The distraught families of two students killed in Nottingham’s knife rampage met at a vigil to honour the victims this evening.
Grace O’Malley-Kumar’s parents Sanjoy and Sinead wept as they were joined by Barney Webber’s dad David and mum Emma.
Sanjoy said: “The love we have here, I wish we had it everywhere.”
As their tears fell amid the grief, the distraught relatives of the two students stabbed to death were embraced by an outpouring of love at the vigil for the pair.
Sanjoy urged those gathered to harness that emotion to form a bond of unity amid the heartache.
Grace, 19, died alongside Barney Webber, also 19, when a man went on a terrifying knife rampage in Nottingham on Tuesday.
Popular school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, was also killed, months before he was due to retire.
More than 2,000 students gathered at the heartbreaking vigil at the university’s main campus to remember the pair. They were joined by Barnaby’s parents David and Emma, his younger brother Charlie and Grace’s parents Sanjoy and Sinead.
David and Sanjoy gave a joint speech to the students and friends gathered on Djangoly Terrace.
Grace’s dad, from Taunton, Somerset, told the sobbing crowd: “I’m lost for words. I’ve lost my baby boy and I can’t comprehend how I’m going to deal with it.
“I know Barney would be super touched by everyone that is here. He loved it here. He couldn’t wait to come back. It drove me mad.
“His heart will be with you guys forever. Thank you so much. I really can’t talk much more.”
GP Sanjoy, of Woodford Green, Essex, added: “I really, really want to thank you for your support, for taking the time to be here.
“All of you guys, everywhere I see, a sea of people. Such a lovely sign of the university and the bond you have. Grace was also like Barney, she loved going up to Nottingham. In fact, we couldn’t get her down.
“I said to her last week, come down. She said after she has had a few more sessions. I used to call them her crisis meetings. The love we have out here, I wish we had it everywhere.
“So look after each other. That’s the big thing. Look after your friends and look after people around you. This is so important. Grace and her friend fell together. You just need to be friends with everyone and love everyone, and I wish we had more of it.
“But most of all, all of you guys, every one who is here, who Grace may not have touched, I really thank you for being here and taking the time.
“It means so much to Sinead, my wife, and me. She loved being here and she loved all of you, she really did. And you should all feel very blessed. She was so full of her stories and things she said about all of you.
“You all touched her life, and hence ours, and you will never be forgotten, by us certainly. We have had children taken prematurely from us, that should never happen to any parent.
“But all I can say, to all of you guys, is thank you for all the things you did for our daughter and Barney. Look out for each other.”
Barnaby’s distraught dad put his arm around younger brother Charlie, who sobbed uncontrollably throughout the vigil.
David was holding a teddy bear, while Barnaby’s heartbroken mum clutched a cuddly leopard. His cricket teammates also showed their respects at the vigil, laying single flowers alongside a fountain.
Sanjoy, wearing a black suit, wiped tears from his eyes with a white handkerchief as he sat alongside Sinead.
At one point Sanjoy hugged Barnaby’s brother Charlie and held Sinead’s hand. He then spoke to Grace’s teammates, telling them: “She loved every one of you.”
The families walked arm-in-arm as they laid flowers, before embracing several of Barnaby and Grace’s friends. After David and Sanjoy finished their speeches, the crowd broke out into a spontaneous round of applause.
Representatives from Nottinghamshire Police also attended the moving ceremony at Djangoly Terrace.
Grant Walton, the university chaplain, said: “This is one of those moments which we hoped we’d never encounter.”
University of Nottingham vice-chancellor, Professor Shearer West, paid an emotional tribute to the two students. She said Grace, who volunteered as a Covid-19 vaccinator, had been “thriving in her first year of study”.
Prof West said Barnaby’s tutors were impressed by his “energy as a student” and said he was “fun, friendly and full of life”.
She said he had a “particular personal interest in geopolitics of both the USA and China”.
She said their lives had been “curtailed” by a “seemingly random” act of violence on Monday.
Detectives are continuing to question a 31-year-old man in connection with the attacks, which shocked the nation. The black-clad suspect was caught on CCTV trying to break into a homeless hostel during the rampage.
Most of the police cordons in Nottingham were lifted today and the city continued to struggle to come to terms with the tragedy. Police remained at an address on Ilkeston Road where it is believed the suspect was living.
Forensic teams were also photographed remove blood stains from the road and pavement where the two students were stabbed.
It emerged yesterday that Grace fled from her attacker into a front garden and tried to get inside a house before she collapsed and died.
The 28-year-old woman who lives in the house, who asked not to be named, said she and her family were away for the night. She told Sky News she was “heartbroken” that they had not been at home.
The resident added: “She passed on our doorstep. Maybe we could have saved her life. It breaks my heart. If one of us had been in the house, we could have let her in - maybe we could have saved her life.”
Police were first called to the Lenton area of Nottingham at around 4am on Tuesday after reports came in of a double stabbing.
Barnaby and Grace were found critically injured in Ilkeston Road.
Shortly afterwards, Ian was brutally stabbed to death in Mapperley Park, a mile and a half away, and his Vauxhall Vivaro stolen.
As police attended the scene of the double stabbing on Ilkeston Road, calls came in of a hit and run in Nottingham city centre one mile away.
Eyewitnesses said three people were hurt when the white Vivaro ploughed into pedestrians outside the Theatre Royal.
One remains critically ill in hospital.
