Barnaby Webber’s heartbroken mother reveals fears her murdered son’s ‘precious’ last text message could be stolen from her by thieves as Britain battles phone theft epidemic

The mother of Nottingham Stabbing victim Barnaby Webber revealed her heartbreaking fears over the precious final text exchanges with her beloved son as Britain’s phone theft epidemic runs rampant.

19-year-old university student Barnaby was the first victim of Valdo Calocane who lurked in a dark alley before attacking the young man.

The paranoid schizophrenic, 32, then stabbed to death his girlfriend Grace O’Malley Kumar, 19, as she bravely defended Barnaby.

Calocane then murdered 65-year-old father and school caretaker – Ian Coates – and then stole his van, running over three pedestrians, who survived.

Since the incident, Calocane has been given an indefinite hospital order for the manslaughter of the three in Nottingham on June 13 last year.

The mother of Nottingham stabbing victim Barnaby Webber shared her fears over her last text messages with her son amid the UK’s phone epidemic

Barnaby (pictured) was stabbed to death by Valdo Calocane in the early hours of June 13 last year

A year after the tragic loss of her son, Emma Webber shared the fear of losing her phone – which contained their precious last exchange – due to the worrying rise in phone thefts.

There was a recent incident where a woman’s mobile phone was snatched by a thief on an e-bike while she was walking along a road in Marylebone.

The Metropolitan and City of London police forces have said they are tackling the crime wave head-on by carrying out a targeted operation.

The operation was launched due to the increase authorities saw in phone thefts in 2022, which continued last year and this year.

However, Britain’s phone theft epidemic has raised fears for grief-stricken mother Emma.

“I was watching the news last week when there was talk about mobile phone crime and phone snatching,” she told Good Morning Britain.

“I thought you could take everything with you, but I couldn’t lose it because it’s so precious.”

The devastated mother last watched their final conversation on Barnaby’s birthday on January 11 and admitted that sometimes she still doesn’t “really believe” her son has died.

‘I haven’t looked at it. “I think the last time I looked at that text message was January 11, which is his birthday, and I haven’t looked since,” she said.

His mother, Emma, ​​fears losing the phone because of the precious text message, in which she confesses that sometimes she still does not believe that her son is gone.

“I thought you could take everything with you, but I couldn’t lose that because it’s so precious,” she heartbreakingly shared of the messages with her eldest son

Grace O’Malley Kumar (left) was killed by Calocane when she tried to save Barnaby’s life. Calocane then stabbed Ian Coates (right) before stealing his car and mowing down three others

“It’s unfathomable that you said it’s every parent’s worst nightmare. Sinead O’Malley Kumar [Grace’s mother] says it’s every parent’s worst reality.

‘And that is true, no one can imagine that. Ssometimes I still don’t really believe it.’

The last text she received from Barnaby was a series of eye-roll emojis next to “yeah, yeah” when his mother told him to get a job for the summer holidays.

Nevertheless, what was initially a “light moment” has become a cherished and guarded memory for the grieving mother, which she always keeps on her phone.

This comes shortly after the families of the three victims of the Nottingham attack gathered to remember them a year after their murders.

On Thursday, hundreds of friends and fellow students joined Grace’s parents – Dr Sanjoy Kumar and Dr Sinead O’Malley, as well as her brother James – and Barnaby’s father and brother, David and Charlie Webber, to visit the scene on Ilkeston Road. Nottingham.

The families of the three victims of the Nottingham attack gathered to remember the trio (photo: Dr Sinead O’Malley, mother of Grace O’Malley Kumar, placed a single stem rose on the pavement in memory of her daughter)

Ian Coates’ son Lee Coates hugs Barnaby’s mother Emma during Thursday’s emotional wake

It was on that road that Calocane, 32, killed the three victims.

Lee Coates, Ian’s son, also attended the emotional memorial event and hugged Barnaby’s mother Emma Webber as the family member gave speeches and held a two-minute silence for the three victims on the University of Nottingham campus.

Many wept as they left floral tributes for the victims, with members of Grace’s family laying bunches of roses on the sidewalk in her memory.

In a joint statement read at the service, the victims’ relatives said they would take time to “remember the souls of the three vibrant, caring, hard-working and much-loved family members who are no longer with us.”