A special constable has been sacked for viewing body-worn camera footage of two victim’s final moments following the Nottingham attacks, it has emerged.
The man has been barred from ever serving in the police after he was found to have viewed the footage of students Grace O’Malley Kumar and Barnaby Webber shortly after they were stabbed, The Independent understands.
School caretaker Ian Coates, 65, was also knifed to death and three others were run over by paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane in the horrific city centre attack last June.
The special constable is understood to have been dismissed in an accelerated misconduct hearing held in private after watching footage of paramedics treating the friends, both 19, who were attacked in the street on a night out.
Grieving family members have slammed the “morbid voyeurism” after the details of the breach emerged – which is the latest in a string of misconduct scandals over the forces handling of the attacks.
The Independent understands almost 180 police staff accessed material relating to case – although 11 had no legitimate policing reason to do so, including an officer who shared graphic details of victim’s injuries in a police Whatsapp group.
Eight of these members of staff were handed non-disciplinary performance interventions and three faced formal discipline.
James Coates, son of Ian Coates, Emma Webber, mother of Barnaby Webber and Dr Sanjoy Kumar, father of Grace O’Malley-Kumar
(PA)
Sanjoy Kumar, Grace’s father, said he was “appalled” by the latest incident.
“I’m disgusted, it’s absolutely morbid voyeurism. As parents we feel broken-hearted about it,” he told Sky News.
“Everything from Nottinghamshire Police has been piecemeal, there is something else all the time. Why weren’t we told about the misconduct hearing? We would have gone to it.”
Nottinghamshire Police’s Kate Meynell told the BBC on Thursday that the actions of the special constable were “totally unacceptable” – adding that a third officer is being investigated over accessing police systems around the offender. The details of this incident have not yet been revealed.
Ms Meynell said the force had referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) over its handling of the disciplinary procedures.
“I’m not going to try and pretend that I feel the same horror as the families,” Ms Meynell said.
“But as chief constable, I do feel horror that some members of my staff have behaved in that way. That is why we have dealt with them swiftly.”
Emma Webber, mother of Barnaby Webber, outside Nottingham Crown Court after Valdo Calocane
(PA)
The incident comes after a disciplinary hearing held last month heard PC Matthew Gell forwarded a Whatsapp message detailing the victim’s injuries to his wife and friend.
PC Gell had also used police systems to access Calocane’s custody records, despite having no role whatsoever in the investigation.
This amounted to a data protection breach and he was investigated by Nottinghamshire Police’s Professional Standards Directorate.
He was issued a final written warning, while the officer who first posted the message to colleagues received “management intervention”.
Emma Webber, whose son Barnaby was first attacked by Calocane, described the PC Gell’s actions as “unforgivable”.
She said: “What an abhorrent way to conduct an investigation.
“We cannot emphasise how painful this tragedy is for all our families, and to learn that there has been internal needless voyeurism of the vicious knife attacks on our loved ones is unforgivable.”
This week it was announced that Calocane’s sentence will be referred to the Court of Appeal for being “unduly lenient”.
Families said the killer’s sentence “made a mockery of the system” after he handed an indefinite hospital order after pleading guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility, which was accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service last month.
Valdo Calocane (Nottinghamshire Police/PA)
Superintendent Andrew Reynolds, head of Nottinghamshire Police’s Professional Standards Directorate, said: “We identified 22 people who had viewed material related to the Nottingham attacks case, also known as Operation Hendrix, which we had concerns about.
“Following our thorough investigation, we narrowed this number down to 11 members of staff who did not have a legitimate reason to view some of the material in this case.
“Eight of these members of staff were handed non-disciplinary performance interventions, which is focused around learning, and three faced formal discipline – one member of staff has been sacked, one handed a final written warning and one is waiting for their misconduct hearing to be heard.
“We have taken these matters extremely seriously. Those who access material without any legitimate policing purpose can expect the harshest of sanctions, including dismissal from the organisation.”