Police watchdog staff who described an inquiry into the 2023 Nottingham stabbings as “politically motivated” are “disrespectful and inhumane”, the mother of one of the victims has said.
Investigators from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) are said to have told Leicestershire Police officers who failed to arrest Valdo Calocane a month before he killed three people that their disciplinary case was “being driven by the families of the victims”.
The officers have made a complaint about the conduct of the IOPC investigators who interviewed them initially, it has been reported.
Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, were fatally stabbed as was 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates.
Emma Webber, Mr Webber’s mother, said the comments made her feel “pure horror”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said: “This bombshell that the officers themselves have now made a formal complaint with regards to their investigation and interviews in the investigation itself, it’s just mind-blowing.
“It’s indicative of the whole sorry, terrible, tragic mess and the car crash of our institutions.
“How disrespectful and inhumane is that, you know? To think that it is politically driven.
“We just want the truth and people that just didn’t do their jobs properly or failed or were neglectful, they must be held to account.
“I don’t trust anyone, I don’t trust the IOPC. I have no faith in them as a body to do the jobs properly.
“At the heart of this we’ve lost our child, and it’s entirely preventable.”
An IOPC spokesperson said: “We are aware of allegations made about IOPC staff by Leicestershire Police officers who are subjects of an IOPC investigation.
“The allegations involved comments alleged to have been made about that investigation.
“We are treating this matter extremely seriously and have commissioned an external party to investigate them alongside other complaints about the investigation made by the families of the victims.
“We will continue to provide the families with regular updates as these matters progress.”
