Nottingham attack survivor: I wish the killer had taken me instead
A survivor of the Nottingham attacks has described wishing the killer had 'taken me instead of the students'.
Sharon Miller, 46, was on her way to her work as a commercial cleaner when she was struck by Valdo Calocane, 33, as he ploughed a van into pedestrians in the east Midlands city in the early morning of June 13, 2023.
The paranoid schizophrenic had fatally stabbed two university undergraduates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, an hour earlier at 4am.
He was charged with their murders, along with the attempted murders of three pedestrians, Miller, Wayne Birkett and Marcin Gawronski, but is serving an indefinite hospital order after he was allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility. Miller
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He said: 'Should I need any additionality, I'm absolutely assured that my colleagues in policing in England and Wales, the National Police Operation Centre, stand fast and ready to support should we need that support.' The senior officer said police did not have specific intelligence that there would be a repeat of the violent scenes, but said a significant policing operation would be in place. A PSNI spokesperson said: 'At around 7.30pm, a planned vigil gathered in the Galgorm Road area before making its way towards Larne Street, onto Wakehurt Road and then down Queen Street. 'The vigil was initially peaceful as it made its way towards the Clonavon Terrace area of Ballymena. 'Officers were present at the vigil to ensure an appropriate and proportionate policing response, due to the large number of people who had gathered in the area. 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