The partner of a man killed in the Nottingham massacre was told by police to ‘buy a dog’ to help her cope with his murder, a public inquiry has heard.
Elaine Newton also told the inquiry in London on Tuesday that officers mistakenly first told her that her partner Ian Coates had died in a car crash.
Mr Coates’ son James later told the inquiry he found out over Instagram that his father had died.
Mr Coates, 65, was killed by paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane, 34, on June 13, 2023, alongside undergraduate students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19.
Calocane, a Nottingham University student from Guinea-Bissau, then used the caretaker’s van to run over pedestrians in the city centre. Ms Newton, however, was not told how her partner died for five hours, after officers suggested he was involved in a fatal road accident.
The error made Ms Newton feel as though Mr Coates ‘died twice’, she said.
Ms Newton told the hearing of her later encounter with police, saying: ‘They looked shocked and said, “You’ve been told the wrong information – Ian’s been killed and he’s been stabbed”.
‘That’s how I learned. The first information I accepted, but the second I couldn’t accept. You don’t know which was true, or have they got the wrong person. It wasn’t right.’
The partner of Ian Coates (pictured), who was killed during the Nottingham massacre on June 13 2023, has spoken out at a public inquiry. Elaine Newton said police first told her the caretaker had died in a car crash
Lee and James Coates, sons of caretaker Ian Coates, arrive at Mary Ward House in London, at the inquiry into the Nottingham attacks on March 24, 2026
The inquiry is investigating how Valdo Calocane (pictured), 34, was allowed to carry out the three killings despite his history of violence
Ms Newton said after the murders, police were condescending and that she felt like a ‘box to be ticked’.
She said an officer ‘was giving me information like “move house, sell the house, buy a dog, go live by the sea, the walks along the seafront will do you good”.’
Ms Newton said she had told police she did not want to see the face of Calocane, but was shown videos of him walking around the city on the day of the attacks.
The killings came three years after Calocane was arrested by Nottinghamshire Police in May 2020 for hammering down neighbours’ doors. In one case, a woman jumped from a first-floor window to escape him.
But, after arresting Calocane, police dropped the case because a consultant psychiatrist deemed the schizophrenic ‘incapable’ mentally to be held responsible.
The inquiry is investigating how Calocane was free to kill despite his history of violence.
Ms Newton said: ‘I never had any information about his past. The first time was this hearing.’
She said she asked Nottinghamshire Police how Calocane was allowed to be ‘roaming’ the city so long after he’d carried out the stabbings and was given ‘excuses’.
She said: ‘They said it could be quite a few reasons, there was not enough police that morning, Nottingham is a big place.’
James Coates also condemned the force – revealing he received a call from Nottinghamshire Police only ten minutes before a press conference at 5pm that day.
He said: ‘It wasn’t until 3pm that I decided to check Instagram. I got a message from a family friend saying “I can’t believe what’s happened to your dad”.
‘I still didn’t believe it.’
Calocane also killed undergraduate students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, in June 2023
He added: ‘Since the inquiry began just over four weeks ago, the amount of new information that has surfaced astounds me.
‘Over the past two and a half years, I thought I’d heard it all – from missed opportunities, misconduct, clerical mistakes, institutional laziness – but more revelations are coming out each week.
‘My innocent father isn’t here to see justice.’
His brother Lee called claims of officers ‘doing everything for bereaved families’ disingenuous.
He added: ‘I do feel strongly we were perceived as second class, in comparison to others.’
They said the bereaved of the other victims had helped them, even though police had said the others wanted to remain private.
The inquiry heard the families had intimated that they wanted to make contact with each other.
Calocane pleaded guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility and is serving an indefinite hospital order at Ashwood High Secure Hospital in Merseyside.
