The mother of Nottinghamstab victim Barnaby Webber revealed her heart-breaking fears for the precious final text exchanges with her beloved son as phone theft runs rampant in Britain.
19-year-old university student, Barnaby, was the first victim of Valdo Calocane who had been laying in wait down a dark alley before he attacked the young man.
The paranoid schizophrenic, 32, then stabbed his friend Grace O'Malley Kumar, 19, to death as she bravely came to Barnaby's defence.
Afterwards, Calocane murdered 65-year-old father and school caretaker - Ian Coates - and then stole his van, using it to run 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 stab victim Barnaby Webber shared her fears for her final text messages with her son amidst Britain's phone epidemic
Barnaby (pictured) was stabbed to death by Valdo Calocane on June 13 last year in the early hours of the morning
A year after the tragic loss of her son, Emma Webber, shared fears of losing her phone - which contains their precious final exchange - due to the worrying rise in phone theft rates.
Recently, one incident saw a woman's mobile was snatched by a thief on an e-bike whilst she strolled down a road in Marylebone.
The Metropolitan and City of London police forces have said they are tackling the crime spree head-on by running a targeted operation.
The operation was started due to the rise authorities saw in phone snatching in 2022, which carried on into last 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 the swiping of phones,' she told Good Morning Britain.
'I just thought you could take anything but I couldn't lose that because it's that precious.'
The devastated mother last looked at their final exchange on Barnaby's birthday on January 11, confessing she sometimes 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 was the 11th of January, which is his birthday and I haven't since,' she said.
His mother, Emma, fears losing the phone with the precious text exchange confessing she still sometimes doesn't believe her son is gone
'I just thought you could take anything but I couldn't lose that because it's that precious,' she heartbreakingly shared about the messages with her eldest son
Grace O'Malley Kumar (left) was killed by Calocane as she tried to save Barnaby's life. Calocane then stabbed Ian Coates (right) before stealing his car and mowed down three others
'It's unfathomable you said it's every parent's worst nightmare which it is.Sinead O'Malley Kumar [Grace's mother] says its every parents worst reality.
'And it is - no one can imagine. Sometimes I still don't really believe it.'
The final text she received from Barnaby was a series of eye-roll emoji's alongside 'yes, yes' as his mother told him to get a job for the Summer break.
Nonetheless, what was initially a 'flippant momentary thing' has become a treasured and guarded memory for the grieving mother, who always keeps them on her phone.
This comes shortly after the families of the three Nottingham attack victims came together to remember them a year after their murder.
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 dad and brother, David and Charlie Webber, to visit the scene on Ilkeston Road, Nottingham.
The families of the three Nottingham attack victims came together to remember the trio (pictured: Dr Sinead O'Malley, mother of Grace O'Malley Kumar, placed a single stem rose on the pavement in her daughter's memory)
Lee Coates, the son of Ian Coates, hugs Barnaby's motherEmma during the emotional vigil on Thursday
It was on that road that Calocane, 32, killed the three victims.
Lee Coates, the son of Ian, was also in attendance for the emotional remembrance event and embraced Barnaby's mother Emma Webber as the family member's gave speeches and held a two minute silence for the three victims at the University of Nottingham campus.
Many wept as they left floral tributes to the victims, with members of Grace's family placing bunches of roses on the pavement in her memory.
In a joint statement read out during 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 here'.
