I am really sorry about that.”
We’re now back from today’s lunch break at the Nottingham Inquiry.
Julian Blake KC, counsel to the inquiry, is still questioning temporary deputy chief constable Rob Griffin.
He is being asked to give evidence on the improper accessing of information by Nottinghamshire Police officers following Valdo Calocane’s killings on June 13, 2023.
Mr Blake has explained to the hearing that despite PC Matt Gell being disciplined for sharing information about the case over Whatsapp, the force never carried out a specific investigation into officers’ use of the messaging app or further looked into the group where information was shared.
The inquiry heard that Nottinghamshire Police had only been able to see what PC Gell had written as it had been forwarded outside of the group, which had dissapearing messages on.
When asked if he could be sure that more officers had not accessed and shared information, the officer said: “I don’t think we can be satisfied.”
When asked if this behaviour was accepted within the force, the senior cop added: “Absolutely not, no.
“The guidance we give is very clear and we have a policy that lays that out for officers,” he said, adding that there were posters at police stations warning against this.
The officer said that while staff can use it, they should use it “as though the public are in effect there reading” and “any messaging should be professional and appropriate”.
Temporary deputy chief constable Rob Griffin is now being questioned about the inappropriate access to police systems by officers and staff.
The hearing was told that the head of the police’s Professional Standards Directorate (PSD) had told officers they should not be looking at CCTV or police systems without a policing reason.
“It was my opinion that one person checking systems appropriately is too many,” the police officer said.
The inquiry was told that homicide information was being kept on an insecure system – called the Big Job Drive – where there was no login or audit trail required, so a large amount of people could have accessed images and video footage stored on there.
Asked if that was a particular concern at the time, deputy chief constable Griffin said: “I don’t remember it being a particular concern.”
Mr Blake explained that investigations into improper information access had been prompted by leaks to the press.
The Nottingham Inquiry heard that Nottinghamshire Police has never carried out a full audit of who had viewed images of the attacks and the deceased.
“Do you consider it odd that there hasn’t been a proactive investigation into who accessed images and footage?” Mr Blake asked.
“I think there ought to have been yes,” the officer answered, adding that this was the responsibility of PSD.
“Do you think that saying it was highly unlikely that he would have received a custodial sentence was in fact not right?” Mr Blake asked the officer.
“It was my opinion at this time, and I know this is a highly controversial point, but it remains my opinion that it was highly unlikely he would have received a custodial sentence.”
The senior officer accepted this was not an appropriate thing to say, under questioning by Mr Blake.
He added that it was “impossible” to say whether different actions by the police would have made a difference, but it “may have been different”.
The officer maintained his statement that there were signs of de-escalating violence in the Nottinghamshire incidents.
The deputy chief constable has said the systemic failure over the warrant was realised “almost immediately” on June 13 or 14, but the families and survivors were not told at all.
The officer has also been questioned over a timeline published by Nottinghamshire Police, which did not show all the force’s interactions with the force.
“It was not a timeline at all. We’ve got that really wrong,” he told the hearing.
“I can see that [incidents] between 2020 and 2022 doesn’t appear there.”
The officer could not explain to the inquiry why these had been left out of the timeline.
On the other incidents, the senior officer said: “There were failures in these investigations.
“There is no question about that.” However, he argued that sometimes prosecutions were not supported by Calocane’s victims.
The deputy chief constable has told the hearing he “very strongly” expressed his frustration with retired Det Supt Leigh Sanders, who had been the senior investigating officer on the Nottingham attacks, after finding out the families of Calocane’s victims had not had been informed properly of the warrant for his arrest.Asked if Det Supt Sanders had failed, the senior officer said: “He failed to explain the warrant in the way that I have wanted him to.”The officer added that he thought the right time to tell the families about the warrant would have been between Calocane’s arrest and his sentencing. “I also thought that that had been done,” he added. The officer, giving evidence, was also asked if the excuse of Calocane being “nomadic” came from the retired investigator, to which he said he assumed so but had not heard his colleague say it.“It’s not a phrase that I’ve ever heard,” deputy chief constable Griffin said.
Deputy chief constable has told the hearing that he believed the families of Calocane’s victims had been told about why the warrant was not actioned.
The senior officer said that during a communications meeting, with investigator Leigh Sanders and press officer Matthew Jarram, it became “abundantly clear” that the families and survivors had not been fully informed.
“It caused me to question what information has been shared and/or what information had been absorbed.”
The officer said was “simply not clear on what was known and what wasn’t” when going into interviews with the media in January 2024, when Calocane was sentenced.
We are now again being shown a draft press release, which was going to be sent out to the media, about Calocane’s attacks and his interactions with police.
Mr Blake said the draft press release seemed to downplay the assault on PC Pritchard and emphasise the health aspects of police interactions.
“I wouldn’t necessarily agree that it downplays the assault on PC Pritchard. But I agree that it emphasises the relevance of health,” the deputy chief constable said, adding that the constable had been attacked while Calocane was being sectioned.
Mr Blake said the police’s focus seemed to be on the NHS’ involvement with Calocane and neglected to mention every police involvement with the killer, with Nottingham Inquiry counsel suggesting the planned statement was not candid.
“I intended to provide what I would describe as a broad overview, because this is communicating with the public and it was to give them an indication of the context of the nature of those interactions.”
“My mantra was families first,” said deputy chief constable Rob Griffin, who said that while partners were sometimes very unhappy that they were not receiving information, the families of victims came first.
The senior officer said that the media had been “hassling us all week”, before quickly adding this was understandable.
“I was very prepared to stand by the decision that stakeholders and the media are going to have to wait,” he told the inquiry.
He later accepted, under questioning from Mr Blake, that the information about Calocane’s outstanding warrant had not been passed onto families at an appropriate time.
The senior officer said that PC Marsden – who had taken up the case of his colleague being assaulted by Calocane – should have been checking on the progress of the warrant for him rather than leaving it to someone else, as the inquiry previously heard.
The hearing was told that Nottinghamshire Police had more than 1,000 warrants outstanding at the time.
Mr Blake asked the deputy chief constable if that was “quite shocking”, to which he said yes, before agreeing that this was big news within the force.
DCC Griffin said that as of today there are 565 outstanding warrants and 80 in the inbox where there had been 282 at the time.
“That headline figure of 565 is front and centre now,” the officer told the inquiry, explaining that the system for handling warrants was changed after the Nottingham attacks.
“He did seem to have quite a history with the police, do you accept that?” Mr Blake asked, referring to Nottinghamshire Police’s early suggestion to the media and public that officers had mostly interacted with Calocane to help mental health workers.
“He had a history with the police, yes, very definitely,” the deputy chief constable told the inquiry.
When pushed by Mr Blake on the violence showed by Calocane, the officer said: “I stress that there are different perspectives on this and respect those perspectives, but in my opinion [there] only one incident of serious violence,” which he said was the student jumping out of the window in fear of him.
“All of those encounters in my opinion are characterised and bear the hallmarks of mental health incidents.”
Asked if he did not think the attack on a police officer by Calocane was seriously violent, he answered that the assault was “very, very unpleasant” but added he would make the “controversial point” that it was not serious violence as it was an assault on an emergency worker, which is not as serious as something like grevious bodily harm.
We’ve now been shown a document that outlines the force’s media approach to the incident.
The senior officer has been asked by Mr Blake if the communications made by the police were meant to make them look good, which he denied as being the aim.
However, the hearing has heard that press releases in January 2024, when Calocane was sentenced to a hospital order after pleading guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, police statements that gave definitive lines about how much officers could have done, were not run past the bereaved families.
“Yes, I think there was [a failure to see how statements could affect the bereaved and survivors],” the police officer said.
“I saw on the day of sentence, the hurt that I’ve caused, which was quite the opposite of my intention.
“I’ve never had the chance to say it to the families that I’m so, so sorry about that.”
“The coordination of that search activity should have been better, there is no question about that,” the police officer told the inquiry.
“But there was extensive search activity. I can understand that there are other perspectives on this of course there are.
“I have poured over it, with others, countless times, questioning why didn’t we catch him. But when you study it very carefully it becomes more obvious.
“We originally thought that he had gone up Ilkeston Road towards the city, we know of course know that that is inaccurate.”
He said that Calocane’s route was curious, taking a winding route that was not obvious.
“I can understand now, why we didn’t find him,” he added, prompting disbelief from the families of Calocane’s victims.
Mr Blake asked if the odds of finding him would have improved with a more effective search, to which the officer answered: “I think it’s possible, yes.
“But I think it is really important to understand the context.
“To be absolutely clear, my evidence is that the search activity should have been more coordinated.”
Temporary deputy chief constable Rob Griffin has apologised for statements that he made prior to his evidence today.
He had previously been quoted suggesting there was not much the police could have done about Calocane’s killings.
“There are words that I regret, yes,” he told the inquiry.
“And I want to say again that I’m so so sorry about that.”
He acknowledged his poor choice of words and the “lack of empathy” he had shown previously.
Mr Blake has asked the officer why it took so long for Nottinghamshire Police to tell the parents of the killed University of Nottingham students Barnaby and Grace that they had been killed.
“The parents of Barney and Grace should have been told just as soon as was humanly possible. And I completely understand the impact of them not having been.”
The deputy chief constable said the force had taken longer as it wanted to avoid a case of mistaken identity, as he said this would be worse than a delayed notification
“Do you think they could have been told sooner?” Mr Blake asked.
“That’s a really difficult one. I would have preferred for them to have been told sooner, but I don’t necessarily think that it followed that they could or even should have been told sooner.”
DCC Griffin told the hearing that he believed the force’s intial assumption that the Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar had been killed in an armed robbery was reasonable when the call was first received.
However, he added that as more details emerged the “unusual” nature of the incident “spoke for itself”.
Asked by Mr Blake is CI Mather has asked for any assistance, the officer replied: “He didn’t ask me for assistance as such, it was more a case that he briefed me and then, as I always would do, I asked lots of questions.”
“I believed he was coping with the situation,” the officer then stated when asked by Mr Blake if CI Mather – who was under heavy scrutiny when he gave evidence to the inquiry – had coped with managing the incident as it unfolded.
“I haven’t seen or heard anything that would indicate to me that he wasn’t coping with it, no.”
Mr Blake then asked why the senior officer had hesitated before his answer, but he said that he stood by his assessment of CI Mather’s performance.
Mr Blake asked if the conclusion was that Mather did not manage the attacks, should that criticism extend to Griffin, to which he answered: “During search activity I’ve not been informed or briefed, I didn’t have any knowledge at all of the search activity that was taking place.”
The senior officer has told the hearing that being the chief officer on call involves being available to those at work to provide strategic advice, guidance and support in the event that it is needed, which is “particularly so” in relation to critical incidents like the Nottingham attacks.
He explained the on-call chief officer will typically be at work in the day time, but be on call through his phone throughout the night.
He was first informed of Calocane’s crimes at 5.01, an hour or so after the first 999.
Asked by Mr Blake why this had taken so long, the officer said: “Because between those initial calls the person leading the response at the time… was coordinating an abundance of activity.
“There was no requirement for a chief officer to become involved in the command structure at that point.”
“It was more a case of, I believe, that officer, recognizing the magnitude of and thinking to themselves that a chief officer would wish to know.”
Asked if he should have been contacted earlier by CI Mather, his colleague answered: “I don’t believe so sir.”
The chair Her Honour Deborah Taylor has stepped into the hearing room and the inquiry is now commencing its fifth week of evidence.
Julian Blake KC, counsel for the Nottingham Inquiry, is starting to question senior officer Rob Griffin.
He is currently a deputy chief constable but was chief constable assistant at the time. “I was responsible for crime and criminal justice at that time,” he explained to the inquiry.
He was the on call chief officer of Nottinghamshire Police at the time of Valdo Calocane’s attacks and also the on call strategic firearms commander.
Mr Blake says that we will be looking at minutes from Gold Group, which the police officer says is a meeting structure for the strategic oversight of a police response to a critical incident.
The last Gold Group was held on February 19, 2024, the officer said.
The first four weeks of the Nottingham Inquiry into the June 2023 attacks by Valdo Calocane have revealed a series of systemic failures across the police, the NHS, and educational institutions.
Hundreds of people have been asked to provide evidence to the inquiry and thousands of documents are being considered as part of the proceedings.
A lot of information has been disclosed as part of the judge-led process, but you can read the key points here.
On June 13, 2023, Rob Griffin wasassistant chief constable and was the on call chief officer, meaning he was tasked leading the response to the incident.
The officer was appointed as temporary deputy chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police in April 2025.
He has spent his whole policing career with Nottinghamshire Police after joining in 1995, according to the force’s website.
He has spent most of his career in investigative roles and previously worked in the force’s major crime unit.
We’re back at Mary Ward House in London as the Nottingham Inquiry starts its fifth week of evidence hearings.
Today we’re hearing from police officer Rob Griffin, who was Nottinghamshire Police’s assistant chief constable at the time was and chief officer on call when Valdo Calocane attacked.
On Tuesday we’ll hear from Elaine Newton, Ian Coates’ partner, and two of his three sons – James and Lee.
On Wednesday we’ll hear from the parents of the two students killed by Calocane – with Emma and David Webber and Dr Sanjoy Kumar and Dr Sinéad O’Malley-Kumar due to give evidence.
On Thursday we’ll hear from two of the three people who were injured by Calocane – Wayne Birkett and Sharon Miller. On the same day two police officers will give evidence.
The inquiry is not currently sitting on Friday.
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