Mum sent daughter heartwarming 8-word text message - hours later she was killed

The parents of Nottingham rampage victim Grace O’Malley-Kumar have told how they desperately tried to contact their daughter on the day she died. Grace and fellow university student Barnaby Webber were stabbed to death as they walked home from a night out in June 2023.

Their attacker then killed 65-year-old school caretaker as he drove to work in the early hours of the morning. Details of the horror rampage began to emerge after dawn and led to national and international news bulletins.

repeatedly rang and messaged their 19-year-old daughter’s mobile phone after learning about the attack. It was only hours later that the distraught couple, from Woodford Green, Essex, learned the university student was one of the victims.

Hours earlier Sinead had messaged Grace, who would be celebrating her 21st birthday tomorrow (Thursday), urging her to use sun cream at a music festival. In her last ever reply, the teenager sent a photo of herself holding a bottle of sun protection to her relieved mum.

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Sanjoy and Sinead understandably still find it incredibly difficult to talk about the horrific events of June 13. The couple’s ended in the early hours, when Calocone brutally killed Grace, Barnaby and Ian.

Sanjoy was at work when he heard on an 8am news bulletin that there had been an attack in Nottingham. “Sinead rang me saying ‘I can’t get hold of Grace’,” he recalled.

“I rang Grace’s phone about four or five times and couldn’t get hold of her either. Then Sinead rang her friends. “Three of her friends, who they had been out with, said Grace and Barney had left them while they got something to eat.

"They had started to stroll down the road back home. That’s why they were separated. I wish they hadn’t done that. They said they couldn’t get hold of them either. That’s when we figured something was wrong.”

Sinead said: “Her friends didn’t know what had happened. They were all panicking, knocking on her door, hoping she would answer. Her ID was on her when she was found. We’re still not sure why we weren’t notified at 4am by the police.

"I’d phoned the , the police helpline, given her name to them, they were completely useless. They would have known Grace’s name by then but it wasn’t escalated and I wasn’t given a call back. The communication was poor from the outset.”

Sanjoy added: “We rang and they didn’t come back to us. We chased them a few times and eventually we got a call. “They said they were going to send a couple of officers down to us. That’s when I twigged that something was seriously wrong. I said, ‘No you’re not, I’m going to drive to Nottingham’.

“We drove up to Nottingham. James had done his chemistry GCSE that very day, so he came up with us. We still hadn’t been told. It was only when we got to Nottingham that they said unfortunately it looked like the victim was Grace.”

Sanjoy and Sinead saw their worst fears come true later the same day when Grace was confirmed as a victim. It later emerged she died a hero, trying to protect Barnaby as he was repeatedly stabbed by Calocane. Sanjoy described her courage as “incredible”, but the couple admit they wish their daughter had fled the scene that night.

“When Barney was attacked she could have run off, run off to get help,” said her dad. But CCTV shows she got involved with a fight with Calocane, a man with a lethal weapon.

“Unfortunately he turned his attention to her and really grievously wounded her. She faced the brunt of his attack because she wouldn’t abandon her friend. Her courage was outstanding. She paid the ultimate price for fighting a monster off her friend.

“When we talk to her friends or cousins, while they all wish she had run to get help, they all said she wouldn’t have done that. That wasn’t Grace. She wasn’t a person to do that.

“Every parent would wish their child survives, but she chose to do that instead. She wouldn’t have wanted to not be involved in trying to save someone. That was the way she was built.” Sinead added: “Would we prefer to have her here? Of course we would. But sadly her endeavours were in vain.”

In recent months there have been calls for Grace to receive a posthumous George Cross to mark her heroism. Sinead told the : “It’s for others to decide if she is awarded the George Cross. We don’t want Grace ever to be forgotten, and it’s one way she and her bravery would be forever remembered. It’s an honour for her to even be considered for it. It would put her in people’s minds for perpetuity for what she tried to achieve.”

Sinead treasures the last message and photo she received from Grace, just hours before she was killed. “On the Monday, they were going out with a group of girlfriends for the day to a music event,” she said.

“It was a very warm, sunny day. I texted Grace saying ‘Don’t forget to put your sun cream on’. She sent a little photo back of herself holding some sun cream, just to reassure me, because you never stop being a mother.

“She may be away at university, an independent adult, but still you have to remind them to look after themselves, that never stops. That was the last time we heard from her. It’s hard to look back at that photo.

“It’s very painful to look back at any photos of Grace. It’s painful to see them around the house. They are constant reminders of our loss - the loss of her future and the loss of our future as a family.

“We had expectations for family happiness, with grandchildren, her future. So it’s very difficult to look at photos of our beautiful daughter. Her career, her future, everything was stolen from her. We get upset every single day.”

The couple and their son James have had Grace’s name tattooed onto their arms to remember her. Sinead used a copy of her signature 'Gracie' from an old birthday card she received from her daughter.

The O’Malley-Kumar family home should be a hive of activity tomorrow, with presents being opened and party plans in full swing. But tragically there will be no 21st birthday celebrations for Grace.

For her heartbroken parents, what should have been a milestone for their daughter will instead be a day of heartache and sadness. Sanjoy told the Mirror: “It will be a day of quiet, sad reflection for our tremendous loss. That she achieved so much in her 19 years only heightens the sense of loss for us. It’s going to be a very sad day.”

Sinead added: “It’s difficult seeing her friends turning 21, having their parties, knowing she won’t be there and won’t be having her own party.” Since their daughter’s death, Sanjoy and Sinead have had to cope with unimaginable grief. Sinead admitted there have been some “very, very dark moments” as they adjust to life without Grace.

“We are utterly heartbroken,” she said. “People think that time will heal, time will bring back normality, but it just doesn’t. It’s difficult to see a normal future. I find solace in sleep. I just want to sleep all the time to escape from the reality you wake up to, which is pain.

“I still don’t believe it sometimes. Losing a child is the ultimate bereavement and the ultimate horror that can occur to any adult. I think it would be disingenuous not to say there have been some very, very dark moments because of the depth of the pain.

“One would just like to escape that pain. But ultimately we have another son and he deserves all of our love and affection. That’s what we’re here for and that’s what we’re focussed on.”

Sanjoy added: “Time has stood still for us since June 13. People move on with their lives, but we’ve found it very hard to move on with our lives. Grace has left such an incredible gap, not just for us but also for her brother. He absolutely adored Grace and looked up to her. The void that has been left is so incredible.

“We reflect on the future and how much we’ve missed out on in the future. All of the joys of seeing your child progress on in life, we are going to miss all of that. Whilst we have our son, who we concentrate all of our efforts on, we also don’t have Grace.

“Losing a child is so different to losing a parent. You think of a parent as having led a life ahead of you. But to lose a child who has led a life behind you, and who will succeed you, is so incredibly hard to come to terms with.

“We had dreams of seeing her have a family of her own. The loss is really hard to reconcile with. We’ve been deprived of a beautiful future, perhaps one day becoming grandparents. We are a small family and she has left a very big gap in our lives.”

Grace was named after the 1500s Irish pirate Grace O’Malley, a distant relative who was dubbed the Pirate Queen. “Our ancestry has been traced right back to Grace,” Sinead revealed.

“She met with Elizabeth I and was a woman way ahead of her time in a patriarchal society. It’s always been a family name. And when Grace was born it was fitting for her.”

Growing up, Grace was a sporty child who loved nothing more than climbing trees with her brother James and their cousins. She was a delightful child,” recalled Sanjoy. “She was very happy and got involved in everything we did, every aspect of life.

Sinead added: “She was always top of the class and very clever, but also very social and a great friend to her pals. Everybody truly loved her. Grace did very well in her A Levels and it was always her ambition to become a doctor. We were so proud of her. She was dying to go to university. She was so excited to start out on that new phase of life.

“We nourished her and treasured her and helped her dreams come true, which happened when she got a place at medical school in Nottingham. She was so excited for the future.”

Using one of his late daughter’s headscarfs to wipe away tears, Sanjoy added: “We were proud to let her go. We wanted her to experience life. Ironically we also thought it was safer to get away from London.

“She spoke about her future, about getting older and qualifying as a doctor. I said to her, ‘Enjoy uni, because after you finish uni you are on the straight and narrow and working, so get all the fun out of your system.’

“We wanted her to have a fantastic time and fantastic experience at uni, every kid should. It should be the best days of your life.” Sinead continued: “I can’t say there wasn’t a tear in my eye when she drove off to uni.

“We loved her being around the house and couldn’t wait for her to be back. We hung on her every word, every phone call, every text, wanting to know what was going on. We missed her terribly, but it was the next stage of her life. It was extremely exciting and she was so excited.”

Grace quickly settled at university, excelling on the all-conquering hockey team and embracing the student social life. Among her friends was Barnaby, a talented cricketer from Taunton, Somerset, who was studying history.

Sinead remembered Grace mentioning ‘Barney’, but both she and Sanjoy stopped short of saying they were a couple. “A lot of the athletes tended to socialise together, especially hockey and ,” she said.

“She had a wide group of friends, and some of her closest male friends were cricketers. Barney’s name did stand out, because it’s quite an unusual name. I know that Grace had given Barney and some of his friends lifts home from Nottingham down towards London to catch trains.

“It’s clear they were close pals, good friends. Beyond that, Grace didn’t discuss Barney specifically with us. They were clearly good friends. I’m not sure if it was more than that.”

Their killer Calocane was handed an indefinite hospital order in January after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Prosecutors accepted his not-guilty pleas to murder after psychiatrists concluded he had paranoid schizophrenia.

The decision left the families of the three victims outraged and has sparked ongoing calls for a statutory public inquiry. Recalling the first time he saw Calocane - when he appeared in court after being charged - Sanjoy said: “I had sheer hate for him.

“I felt absolute hatred for what he had done. It’s a dreadful thing to say but if you are that hateful and hate society, then harm yourself. Why did he have to harm our daughter? It was difficult to maintain decorum in court.

“There is a lot of anger there, don’t get us wrong, but we are law abiding people. The law and living by the word of the law means a lot to us. We have trust in it. We want to channel all our efforts into getting justice for Grace. That’s what keeps us up day and night - fighting for her cause. That’s the way I channel my physical anger.”

Asked about her feelings towards Calocane, Sinead told the Mirror: “He should never be trusted to live in the community ever again.
“I like to think I’m an empathic, caring, non-judgemental person. But unfortunately when the loss comes to your door it’s very difficult to think of a situation in which I can forgive him.

Sanjoy added: “I will never forgive him, ever. He had absolutely no right to take away the life of my daughter in the way that he did. As a father who was deeply in love with my daughter, I will never, ever, forgive that man.”

Sanjoy revealed Calocane’s brother Elias had sent the couple a letter in the aftermath of the tragedy. I read a couple of paragraphs and didn’t finish it,” he said. “Sinead is not interested in reading it. The letter was about justification for Calocane, blaming his mental health. I have no interest in any excuses they make."

Sanjoy and Sinead have set up the Grace O’Malley-Kumar Foundation to support charities and causes close to her heart. They include Raising Her Game, which seeks to empower girls through sport by offering free summer camps to youngsters. It was set up by Grace’s former university hockey teammate, Team GB star Darcy Bourne.

For more information on the foundation visit . For more information on Raising Her Game, visit *