Chair of Nottingham attacks inquiry announced

A former judge has been appointed to chair a public inquiry into the Nottingham attacks two years ago.

Her Honour Deborah Taylor, a former circuit court judge who retired in 2022, was appointed by Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood on Tuesday to "undertake a thorough, independent assessment of the events that culminated in these brutal attacks". She will provide recommendations to prevent similar incidents and will have the power to examine all agencies involved, including the Crown Prosecution Service and Nottinghamshire Police.

Students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates were killed by Valdo Calocane in June 2023. He then attempted to kill three other people in a spate of attacks in Nottingham.

Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January last year after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility and attempted murder. Prosecutors accepted a plea of manslaughter after experts agreed his schizophrenia meant he was not fully responsible for his actions.

The families said recently he had "got away with murder". In a statement, the Lord Chancellor said: "The bereaved families and survivors of the Nottingham Attack, who have suffered so much, deserve to know how these horrific attacks were able to happen.

"I am pleased to appoint Her Honour Deborah Taylor as the Chair of this inquiry. "She brings deep experience to the role, and I know she will undertake a fearless and thorough examination of the facts." While a judge at Southwark Crown Court, Ms Taylor sentenced former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker to two-and-a-half years in prison in 2022 over hiding £2.5m of assets and loans to avoid paying his debts when bankrupt.

She also sentenced Aravindan Balakrishnan, a Maoist cult leader who raped followers and held his daughter captive for three decades, to 23 years in prison in 2016. Read more:UK will be among hardest hit by global trade war, IMF warnsTwo charged after body of missing woman found In February, Sir Keir Starmer told the families of Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, and Ian Coates that a judge-led public inquiry would start in "a matter of weeks".

It comes after the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) also announced it would reopen a probe into Leicestershire Police after allegations of assault by Calocane on two co-workers in May 2023..