Nottingham's day of horror will never be forgotten - and neither will the victims

Questions and fear of the unknown - that's all the people of Nottingham had as they woke up on June 13 last year. Those who left their homes at the start of that awful day found a paralysed city, with trams and buses halted and large parts of the city centre enclosed by police tape.

This strange scene, along with the constant sirens that had sounded out through the night, will have alarmed most residents - but the true horror of what had happened only unfolded throughout the rest of that stiflingly hot Tuesday. When Nottinghamshire Live's reporters, including myself, headed out to a number of cordons across the city the uncertainty was palpable and the gravity of the situation unprecedented.

Nottinghamshire Police had released an ominous statement announcing a "major incident" and the closure of a startling number of city roads, while the city's streets were being patrolled by armed police officers and purple-clad National Inter-Agency Liaison Officers - who coordinate emergency services during terror attacks or other complex police-led incidents. On Ilkeston Road, where I had been sent at around 8am, there was uncertainty as to whether its cordon was even related to the vast barrier of tape in the city centre.

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After questioning Lenton residents at the two ends of the blue and white tape that spanned from the road's junction with Middleton Street to where it meets St Peter's Street, the picture was a little clearer. Many had been woken up by sirens and door knocks from officers asking for CCTV footage.

Neighbours told me how they were shaken and disturbed by the large-scale police presence and the rumours they had heard from elsewhere in the city - and then the news came in. "A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after three people were killed in the city.

"Police were called to Ilkeston Road just after 4am where two people were found dead in the street," a police statement released before 10am read. "Officers were then called to another incident in Milton Street where a van had attempted to run over three people.

"They are currently being treated in hospital. A man has also been found dead in Magdala Road." The outpouring of grief and shock in the city started immediately, and while politicians and celebrities shared their condolences online, neighbours began to reckon with the shocking killings that had taken place on their doorsteps.

"I didn't think this would happen in Nottingham," one pensioner told me next to the Ilkeston Road cordon, his face displaying his disbelief. As more and more journalists started to pour into the city to try and figure out what had happened, the picture developed of a crime that no one here could believe.

However, the true misery of the day was only revealed as killer Valdo Calocane's victims were identified. Friends and University of Nottingham students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley Kumar, both 19, had been fatally stabbed while walking down Ilkeston Road to their student accommodation at around 4am.

Both popular and sporty, tales began to surface about their kindness from friends, with their parents later sharing how their children had stayed in Nottingham for longer than needed because they loved the city - a fact that brought many people at the thousands-strong Old Market Square vigil to tears.

Grandfather Ian Coates, 65, who had been stabbed by Calocane at around 5.14am, was a huge Nottingham Forest fan and was on the verge of retiring from his job as a school caretaker when he was brutally killed. He had spent hours crafting Christmas displays for children at his school, Huntingdon Academy, I was later told by his colleagues, with generations of locals knowing him for his mischievous nature and love of fishing.

Paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane, 32, was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January after pleading guilty three counts of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and the attempted murders of Wayne Birkett, Marcin Gawronski and Sharon Miller - who he had tried to run over with Mr Coates stolen van. His crimes cast a large shadow over parts of the city a year on and will never be forgotten - I for one still feel discomfort at the mere mention of Ilkeston Road - knowing the terror he inflicted at the start of his rampage in the early hours of June 13.

However, the city will also never forget the spirit and kindness of the innocent victims, how its resident came together in the face of such immense loss, and most of all the truly incredible strength and bravery of their families. While any unexpected loss is tragic, the prospect these deaths could possibly have been prevented by Nottinghamshire Police and the NHS makes their shared losses excruciating.

But despite this terrible anguish the Webber, O’Malley-Kumar, and Coates families have worked tirelessly since Valdo Calocane's sentencing this January for justice. They have rightly demanded, and will undoubtedly continue, to demand accountability from public authorities over any missed chances to prevent the three needless deaths.

They have a simple message - this must never happen again. And through their determined work and its consequences, many of which are yet to be fully realised, their loved ones' legacies will long outlast the cloud cast by the man who cut their lives so cruelly short.