A senior officer on the morning of the attacks was described as “completely lacking” basic details
Chief Inspector David Mather on the morning of the Nottingham attacks(Image: Nottingham Inquiry)
Families of those killed in the Nottingham attacks angrily reacted to footage showing a senior police officer saying the number of fatalities were “not as bad” as he initially thought they were.
Footage was played at the Nottingham Inquiry, examining the events surrounding Valdo Calocane’s killings, on Tuesday (March 17) showing footage from Nottinghamshire Police’s force control room taken at around 7am on the morning of the attacks.
Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates were all brutally killed in the early hours of June 13, 2023, by Calocane – who then tried to kill three others with the van he stole from Ian.
Her Honour Deborah Taylor is leading the statutory public inquiry examining the response to the attacks and whether they could have been prevented.
The video played at the inquiry’s hearing on Tuesday showed Chief Inspector David Mather, the force incident manager on the morning of the attacks, clarifying how many confirmed fatalities there had been.
After being told, Chief Inspector Mather is heard saying to a colleague next to him: “That’s not as bad as I thought it was.”
“It’s pretty bad”, his colleague replies and Chief Inspector Mather says “well I know it is”, before explaining that he thought given Calocane’s theft of Ian Coates’ van, he could have ran over many more people than the three he hit.
When the footage was played in the main hearing room at the Nottingham Inquiry on Tuesday, the families of Calocane’s victims angrily shook their heads.
Darren Coates, the eldest of Ian’s three sons, told Nottinghamshire Live: “There’s so much stuff and it wasn’t just one officer on there, but there’s obviously Mather.
“It’s appalling to actually see what they did in that time.”
Also referring to Chief Inspector Mather’s comment in a call about the hunt for Calocane that he would be “long gone”, Mr Coates said: “We can all say they’ve got a really hard job… but the comments of ‘he’s long gone now’ were appalling.”
Chief Inspector David Mather, of Nottinghamshire Police(Image: Nottingham Inquiry)
Sophie Cartwright KC, representing the survivors, asked Superintendent Simon Allardice on Tuesday whether Chief Inspector David Mather was lacking in basic details about the incident.
Ms Cartwright said: “The very person that needed to have the absolute clarity about whether this was a major incident and the exact number of casualties, completely lacked that detail.”
Responding after the footage was played, Superintendent Allardice said: “What we’ve watched here is a discussion between colleagues who may have heard other things, received different updates, seeking to clarify how many casualties we have got.”
Superintendent Simon Allardice did later acknowledge though that Chief Inspector Mather should have “considered” new information coming in and how it might change the initial threat assessment around the attacks.
The inquiry heard that the initial risk assessment recorded on police logs was that the wider threat to officers and the general public from the killing of Barnaby and Grace was “low.”
Ms Cartwright asked: “When the severity of the injuries to Grace and Barnaby were considered, that should have mandated a consideration about the wider threat to your officers, to future victims and members of the public, for a review of whether there was a need for a firearms authority to be granted.”
Superintendent Allardice responded: “It is very often the case that what we are told at the time of the first call is not what officers find upon arrival.
“But it is often the case that important information and intelligence will come from a scene upon our arrival as we gather an understanding of not only what the officers see and find upon arrival but speaking to witnesses, gathering CCTV and other things.
“As that information comes to light, it is incumbent on the officers on the ground and particularly the supervisors to ensure that is relayed back to the control room and for those in the control room, particularly the [force incident manager] to review the impact that has on the threat and risk as they have perceived it.
“In this particular case, what I’m suggesting is that CI Mather should have been aware of that information, considered how that might change his perception of the threat and risk.”
