Prosecutors told bereaved family members that Calocane would be allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility during a Microsoft Teams call, the inquiry has heard.

Emma said she remembered a sense of "unfolding horror" during the meeting, which was also attended by Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace's father.

She added: "I can remember seeing Sanjoy's face... when they announced that the decision seemed to have been made to accept diminished responsibility/plea of manslaughter.

"I saw Sanjoy's face - the reaction and the, I suppose, unfolding horror."

Emma has told the inquiry about a brief phone call in which she was informed that the prosecution was considering diminished responsibility in regard to Calocane.

She recalled that she did not know what diminished responsibility was at the time.

"We almost dismissed it, as it didn't register," she said.

Emma added that if the families were not absorbing information, it was because the details provided to them were not "clear enough".

Emma has told the hearing she believes family liaison officers are not there to "advocate for the victims" but to serve the police, "as kind as they may be".

She said that to have "no advocacy" after events such as the Nottingham attacks was "something that needs to be addressed".

"Nothing can be worse than being told as a parent that your child is dead," Emma added.

David said that when it came to being told of mistakes, it came down to a "duty of candour", adding: "Just be honest".

He said: "We just want the truth."

The inquiry has heard Emma had asked to be put in touch with the other bereaved families but was told they wanted to remain private.

She said she was not provided with their details but had asked for her own information to be passed on to them.

She said the families were now close, and that she was "so grateful and blessed to have them in [her] life", although she wished they did not have to be.

Emma and David (pictured below) said they were only told Calocane had also been a student at the University of Nottingham when they attended a city centre vigil two days after their son was killed.

Emma said she was left "floored" after being informed of the fact on 15 June 2023 - and believed she should have been told the detail about Calocane the previous day.

She told the inquiry: "The one thing that really hurts the most is that they didn't... they must have chosen not to tell us that the murderer of our child was a student there as well.

"The university and the police force had ample opportunity to at least tell us that."

Emma and David have been asked what they think they should have been told at the first meeting with the senior investigating officer in the case, now retired Det Supt Leigh Sanders, in September 2023.

David said: "I think we should have been told the truth."

He told the inquiry they were given an "image of a sort of homeless person who basically moved around the country".

Emma added they were told Calocane "just has a nomadic lifestyle".

She said: "That was actually repeated right up until we were finally told in our meeting on 7 December that he'd actually had premises in Nottingham and he'd been evicted on 11 November."

Emma also told the inquiry she could not "distinctly recall" any mention of Calocane's mental health in that meeting.

She added: "I believe, and this is my opinion, that the Nottinghamshire Police force actively chose not to tell us that information.

"And all of the excuses that have been used about trying to protect us and not tell us, and manage us, is insulting because we have and had the right to know that and clearly, had we known that, even in our deepest grief and shock we would have obviously been asking more questions."

A number of senior police figures have told the inquiry they do not believe that executing an outstanding warrant for Valdo Calocane's arrest before the attacks would have made a difference.

On this, David said: "I find it very offensive when people say things like that because it’s actually that’s not really the point.

"The point is you didn’t do your job."

He added a "sliding doors" reference made by police about the day of the attacks "seemed to trivialise" what had happened.

The inquiry has heard about when Emma and David met the former chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police for the first time.

Kate Meynell (pictured below) - who retired from the force last week - hugged them with "tears in her eyes".

Emma added they were told by Meynell that the force had "got him", referring to Valdo Calocane, and "he will go down".

Emma told the hearing she "took comfort" from this.

The families were invited to a vigil at the University of Nottingham on 14 June 2023.

David said: "I was expecting a few hundred people - it was a lot more than that.

"There was just a sea of people there and it was deadly quiet, all I could hear was sobbing and crying."

Image source, PA Media

David said family liaison officers from Nottinghamshire Police told them the attacks were "all over the news".

He added a reporter arrived at their home at 14:00 BST on the day of the attacks, shortly after they had returned from picking up Charlie.

David told the hearing he said he did not think it was "an appropriate time" and shut the door.

David told the inquiry that Barnaby's brother, Charlie, was on a school trip to Taunton on the day of the attacks.

He said one of the teachers was "in tears" and Charlie knew something was wrong.

Emma added that Charlie "screamed" and "broke down" when he heard news of the attack.

The inquiry was told he was still wet from being brought out of the sea and was banging the school minibus shouting, "no, no, it can't be true".

On the morning of the attacks, David Webber said he got up, turned on the TV, and saw the "media light up" about an incident in Nottingham.

He tried to call Barnaby but did not get an answer.

David then checked the Find My Phone app to see where Barnaby was.

"I decided to have a look on my phone to see if I could see where he was and I could see he was in Ilkeston Road, but he was quite close to his accommodation or the phone was quite close to his accommodation, so I didn't really think too far beyond that," David said.

However, he added it was unusual not to be able to make contact with Barnaby.

Emma attempted to call a hospital, David said, while he attempted to call the police.

"I remember a distinct change of voice in the lady I was speaking to," he added.

David said he was told it was a "fast-changing scene" and nobody could speak to him at that time.

At that point, the media was telling the public a man and woman had been found dead.

"And then I just saw the phone start to move and that's when I really panicked," David said.

"I phoned it [Barnaby's phone] a couple of times thinking of maybe he's just there, and we tracked the phone and we watched it go all the way to Radford Road Police Station."

Barnaby's parents David and Emma Webber - pictured on the day of Calocane's sentencing hearing - have begun giving their evidence.

Image source, Jacob King/PA Wire

On 13 June 2023, Valdo Calocane - who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2020 - carried out a spate of deadly attacks across the city.

He first stabbed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar in Ilkeston Road at about 04:00 BST.

Calocane - who was armed with a bag of weapons at the time - then walked nearly two miles away to Magdala Road and killed 65-year-old grandfather Ian Coates, before driving away in Ian's van.

Image source, Nottinghamshire Police

The killer drove Ian's van into the city centre, where he struck Wayne Birkett, Sharon Miller and Marcin Gawronksi. All three survived but were left with serious and life-changing injuries.

Calocane pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, and three counts of attempted murder.

In January 2024, he was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order. The families affected have never been happy with that outcome.

Evidence from the bereaved families and survivors of the Nottingham attacks continues today.

First, we are expecting to hear from Emma and David Webber, the parents of Barnaby Webber.

This afternoon, Dr Sinead O'Malley-Kumar and Dr Sanjoy Kumar, the parents of Grace O'Malley Kumar, will give evidence.

Image source, PA Media

Good morning - we will be reporting live from day 21 of hearings as part of the Nottingham Inquiry, which is hearing evidence about the attacks in the city in 2023.

Valdo Calocane stabbed to death Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates, and seriously injured Wayne Birkett, Sharon Miller and Marcin Gawronski in a spate of attacks on 13 June.

The inquiry is examining the events that led up to the attacks and the response that followed.

Image source, Nottinghamshire Police