Good Morning Britain presenters Kate Garraway and Ranvir Singh offered their support.
Grace’s parents appeared on Good Morning Britain today (Image: ITV)
Good Morning Britain hosts Kate Garraway and Ranvir Singh extended their compassion to bereaved parents during Friday’s (January 16) broadcast of the ITV show.
The presenting duo welcomed Dr Sanjoy Kumar and Dr Sinead O’Malley, parents of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, who tragically lost her life in the devastating Nottingham attacks of 2023.
Grace and her friend Barnaby Webber, both 19, were fatally stabbed by Valdo Calocane on 13 June 2023.
He also killed school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, who had been driving his van nearby.
Calocane received a hospital order following guilty pleas to three manslaughter charges based on diminished responsibility, plus three attempted murder counts after commandeering Coates’ vehicle to mow down three pedestrians, leaving them with severe injuries, reports Wales Online.
Three people were fatally stabbed in June 2023, Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar(Image: PA Media)
Prior to carrying out the attacks, Calocane had received a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and had been released from Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust just months before the deadly stabbings occurred.
During their appearance on Good Morning Britain, Grace’s parents discussed a forthcoming inquiry examining the circumstances surrounding their daughter’s death.
Dr Kumar explained: “It’s a statutory public inquiry, and we want to bring all of the failures that took place before the Nottingham attacks.”
He continued: “The Nottingham attacks were preventable, totally preventable, and they happened because of failures.
Ranvir Singh and Kate Garraway offered their support(Image: ITV)
“Mental health and convictions across with mental health are dubious at the best of times, ask all the families of victims who have had hospital orders and they will tell you, down the line you’ve got dubious psychiatrist’s opinions, who have seen a patient perhaps five months down the time from when the crime happened, saying that they were psychotic on the day.
“They haven’t seen the patient on the day they committed the attack, but yet, five months down the line they’re allowed to say that they were psychotic at the time.
“I think judges should throw that out and they should actually say that it’s absolutely nonsense, because if these psychiatrists really can predict the behaviour five months down the line from when the crime occurred, then they should be predicting lottery numbers if they really are that good.
Grace’s parents spoke of their devastation over her ‘preventable’ death(Image: ITV)
“It’s preposterous, some of the opinions that we got from psychiatrists about crimes that have happened previously, so these are just one of the failings that we are going to address.
“We have lost the love of our lives, but I really hope that no other parent has to be in our position, that’s why we fight in Grace’s name, and that’s what we would like to do.”
As Ranvir labelled Grace’s parents as “so brave”, Kate chimed in: “We all wish you so well in all that you’re doing for other victims of terrible crimes but also in your own grieving, which must be just so tough.”
Good Morning Britain airs from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.