Police 'reluctant' to probe attacks footage access

Nottinghamshire Police was "reluctant" to investigate how many times staff inappropriately accessed images and footage after the Nottingham attacks, an inquiry has heard.

Footage and images after Valdo Calocane stabbed to death Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates on 13 June, were viewed numerous times without a legitimate policing purpose.

However, the force's professional standards directorate (PSD) agreed not to look into it over concerns "countless officers" would have viewed the material without need, the Nottingham Inquiry heard.

On Tuesday, the inquiry heard an audit would now be carried out following a complaint made by Emma Webber, Barnaby's mother, last month.

The force became aware there had been inappropriate access to the case and digital evidence the day after the attacks.

A district commander contacted the PSD on 14 June 2023 after becoming aware one of her officers had looked at the incident log without a legitimate purpose.

Members of the PSD agreed they did not want to take steps to look into the matter.

Det Sgt Louise Bradford wrote in one email: "This case is such that it is impacting on the whole force and therefore I think if we did an audit this officer wouldn't be the only one."

Det Sgt Steven King replied: "I'll defer for a decision from the bosses but I agree with you. I think if we start looking, there will be countless officers that have looked without a policing purpose."

Counsel to the inquiry Alex Ivory said: "It's quite unsatisfactory, isn't it, that the PSD are reluctant, it seems, to commence investigations or deal with reports of misconduct simply because the scale of misconduct might be so vast?"

The force's current head of professional standards Kathyrn Craner, giving evidence on Tuesday, replied: "I agree that the way that has been set out gives an impression that it's too big a problem for us to resolve."

The judge-led inquiry established earlier in evidence that the force had never carried out a full audit of who accessed the sensitive material, prompting Emma's complaint.

Craner told the inquiry an audit had been confirmed but had not yet commenced.

The inquiry heard the force had approached the digital platform, 'NICE Investigate' - where the material was uploaded - to ask if it could carry out an audit independently.

Asked why it had taken until March 2026 for an audit to be considered, Craner said: "I believe the audit should have been done or certainly considered in 2023."

Craner also said there had been concerns about the level of resource that would be needed to undertake such an audit.

Access to an incident log for Calocane's attacks on survivors Wayne Birkett, Sharon Miller and Marcin Gawronski was restricted but no other material or logs were restricted, the inquiry heard.

The hearing was told a volunteer officer with no involvement in the attacks investigation, special constable Ilsadin Skenderaj, was made the subject of an accelerated misconduct hearing in December 2023 after viewing material from his home.

Skenderaj viewed footage of officers giving the victims first aid, victims being placed in body bags and of footage from within an ambulance.

The special constable, who self-reported and admitted to viewing three or four clips, was also placed on the police barred list.

A front counter worker was also dismissed after she was found to have accessed information about Calocane, as well as numerous other cases.

Two officers were also disciplined for sharing insensitive WhatsApp messages about the attacks.

The bereaved families and survivors learned about the police misconduct through the media, the inquiry heard earlier.

Court workers also inappropriately accessed information about the case following the attacks in January 2024.

Amy Holmes, the interim director general for the chief operating group of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), told the inquiry she could not detail what information was accessed due to an ongoing police investigation.

The inquiry heard seven probation service officers were identified as having accessed the information.

HM Prison and Probation Service found four of those officers accessed files legitimately, but three did not have a legitimate reason to.

It was deemed by the probation service and the Ministry of Justice's data protection unit that the breaches were not serious enough to warrant further action.

However, HM Court and Tribunals Service deemed access by seven officers serious enough to refer it to the police.

Questioning Holmes, Ivory said: "These are all Ministry of Justice teams or agencies. It's quite astonishing isn't it, the disconnect?"

Holmes said a subsequent review that took place after the breaches recognised that there needed to be "closer collaboration" between the various agencies.

Asked why the families were not informed about instances of unauthorised access until December 2024, Holmes said: "The data protection policies had been followed and threshold had not been deemed to be met for notifying those individuals affected by the inappropriate access."

She added despite that, consideration should have been given to making contact with the bereaved families and survivors.

The inquiry continues.

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