'I just wish he'd taken me instead of the students...'

Survivors of Calocane rampage speak out

- By Paul Jeeves Crime Editor

A SURVIVOR of triple killer Valdo Calocane’s knife and van rampage says she wished the monster had “taken me instead of the students”.

Sharon Miller and Wayne Birkett were two of three pedestrians mown down by the paranoid schizophrenic after he had stabbed Nottingham University students Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber and school caretaker Ian Coates.

They spoke about the attacks and their feelings towards Calocane for the first time yesterday.

Sharon, 46, remembers the van ploughing into her at the junction of Parliament Street and Market Street, saying: “I thought I was dying.

“I just wish he had taken me instead of the students.”

She says it is difficult for her to see Calocane’s face in the news, adding: “He should be in prison.

“He should have been forced to have had his medication.”

Sharon’s physical and psychological injuries have left her unable to return to her job as a commercial cleaner after rarely having a day off sick in 27 years.

She continues to undergo rehabilitation and now walks with a stick.

Sharon, from East Nottingham, told the BBC she is a “different Sharon” now and relies on Martin, her partner of 33 years, to be her carer.