Nottingham attacks survivor fears repeat if lessons not learned

A survivor of the 2023 Nottingham attacks has said a similar incident could happen again without improvements to mental health services in the region.Wayne Birkett criticised the lack of changes at the Nottinghamshire healthcare NHS foundation trust, which was responsible for Valdo Calocane’s mental health care between May 2020 and September 2022, and called on the health secretary, Wes Streeting, to directly intervene.Calocane killed Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19 and students, and Ian Coates, 65, a caretaker, in a frenzied attack in the early hours of 13 June 2023. After the fatal stabbings, Calocane drove a van into Birkett, Sharon Miller and Marcin Gawronski, leaving all three with severe and life-changing injuries.Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia before the attacks, was sentenced to a hospital order in January 2024 after admitting to three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and three counts of attempted murder.A damning report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published in 2024 found there had been “a series of errors, omissions and misjudgments” in Calocane’s mental health care and that without action the issues would “continue to pose an inherent risk to patient and public safety”.Earlier this year the trust was told to make “significant improvements” after the CQC carried out 39 inspections between May 2024 and August 2025 and concluded five mental health services required improvement and action was needed in 10 services where there were “breaches of regulation”.Birkett, 62, who was placed in a coma after Calocane’s attack and continues to manage the impact of complex brain and physical injuries, said “nothing’s changed” since the initial report into the trust and he feared this could lead to a similar attack.“It already has happened again … Wait for another Nottingham attack I suppose, it will happen unless something is done,” he said.Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar were killed in the 2023 attack. Photograph: Nottinghamshire police/PAGreg Almond, a solicitor who represents Birkett and Miller, said the “continued failing” of local services had led to a “concern that the public aren’t safe and the NHS, the mental health services in Nottingham aren’t currently safe”.The 2024 report said Calocane was hospitalised on four occasions between May 2020 and September 2022, each time displaying “threatening and assaultive behaviour as a result of psychosis”. Calocane was discharged from mental health services to his GP in September 2022, nine months before the killings, due to a lack of engagement.Birkett said: “It’s been very scary actually to find out all of this could have been prevented. Nothing’s changed, it’s still the same. Still things are happening.”Birkett and Miller will meet Streeting on 5 February to highlight their concerns and to call for “serious intervention” in Nottingham’s mental health services.Almond said: “Given the number of inspections and the continued failing of those services, it needs to have a more drastic action and that’s why we want to meet with the health secretary. Whatever measures [Streeting] can take to try and ensure that it is safe, and that public safety in Nottingham is a priority, because there is a concern that nothing’s changed and so these things could happen again.”Birkett, who has to relearn how to read, brush his teeth and hold cutlery, said the impact of the attack had been a “nightmare” for him. He has no memory of the incident and struggles to remember his life before 13 June 2023.“Obviously I’m getting better than I was but I don’t think I’ll ever get better, just got to learn to live with what is wrong,” he said.Birkett and Miller will participate in a public inquiry into the attacks, which will examine what happened and what could be done to prevent similar events happening again.Birkett said he hoped to “find out the truth about everything” in the inquiry.Almond said: “There is a significant number of questions for a number of different organisations and we just hope that once those answers have been given, then the chair will be able to provide recommendations.”The chief executive of Nottinghamshire healthcare, Ifti Majid, said the trust was committed to providing high-quality and safe care.“We have already made significant improvements since the CQC’s last inspection but fully appreciate there is still more to do. We will be addressing all areas identified in the report,” Majid said.A government spokesperson said: “Our deepest sympathies remain with those living with the impact of the Nottingham attacks. The ongoing statutory inquiry will help build a clear understanding of the events that led to these horrendous attacks.“We’ve already taken action to try to prevent horrific attacks like this happening again, including by reforming the Mental Health Act and ensuring every mental health provider reviews and set out action plans for the way they care for people with serious mental illness.“The secretary of state met with families of victims in December, and the government is committed to delivering the fundamental changes needed to mental health services to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.”