NOTTS STABBING VICTIM'S SON ON HIS LIFELONG BATTLE FOR JUSTICE

THE son of Nottingham rampage victim Ian Coates says hearing a Ring doorbell recording of his dad being stabbed to death is something he will take to his grave.

- BY MARTIN FRICKER

Tragic school caretaker Ian, 65, was brutally attacked by deranged killer Valdo Calocane as he drove to work in June 2023.

The paranoid schizophrenic had earlier knifed university students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, as they were walking home from a club.

Their killings shocked the nation and led to an outpouring of grief and calls for reforms of mental health services and murder laws.

The victims' families will mark the second anniversary of the horrific rampage in private next month.

And their battle for justice - which has led to a statutory review into the attacks - continues.

Ian's son James says fighting for his dad has become his sole purpose in life. The 39-year-old has been having weekly therapy sessions to deal with the trauma of that fateful day.

He recently met with police to listen to a Ring doorbell audio recording of his dad's final moments as he was stabbed to death.

He says: "It didn't catch [the killing] on camera but it captured the audio of it. It's probably the worst sound I've ever heard in my life.

"I'll take that sound to my grave.

Haunting

"I never want any of my family members to have to hear that. It's haunting. It was the sound of my dad being stabbed to death.

"I've seen hundreds of horror movies where you see people getting stabbed to death and you just think, 'That's the sound that they make.

"But it's not like that at all. It was a completely different sound - a sound I've never heard before.

"And it's hard, it's tough to hear your dad [being killed]."

Asked why he chose to listen to the recording, James says: "I was attending weekly therapy sessions. I was struggling to find the next step to try and get through this process.

"I felt that looking at the crime scene photos and hearing the audio might do something to help get me through the grieving process.