Emma Webbers Heartfelt Plea to Police Officers After 'Dehumanising' WhatsApp Messages

Emma Weber the mother of Barnaby of course who was killed in the Nottingham attack last year has published a letter in this morning's times which many of you have now read um asking police officers to show the respect that was not given to her son this officer exchanged a message about the attack which also killed Barnaby's friend Grace Mali Kumar and of course Ian coats as well the message was shared on WhatsApp a group between offices um there is distressing language used one of the messages read two students have been proper butchered other messages on the group chat also contain graphic references which we can't even report on the program this morning but Emma has read the transcripts and as a result wrote a letter to the police officers involved and felt she had to go public with it because the chief Constable would not give that letter to the police officers here is Emma reading her letter and we'll speak to her in just a moment as Barney's Mom it's so important that you hear my voice about the nature of how some of you within your group chose to address the brutal murder of my son when you say a couple of students have been properly butchered did you stop to think about the absolute Terror that they felt in the moment when they were ambushed and repeatedly stabbed my aim is not to cause undue shame or to have anyone publicly vilified IED there's no need to add yet more pain Emma Weber proud mom of Barnaby Phillip John Weber that's not even the full letter em your your letter describes what Barnaby was wearing that night um a t-shirt that he had in fact given as a gift to his own brother but loved it so much he borrowed it um trousers that you'd given him for his birthday you talk about walking past his bedroom still saying all of his things you talk about the calendar on his wall which is always going to be stuck on June 2023 yeah and the purpose of writing this letter was to say to the police officers well you tell us I think it when we found out about it um it was very late it was not until towards the end of February when I read the language that was that was used to describe my child and my my son a human being it horrified me um and the the trauma that it caused the families is is Untold um the the more I thought about it the more that this keeps happening it's not exclusively happened just to us it's happened to lots of families it's where's the humanity where's the decency and I think it has to be addressed and so initially I asked the chief Constable if I could address the officers I didn't want to see them I didn't want to meet them I didn't need their names but I just wanted them to understand and the reason I talk about Barney's what he's wearing and his age and the fact he his brother's t-shirt he had given him is that you know Bonnie is a human being um he was a person with with hopes and dreams that were that were taken away from him and and to respond and to use that type of language dehumanizes him but I also think it dehumanizes the officers involved so this was in your mind this was very much to be a private conversation as it were at arms length with these officers you didn't want to go public with it you didn't want to you didn't want to publish what they had actually said which people can now read because you you've written it so what did you what did you hope if if they had actually seen those letters what did you hope would then happen what did you hope you you'd get out of it for for from my perspective it's something I couldn't let lie I had to address it and I wanted the officers concerned to take a moment as I've put in the letter to pause and and think and I hope it might educate them um in the future um and I wasn't asking for any further um misconduct or or disciplinary against them uh that's that's been denied um the opportunity to do it privately however I do think that perhaps it's strange how things turn out because publicly it's it's it's a wider story now and it's it's it's at risk of being emic in this country that that um particularly the place but you know some of our emergency service responders um it's not Gallow humor they're they are desensitized um and and disrespectful very important Point these aren't this isn't black humor as you say these aren't dark jokes it's just extremely explicit yeah um and and and very unsavory use of language look you've had huge number of supportive calls from people and particularly those who've actually read the letter in in the times today which we're going to print off for you and and get to you before you go that would be Lov amongst them there are people who are are posing this question I'd like to read one of these two because I'd love to know what your response to this is this reflects a body of opinion out there this morning which is very sympathetic to you but nevertheless this is Karen uh on what used to be Twitter X and she says I can so see why is she's so hurt but at the same time it must be traumatic for the officers involved and they should be able to talk freely to their colleagues as they deal with their trauma if this was a closed private WhatsApp group it wasn't intended clearly to be read by others now that I'm I'm only reading that to you because it it is reflective of a number of people who who've come in and said that what would you say to those people well the first thing I would say is that we have actually got in writing from the chief Constable that it's not permissible for officers to to form and use a WhatsApp group for professional circumstances they're not allowed to have it on their work phones um we also believe that officers have a duty of conduct if they see anything that's beyond the boundaries of their code of conduct or or legality um to report them and we've we've not been told if anyone was reported I do understand of course they traumatized uh but but note that the person that's written this this message has has only had a management intervention the person that shared the message is the only person that's been publicly named and shamed and I'm not going to say he's saying because I don't need to I'm sure he's been through enough and you know mistakes can be made um but you can you can have a traumatic experience but why would you use words like butchered and why would it you know be used in that context curate it's the curse of social media partly isn't it I mean we know that emergency service workers whether whatever profession they're in do speak in terms um because to some extent uh they have to express their feelings to each other in private but now they put it down in writing and they share it and it becomes available that's that part that's part of the root of the problem isn't it it really is and I think it's it's obviously how do we how do we provide a solution I I don't know and I so conduct don't you I think there is a code of conduct and I think it it's it starts at the top and it has to it has to come from the leadership um but it's you know it's what types of conversation what not an email or a statement that can be misconstrued uh the nottingam police force you we've also had somebody sacked for viewing in August the body cam footage of of Barney yes I mean that's grotesque there's and they didn't need to view it they weren't involved in the case someone was sacked only that's just royalism basically it is it's it's the most grotesk voyerism I think we've said that before um and somebody was sacked only last week um again for accessing information we know that three Council workers who support the police also have had management interventions but all of this has come as drip feed it we were never told about it and it's it's it's there's a lack of transparency and very poor communication and I you know people do make mistakes and I understand that but I do think that I would be doing baronnie and graceon Ian actually a diservice if we don't address this because the other option is Tove just gone quiet and and nobody uh no one would be spoken to you read from our perspective you read a portion of of of your letter last night for our cameras and you woke up this morning and the times had gone to press and it's out there now how do how do you feel about it this morning do do do you feel completely satisfied you've done the right thing in uh in publicizing this it it was a really difficult decision to make because the implications aren't just to me or my immediate family it affects the Kumar family it affects the coat's family um and our Wider Circle of family and friend friends but having spoken about it with them um we feel that we've we've got to bring this to the well now the public attention because it just has to be addressed and if you're put in a situation where you when you've been given a voice as much as we really didn't want to have a voice then we need to use it I suppose to try and evoke some change I know you're hoping for change with the sentencing of the person responsible for Barnaby's death and the other deaths and the attempted murder as well of the the other victims um at the beginning of next month court of appeal is going to review whether the hospital order was unduly lenient yeah what would you say I mean what what do you hope is the outcome of that in an ideal world where Justice is done for your child what happens that that calican receives a penal element that there's recognition that he had intent he was culpable he knew he was mentally ill but I would argue in this in this country how could you commit crime like that and not be mentally ill it wasn't done in retaliation or an accident or um any other situation he ambushed them um lured them in and ambushed them he didn't even charge at them so yes we we need to have that penal element that's been recognized by the Attorney General it's unduly lenient so at some St age in his hospital treatment he is well enough doesn't have diminished responsibility anymore he's well enough to go and serve his time in prison yeah he's the one that chose not to take his medication he's the one that chose to carry a rock sack full of weapons and planned the attack and over days and hours proceeding what happened good luck we'll talk to we'll hopefully talk to you next month yes fingers crossed that that we'll get some result on that I think you're incredibly Brave uh thank thank you so much for coming and talking so honestly and openly about this and I'm just basically bearing your feeling ings to to the world it's thank you and thank you well thank you for supporting us of course of course we do always yes well look going back to these inappropriate messages uh Nottingham of police have contacted us and they said it would be inappropriate to comment further due to the ongoing independent investigation by the independent office for police conduct and the review by the College of policing that's their statement so their statement is that they can't make a statement yeah they can't comment if you have been affected by any of the issues that we've been discussing you can find advice and support at itv.com helplines thank you Emma and lots of love to you and the families of everyone thank you I'll

Channel: Good Morning Britain

Views: 17,480

Keywords: good morning britain, breakfast show, news, morning news, gmb, good morning britain interview, itv, susanna reid, Talk Shows - Topic, emma webber statement, emma webber interview, emma webber good morning britain, emma webber speech, nottingham attacks court, nottingham attacks families, nottingham attacks 2023, nottingham attacks interview, nottingham attacks what happened, barnaby webber grace kumar, barnaby webber and grace omalley-kumar, barnaby webber mum interview

Id: AOpirGEMmUo

Length: 11min 20sec (680 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 24 2024