Son of Nottingham attacks victim found out father had died through Instagram

The son of a school caretaker stabbed to death during the Nottingham attacks has told a public inquiry he learned of his father's death through an Instagram message from a family friend.

Valdo Calocane killed 65-year-old grandfather Ian Coates after killing students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar in the early hours of 13 June 2023.

Two of Ian's three sons - James and Lee - added despite multiple calls to police for answers, they were not formally told their dad had been killed until about 17:00 BST, shortly before Nottinghamshire Police told the public in a press conference.

The pair were the first of the bereaved families to give evidence to the Nottingham Inquiry on Tuesday.

The Nottingham Inquiry is being held at Mary Ward House in London, and chaired by retired senior judge Deborah Taylor KC.

It is examining the events that led up the attacks and the aftermath.

Calocane started on his deadly path when he brutally stabbed Barnaby and Grace at about 04:00 in Ilkeston Road.

He then walked almost two miles across the city and killed Ian in Magdala Road at 05:14, before taking Ian's van and using it to knock down Wayne Birkett, Sharon Miller and Wayne Gawronksi in the city centre.

Police were at the scene in Magdala Road shortly before 05:40, the inquiry was told.

As numerous parts of the city were locked down by police, James and Lee said they became aware of something going on through separate work WhatsApp groups.

James said he then learned "somebody had been killed on Magdala Road" near to his home.

He said it was not until the afternoon when he learned through a message from a family friend on Instagram, saying: "I can't believe what's happened to your dad."

He said: "My first instinct is that it's a hoax message or she'd been hacked."

James called and said she was "in hysterics" and believed it had been a traffic accident.

He then tried to ring other family members to find out what had happened.

"I couldn't get my head around what had happened," he added.

Lee said he then received a call from James, who told him: "I think dad is dead."

As the day went on, the family said they had pieced together what went on.

Lee said: "We were calling 101.

"We were ringing the helpline. I even went to the lengths of ringing 999 to get some information."

James told the inquiry police made contact "10 minutes before [then chief constable] Kate Meynell went on TV to do her press conference, to let the city of Nottingham know what had happened".

Ian's partner Elaine Newton told the hearing she was informed by police officers that Ian had died in a road traffic accident.

She was taken home, but told the inquiry she received no further information for about five hours.

She said: "I kept asking, I needed to go to Ian, I needed to go and see where he was. I said 'is he at hospital?' [The officer] said 'no'."

When a family liaison officer officer, Mark Kimberley, arrived with another officer, Elaine said they "looked shocked" to learn she had been told her partner had died in a road traffic accident.

"Ian's been killed and he's been stabbed," they told her.

Elaine added: "It felt like he'd been killed twice.

"It wasn't right. The first information I accepted, but the second I couldn't.

"You don't know which one is true - have they got the wrong person? I felt it was all not right. It was just a mess."