Barnaby Webber's mother slams 'outrageous' Bill that could strip victims of legal rights
Emma Webber said the Victims and Courts Bill - now moving through Parliament - would be "a betrayal" if passed in its current form, and urged ministers to urgently revise the proposals.
She warns that it could strip bereaved families of the right to be consulted or informed about major decisions relating to mentally disordered offenders.
The Victims and Courts Bill will give victims no statutory right to be told about decisions affecting the detention, leave or discharge of their offenders with its current provisions, according to national charity Hundred Families.
Discretion of the information will be left to hospital managers and probation services instead, with victims having no legal right to be informed, carry out a consultation or appeal any decisions.
Valdo Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, killed 19-year-old students Barnaby and Grace O'Malley-Kumar and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates before attempting to kill three other people, in a spate of attacks in the city in June 2023.
He was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January last year after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility and attempted murder.
A judge-led public inquiry into the decisions made prior to the attacks was announced in February and is due to take place later this year.
Emma Webber said the Bill would be 'a betrayal of every victim who has already been failed by this system' if it was passed into law in its current form.
'This must not happen. It is utterly outrageous that the Government would even contemplate this,' she said.
'So egregious are the failings by every single agency involved in every aspect of our tragedy that a statutory public inquiry is under way.
'A significant part of the inquiry will focus on the failings of 'hospital managers' and 'clinicians' who failed to do their jobs properly. Resulting in the monster who killed my beautiful child be allowed to roam the streets and hide in plain sight.'
Ms Webber continued: 'Why has the Government chosen to include us as families in the proposals for the mental health bill, revision of our homicide laws and even the 10-year plan but conveniently chosen to ignore us on what is probably the one that will affect us the most?'
In a further letter written to two ministers on Sunday, Ms Webber requested an urgent meeting to discuss her concerns and proposed amendments to the Bill.
She described the provisions as 'a devastating oversight that repeats the very failings we are now reliving through the public inquiry'.
Ms Webber added: 'This Bill, if passed in its current form, will entrench a system that sidelines victims of the most serious mental health-related killings.
'It cannot be allowed to proceed unnoticed and unchallenged.
'Our lives are shattered; our trauma deeper than you could possibly imagine, but yet again, a new fight has seemingly been thrown at us.'
Campaigners have called on victims minister Alex Davies-Jones to amend the Bill by guaranteeing all victims have the right to be consulted, receive necessary information and be informed of key decisions, and to create a formal appeal process when information is denied.
Julian Hendy, founder of Hundred Families, said the Bill as it stands was 'not just a loophole, it's a kick in the teeth' for bereaved families and victims.
He said: 'We are talking about offenders who have been convicted of the most serious of crimes, which cause extreme concern amongst the public.
'This is not about punishment. It's about basic fairness, compassion, and transparency. Victims and their families should not be shut out of decisions that affect their personal safety and recovery.
'We have a lamentably long track record in our country of ignoring victims of serious crime. That has to stop. There is a balance to be struck.
'The Government has a clear opportunity to put this right and they must not waste it.'
The Victims and Courts Bill is currently at the report stage in the House of Commons after first being introduced to Parliament in May.
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The National
3 hours ago
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Harvie's early love of Doctor Who eventually gave rise to a much bigger passion for science fiction in general, and it is difficult not to be sucked in by the way he speaks about its power. 'There is something about telling stories in another worldly way that I think is more powerful in terms of its relevance to today,' he said. 'I've always found that there's something that allows you to tell stories that are difficult to tell if they were set in the real world. 'Star Wars has always been really good and I think not well recognised enough for showing you can have a society where people are absolutely surrounded by technological devices – AI and robots – and yet the vast majority of people are just about scratching a wretched living out of the dirt.' I only dabble in sci-fi from time to time, but after spending time in Harvie's company, I felt like I needed to kick off a Star Wars marathon as a matter of urgency. 3. 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Coming out NUMBER four speaks for itself – a moment when Harvie took the brave step as a child of the 1970s and came out. He reflects on how he knew for a long time deep down that a feeling was there, but it took a while to put a name to it, while others took it upon themselves to do so, in quite unpleasant ways. But aged 17, he began going along to the Glasgow Film Theatre where he had to seek out a secret message before hanging out with people like himself. 'I started going to what I would now call an LGBT youth group in Glasgow, at the time I think it still called itself the Strathclyde lesbian and gay youth movement,' he said. (Image: Scottish Greens) 'It was a totally self-organised group of young people, there were no services. If you found out about the existence of this group – and I found out by calling the lesbian and gay switchboard helpline in the middle of the night after my parents had gone to bed – it's going to sound bizarre, but what you had to do was you had to go to the GFT on Rose Street at a particular time and look for someone holding a blue folder. 'Eventually, after I'd been going for a while, I would hang out with the group that would meet there, and you would see folks two or three weeks in a row walking past, looking at you, trying to summon up the courage, and going away again, and eventually saying hello.' 5. Going to university in Manchester ENTER a city which has always been proud of its gay community. Harvie went to university in Manchester where he reminisces that the 'volume was turned up' for him as he set about revelling in his newfound independence just after coming to terms with his sexuality. 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Harvie tells me the book Slow Bread For Busy Lives by Andrew Whitley is what really opened up the world of bread making for him and allowed him to fit it around being at Holyrood. 'I'm in Edinburgh usually Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, so the rest of the week I've got at home, so I can make a loaf on a Friday and eat that over the weekend. It's a really nice pattern to be in,' he said. 9. Bute House Agreement THE Bute House Agreement (BHA) was a huge moment for the Scottish Greens after the 2021 election, when first minister Nicola Sturgeon invited Harvie and Slater to be government ministers. Harvie felt the Greens had worked hard to make an impact in Parliament, working to collaborate with other parties where there was common ground, and pushing the boundaries where required, and he felt that was valued by Sturgeon and her deputy John Swinney. (Image: PA) 'To be the first Green Party in any of the UK nations to go into government was a huge step forward,' he said. 'Every Green campaigner who has ever knocked on a door will tell you they've heard people say 'I like what you stand for, but you're never going to get in, so I'm going to vote for someone else'. This was our moment to say Greens can actually deliver change.' As we all know, the agreement abruptly ended in 2023, which eventually led to the resignation of Humza Yousaf as first minister. There were tears, hurt and anger right across the party. But time is a healer, and Harvie still manages to look back on that period positively, and remains open to the Greens being involved in government again if the price is right. He went on: 'I want Greens to be able to make a difference, and make the biggest impact we can, for people and planet. 'I think what we had with the BHA was very consistent with our principles, it was very consistent with our track record of seeking the common ground and expanding it, so if we had an opportunity that's similar, then it will allow us to do far more.' 10. Getting a heart bypass EARLIER this year, Harvie had to take a bit of time off from politics, and he revealed to me why in an emotional finish to our chat. After experiencing chest pains in the previous year and going through tests, it was concluded he would need a heart bypass. I could sense a wee bit of emotion in his voice as he talked about the 'miracles' people work in the NHS, even under immense pressure. 'Everyone knows the NHS is under incredible pressure, but it was very clear to me that even under that pressure, people are doing scientific miracles every day,' he said. 'At the time, I was doing my best not to think about the gory details, I was thinking they're going to put me to sleep and then I'll wake up and start getting better, but if you do think about it, physically what they've done – shutting down your higher brain functions for a while so they can do stuff that would be agonising if you were awake, stopping your heart long enough to do the work – and less than a week later I walked out the hospital. 'I'm incredibly grateful to the folk at the Golden Jubilee in Clydebank. It's just a reminder of how lucky we are to live in a country with a national health service."
