Black Knifeman Goes on Killing Spree in Nottingham UK

 

One of the victims of the Nottingham rampage died a hero as she bravely tried to fight off the attacker to protect her friend instead of fleeing the scene.

 

Grace O’Malley-Kumar, 19, had the opportunity to flee the attack after her friend Barnaby Webber, also 19, was stabbed from behind by a figure dressed in black.

 

Instead, witnesses said she bravely tried to fight off the man in an effort to save Barney’s life.

 

The University of Nottingham students were fatally stabbed at around 4am on Tuesday morning in Ilkeston Road.

 

A resident, who did not want to be named, said she and her husband have been left traumatised by CCTV footage, since handed over to the police, which captured the attack, before the suspect then went on to also kill school caretaker Ian Coates.

 

Medical student Grace, who had played hockey for the England U18 and U16 sides, was walking home from PRYZM nightclub in the city with fellow University of Nottingham undergraduate Barney when they were approached from behind, a woman who lives close to the murder scene said.

 

The resident said her home security camera captured the horrific incident and described how Grace ‘tried to save’ him.

 

She said: ‘The boy and the girl were walking on their own, there was nobody else in the picture except the attacker, who came up from behind.

 

‘He attacked the boy first – the girl had an opportunity to run away. But she didn’t, she tried to get the man off her friend. She tried to save the boy.

 

‘They were just walking home from PRYZM after a night out, like young people do.’

 

Her husband said the couple have been taking medication to help them sleep since watching the footage, now in the custody of police, adding: ‘What we witnessed on the screen keeps playing over in our minds. It’s awful.’

 

Barney’s body was left in the road following the attack, which lasted for around a minute, while Grace managed to stumble into the front garden of a nearby house, where she collapsed by the front door while apparently trying to summon help.

 

The occupant of that house said it was one of the few nights this year when nobody was home overnight.

 

She added: ‘It was a blessing in a way that we weren’t here, but I also can’t help thinking that if we had been in, we might have been able to help them.

 

‘There was so much blood outside the house the police thought somebody might be dead inside so they forced entry to check.’

 

A former University of Nottingham student who grew up in Wales but was originally from Guinea-Bisseau, Valdo Calocane, 31, was today charged with the killings, as well as that of primary school caretaker Ian Coates, 65.

 

He was also charged with three counts of attempted murder after a van was allegedly driven at pedestrians in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Nottinghamshire Police said.

 

Mr Coates was found knifed to death almost two miles away on the other side of Nottingham city centre after his van was allegedly stolen.

 

Calocane graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from the university where the two student victims were at the end of their first year.

 

Police have previously said that they do not consider that fact to be connected with the attack.

 

Grace’s GP father, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, saved three teenage victims of a knife attack after they were carried into his surgery at Chingford, Essex, by their friends in 2009.

 

Calocane is accused of using Mr Coates’ van to drive at pedestrians in Milton Street in Nottingham city centre – an incident which resulted in one person, named by friends as factory worker Wayne Birkett, 58, being taken to hospital in a critical condition and two others suffering minor injuries.

 

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said two patients are now stable and one has been discharged following the van incident.

 

Chief Constable Kate Meynell, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: ‘These charges are a significant development and arise as a result of our thorough investigation into these horrific incidents that occurred in our city.

 

‘Our thoughts remain with the families and friends of all those affected by these attacks, and we will continue to provide support and reassurance.’

 

The defendant, of no fixed address, is due to appear at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court tomorrow, police said.

 

The two students and Mr Coates were honoured ahead of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham this morning.

 

Cricketers from both England and Australia wore black armbands to ‘show solidarity’ as they took to the field, with a moment’s silence being held before the national anthems.

 

It follows an emotionally charged vigil on Thursday in which Grace’s younger brother James urged crowds to ‘cherish every moment’ they had with their loved ones.

 

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