Representatives say Wayne Birkett he has been forgotten in the wake of the Nottingham attacks of 2023
11:34, 02 Jun 2026Updated 12:27, 02 Jun 2026
‘Survivors have been let down’ says Nottingham attacks solicitor
When people find out who Wayne Birkett is – and what happened to him – they have questions. He doesn’t have the answers.
The forklift driver had been funny, sociable, outgoing and independent, others tell him, before his life changed forever on June 13, 2023.
Mr Birkett had been the first person purposely hit by triple killer Valdo Calocane as the paranoid schizophrenic drove a van at pedestrians in the early hours of that awful Tuesday.
Inflicted with a severe brain injury that cruelly robbed him of a lifetime of memories and all knowledge of this attack, the 62-year-old Nottingham resident has spent nearly three years coming to terms with his upended life – but is still trying to figure out who he was before he was attacked.
“I had to relearn how to read and write, recognise my own family,” Mr Birkett said, speaking after a recent hearing at the Nottingham Inquiry, which has been examining the catalogue of failures by the police, NHS, and other agencies that led to Calocane’s killings and attempted murders.
“Obviously, my body is getting better but my brain is not, it’s still very confusing.”
Mr Birkett, who was going to work when he was knocked down in Milton Street in 2023, told the Nottingham Post that he has to rely on his family and solicitor to fill him in on his own history.
“I walk around the street and see someone I’ve known for 30 years, I don’t know who it is,” he added.
“It’s awkward and embarrassing when you don’t know who people are, or you don’t even know what you’re saying half of the time.
“My memory is still bad, if you ask about the inquiry I wouldn’t even remember what happened today.”
While Mr Birkett explained he was very thankful for the support of his partner, legal team, and NHS doctors and physiotherapists, he said his recovery had been extremely difficult and emotionally challenging.
“I’m trying to live the best way I can, with what is wrong with me. It upsets me that people don’t see the real me. They still think I’m the person from the past.
“It’s pretty much just living with what you’ve got, [I] either keep going or pack up.
“I think I’m doing a good job, and the rest of the world thinks I’m doing a good job, but deep down I struggle at home – at night, I struggle a lot still, but I fight it.”
The Nottingham Inquiry, which started in February and is being chaired by retired judge Her Honour Deborah Taylor, is looking into the events that led to Calocane killing Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates, before attempting to kill Mr Birkett, Sharon Miller and Marcin Gawronski.
Its oral hearings, during which police officers, NHS bosses, and mental health experts have given evidence, are drawing to an end this week.
Greg Almond, solicitor from Rothera Bray representing Mr Birkett and fellow injured pedestrian Sharon Miller, said the inquiry had uncovered a huge array of failures – and also highlighted that Calocane’s survivors were forgotten about by many.
“The scale of the failures is so significant, it will take time for us to process exactly what we’ve heard and to really understand the level of detail that we have got in the inquiry,” he said.
“I think the survivors have been let down, severely let down, by the institutions in their home city where they live. They’ve been forgotten about, there’s no doubt about that.”
Mr Almond claimed that many authorities in the city had ‘overlooked’ the three people who survived Calocane’s van attack, before praising the inquiry team for making sure Mr Birkett and Ms Miller were included.
“Victims of serious crime must never be forgotten about in the future. As Wayne has said before, this is part of his rehabilitation,” he added.
“For the survivors, they are from Nottingham, this is really important to them, but there is a sense that maybe the Government needs to take this more seriously.
“And why aren’t they taking it seriously? If this had maybe happened in a different city would there be a different reaction. Nottingham shouldn’t be left behind.”
