Families of Nottingham attacks victims say they have 'no hope' killer Valdo Calocane's sentence will be changed

The families of the three people killed in the Nottingham attacks say they do not believe a sentence appeal hearing will be successful. Attorney General Victoria Prentis referred Valdo Calocane's sentence to the Court of Appeal in London after he was handed a hospital order for the manslaughter of Grace O'Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates.

Medical experts told a court that Calocane was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the killings last June and couldn't be prosecuted for murder.

Barristers for the Attorney General’s Office will tell the court that Calocane should be given a “hybrid” order under Section 45A of the Mental Health Act instead of the hospital order. This would mean he would first be treated in hospital before serving the remainder of his sentence in prison if he was ever deemed well enough to be released from medical care.

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If the court decides to impose a hybrid order, judges will need to set a minimum term of imprisonment. The Parole Board would then govern Calocane’s release.

In a statement released before the hearing James Coates (Ian’s son), Sanjoy and Sinead O’Malley-Kumar (Grace’s mum and dad) and Emma and David Webber (Barney’s mum and dad) have hit out at Ms Prentis and say she referred the sentence "for the optics" and they have no hope that it will change.

They said: "Although we will be attending the hearing, we have no hope that the court will change the sentence. Having met with the AG’s legal team and our own adviser, it became clear to us that they do not believe in their own case and are pursuing this referral with absolutely no conviction.

"We are confused as to why they are proceeding with it. This decision was entirely the AG’s to make. She made it on her own with no consultation with us.

"We fear that she has done so merely to appease the public, for the optics of showing them that she is making some attempt to make up for what happened following this murderous crime and to pay mere lip service to us.

"We will walk into court and leave it with our heads held high as we have always done. But we can only control what we can control. This is not our application to court and it is not our hearing.

"Our futures and the legacies of our loved ones will not be defined by the outcome of this review hearing. The monster has done what he has done and painfully for us it cannot be undone. Our criminal justice system supported him more than it supported Barney, Grace and Ian and us as families.

"We are therefore now going to move forward to the next phase of our campaign and to ensure that their passing was not in vain and that they all leave a legacy for those to follow in making the world a safer place. As we say, we will control what we can control."