Police said it was a “terrible mistake” to incorrectly tell the partner of a Nottingham attack victim who was stabbed to death that he had died in an accident.
elaine newton Asked for a public inquiry into the triple murder Earlier this week it felt as if her partner Ian Coates, 65, had been “killed twice” after he was initially given the wrong cause of death.
Giving evidence on Thursday, Claire Gould, a family liaison adviser for Nottinghamshire Police, said the mistake “should never have happened” but added that she was unsure how it happened.
Mr. Coates was a school caretaker Stabbed to death by Waldo Caloocan Just an hour after 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar were murdered in the city in the early hours of 13 June 2023.
Ms Newton said authorities initially told her he died in a “road traffic collision”, before authorities corrected their mistake four hours later.
The inquiry was shown an email from PC India Proud, which provided information that Mr Coates had died in a road traffic collision (RTC) and that he had spent time with Ms Newton on the morning of June 13. He said Ms Newton felt “torturous” not being able to provide more information about how her partner died.
She wrote: “Initially when I arrived (his home) I was not sure whether Mr Coates was the victim of a road traffic collision or a stabbing as no name was given over the radio and so I believed the control room was giving me the correct information as they believed him to be the victim of an RTC.”
Asked by the inquiry’s lawyer Julian Blake what went wrong, Ms Gould said she had not seen the email beforehand.
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She said: “Clearly, a terrible error has been made and the family should not have been given false information about the cause of Mr Coates’ death.
“It’s not entirely clear where the misunderstanding occurred, but frankly, this should never have happened.”
Ms Gould said: “I think it’s absolutely clear that the officer feels very bad about what happened, but that doesn’t take away from the impact it has had on Elaine and her family, and it’s vital that police officers are trained to understand the impact of death messages, and it’s absolutely vital that we do everything we can to provide the correct information.”
He also apologized for the delay in informing Mr Coates’ three sons that their father had died.
“I have always been aware of the impact the delay has had on them and for that I am deeply sorry,” Ms Gould said.
“In terms of the delay in being told about them… I believe this was a result of me not knowing they were Ian’s sons, and when I was told he had sons, I tasked liaison officers with getting information about them, but there was still a significant delay, for which I take responsibility.”
During Thursday’s hearing, Ms Gould also became emotional as she recalled the decision to call Barnaby Webber’s father David and tell him his son had died.
The inquest was told that Mr Webber’s parents’ contact details were known at 4.22am, but they were not informed until 10.15am.
Ms Gould said she was told David Webber had called the force’s Casualty Bureau at 9.55am and said he was worried about his son because he had tracked his mobile phone to a police station.
She said: “I thought of what I thought was the best way to tell the family, and I realized there was only one option at this point.
“He was obviously concerned enough, and I realized we couldn’t delay any longer.”
Caloocan, now 34, was given an indefinite hospitalization order after pleading guilty to three counts of murder by reason of diminished responsibility in 2024.
The inquiry is ongoing.
