Our lives are blown apart
Daily Mirror UK|June 13, 2024
>> Family's year of agony since Barnaby death >> Grace was hero for bid to save son
MARTIN FRICKER
Our lives are blown apart

A YEAR ago today the lives of Barnaby Webber's family were shattered in the most brutal way possible as the teenager was stabbed to death by a crazed paranoid schizophrenic on the run from police.

The tragic youngster's mum Emma said it has been 12 months of hell during which the agony left her feeling at times like she could not go on.

She told how she needed medical help to get her through the darkest of days.

And she revealed she is still searching for answers as to how violent Valdo Calocane was able to kill her 19-year-old son as well as his friend Grace O'Malley Kumar, also 19 both students at Nottingham University -and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65.

A series of shocking failings by police, mental health services and the NHS in the lead-up to the killer's rampage in the city continue to be investigated. And for Barnaby, Grace and Ian's families, the long fight for justice continues.

They will attend a vigil at the university this lunchtime with friends and students.

In her only media interview ahead of today's anniversary, Emma said she will never be able to forgive Calocane, believes Barnaby and Grace were an item and hailed her as a hero for stepping in to try to save her son despite the obvious danger to herself.

CATASTROPHIC

Emma invited the Mirror into her family home in Taunton, Somerset, this week to talk about the past year.

As we chatted, her husband David made coffee and their youngest son Charlie revised upstairs for his final GCSE exams.

Emma said: "Our family has been completely blown apart. I know I'll never be the same person again, and neither will David or Charlie because of this.

"The past 12 months have been like being in an alternative universe. Everything in our normal lives has completely changed.

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