Recap: Who have we heard from so far?published at 16:45 GMT 24 February
Earlier today, we heard from the legal representatives from 13 core participants, who will be listening to evidence over the coming months.
Opening the hearing, Tim Moloney KC – the barrister representing the families – said the inquiry “is not just about Barney, Grace and Ian”.
“It is also about each of the other countless other unnecessarily bereaved, whose loved ones were lost to the unmanaged, known to be ill and known to be a risk to public safety,” he said.
Before hearing from the police forces in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, Moloney said any attempt by either force to say arresting Calocane would not have made a difference would be “cowardly, highly offensive and insulting”.
“That warrant was outstanding for 10 months, and Nottinghamshire Police did not execute it for 10 months. They just left him out on the streets,” he said.
John Beggs KC, speaking on behalf Nottinghamshire Police, said the force should have executed the warrant in a “timely manner”.
“The temporary deputy chief constable [Rob] Griffin described that failure in his statement as, I quote, ‘a serious, systemic, operational failure on the part of Nottinghamshire Police’,” he said.
However, Beggs asked the chairwoman of the inquiry to consider whether it is realistic that Calocane would have been prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned at that time while he was suffering with mental illness.
“We respectfully suggest not, but we understand why the bereaved and survivors are concerned by the failure to execute the warrant, and I repeat, we do not seek to defend that failure,” he said.
Hugh Davies KC, representing two Leicestershire Police officers who attended the incident at a warehouse in Kegworth weeks before the fatal stabbings, said that an officer did not view records of Calocane’s previous encounters with police and if she had done so, “she would have been able to discover that VC (Valdo Calocane) had an outstanding warrant for his arrest”.
The inquiry also heard the officer’s bodyworn camera footage was mistakenly deleted after the incident.
Former senior circuit judge Deborah Taylor also heard from representatives from the following parties:
- The surviving victims
- The family of Valdo Calocane
- Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- NHS England
- University of Nottingham
- Crown Prosecution Service
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Ministry of Justice
- Nottingham City Council
- The chief constable of Leicestershire Police
