Honour for Grace is 'bittersweet'

A STUDENT who was posthumously awarded the George Medal after being stabbed to death in the Nottingham attacks two years ago while trying to protect a friend was a “true patriot”, her father has said.

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Grace O’Malley-Kumar, 19, was killed when she intervened and sought to try to save Barnaby Webber, also 19, after he was attacked while they walked home from a night out in 2023. The Nottingham University medical student was one of 20 people honoured in the latest Gallantry Awards list.

Her father, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, said Grace had “placed friendship over fear”. Speaking at a press conference in London yesterday, he added: “She was 19 and she valiantly fought a 30-year-old armed with a large hunting knife.