The father of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, one of the victims of psychotic killer Valdo Calocane, has called for a change in the law to protect the public and stop other families suffering.
A damning report on Tuesday laid bare a series of “errors, omissions and misjudgments” in Calocane’s treatment before he killed three people, including 19-year-old student Grace, in Nottingham in June last year.
The review, published by the Care Quality Commission, revealed how clinicians “minimised or omitted” key details that would have exposed the serious risk Calocane, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia three years earlier, posed to the public.
It meant he was left free to stab Ms O’Malley-Kumar and fellow student student Barnaby Webber before killing caretaker Ian Coates, 65,
Dr Sanjoy Kumar said a public inquiry into Calocane’s actions must “change things for the better”.
He told Sky News: “We would like the terms of reference to cover a wide spectrum of all of the failings — there were failings not just by the Mental Health Trust; there were failings by Nottinghamshire Police [and] Leicestershire Police; there were failings within the council, there were failings by so many organisations and then individuals.
“Every victim today in England, who has suffered the way we have, we want justice for them. We want the law changed for them. We fight in their name. We really want to change things for the better, so that no other family ever fears for their child getting on a school bus, going to school, going to college, and being away from their family.”
Ms O’Malley-Kumar, from Woodford Green in east London, was a first-year medical student who played for the England under-18s hockey team.
Her father added: “Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health, has promised us that he’s going to slow down the modifications to the Mental Health Act. He has promised that we will be able to work with people who are working with the law.
“A change is needed. We need to step back a little bit and really see what is safe for the public.”
The CQC said action must now be taken to ensure people with serious mental health conditions are supported and the public are better protected.
