The families of the Nottingham attack victims have said ‘accountability in British policing is dead’ after a senior officer who admitted multiple failures was quietly promoted.
Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, were stabbed to death by paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane in June 2023.
Rob Griffin, who had ‘overall strategic command’ on the day of the attacks, has been promoted to deputy chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police.
Mr Griffin, who was assistant chief constable at the time of the Nottingham attacks, admitted that not detaining Calocane – whom there was an arrest warrant issued for in September 2022 – was a ‘complete failure’.
He also told the inquiry that he was first informed of the attacks an hour after two people were killed, that the bereaved families should have been told about their loved ones’ deaths sooner and that Mr Coates’s body remained at the scene for 15 hours.
The average salary of an assistant chief constable outside of London was £123,152 last year, according to the Home Office, meaning Mr Griffin will likely be on even more after securing the deputy chief constable role on September 15.
Emma Webber, whose son Barnaby was killed alongside his friend Grace while they walked home from a night out, previously said Griffin had ‘blood on his hands’ following the force’s failure to arrest Calocane earlier.
She told the Daily Mail today: ‘Rob Griffin should have been answering for his failures, not being rewarded for them. This promotion is a slap in the face to the victims, the survivors and every family that has spent years fighting for the truth. It tells the public that accountability in British policing is dead.’
Rob Griffin (pictured), who had ‘overall strategic command’ on the day of the attacks, has been promoted to deputy chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police
Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar were stabbed to death by a paranoid schizophrenic in Nottingham three years ago
Lee Coates, whose father Ian was repeatedly stabbed by Calocane before the killer stole his van to run over three pedestrians, said Mr Griffin’s promotion was ‘beyond belief’.
He added: ‘Should be sacked for such poor performance, never mind promoted. Notts Police have zero shame.’
Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace’s father, described it as a ‘promoting failure’, adding: ‘This is disgraceful. When will government step in to actually take charge and take account of failed people in senior positions in Nottingham.’
The public inquiry into the attacks, which heard evidence from 164 witnesses over more than three months, was told of a series of failings by police, mental health services and other public authorities.
Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2020, was detained under mental health laws four times in the lead up to the stabbings.
Earlier this month, it also emerged that police failed to tell the families that they were being stalked by another mentally ill man.
The unnamed suspect is said to have had a ‘fixation’ on the 2023 atrocity.
It has since emerged that a second mentally ill man, after absconding from a mental health hospital, sought out Barnaby’s family home in Somerset, and the GP surgery where Grace’s father Dr Sanjoy Kumar worked.
Yet police did not notify the grieving families at the time, despite being aware of the threat. Officers are said to have downplayed the risk he posed because he was supposedly trying to ‘help’ them.
Nottinghamshire Police, whose bungled handling of Calocane’s case has featured heavily in a public inquiry into the attacks, has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
Guinea-Bissau-born Calocane had a history of violence and had been sectioned four times, but was repeatedly released into the community.
A consultant psychiatrist even warned he ‘could end up killing someone’ when he was first sectioned in 2020.
He was later handed an indefinite hospital order after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
(L-R) David Webber, Barnaby Webber, Emma Webber, Charlie Webber. Mrs Webber said the ‘promotion is a slap in the face to the victims’
Valdo Calocane is serving a hospital order after he was convicted over the 2023 Nottingham killings that left three people dead
An inquiry into what happened, which was held in London this spring, heard Calocane repeatedly misled medical professionals in Nottingham, refusing to take a certain type of medication because of his supposed fear of needles – despite getting Covid jabs.
He was discharged from his specialised mental health team to his GP around nine months before he struck, after failing to engage with them.
And it was revealed the mental health team previously flagged concerns about sectioning Calocane in case it was seen as racist.
Calocane had a history of violence and assaulted two colleagues at the factory where they worked just weeks before he struck.
The inquiry is due to resume next week with closing statements, before a final report is published next year.
A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Police said: ‘Rob Griffin was temporary Deputy Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police from 29 April 2025 and has now been appointed substantively into the role.
‘The selection process took place between 6 July 2026 when the position was advertised and 13 August 2026 when the process was completed.
‘This process consisted of an application form, a people panel which involved representatives from our support networks, staff associations, and members from external stakeholders including Independent Advisory Groups and the Youth Commission, and an executive interview which included two independent panel members.
‘Following this normal pre-employment checks took place and he was appointed substantive DCC as of 15 September.’
