What happened in the Nottingham attacks?
Valdo Calocane's family say the Nottingham attacks 'could have been prevented' and are demanding reforms to a 'broken' mental health system.
The family of the victims of the Nottingham attacker say services caring for him in the lead-up to the attacks “have blood on their hands”, after it emerged a mental health trust “minimised or omitted” key details of the risk Valdo Calocane posed.
The final part of a Care Quality Commission (CQC) review into the care of Calocane by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) found risk assessments played down the fact he was refusing to take his medication and was having ongoing and persistent symptoms of psychosis.
Calocane killed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar as they returned from a night out on 13 June 2023, before killing school caretaker Ian Coates. He then stole a van and crashed into three other people, who were seriously injured. Calocane was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2020.
A special review of mental health services at NHFT was ordered by then health secretary Victoria Atkins in January after Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order.
The CQC said Calocane’s records make it “clear” that he was “acutely unwell” throughout the two years he was under the care of NHFT, and was psychotic and suffering from paranoid delusions before eventually being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in July 2020.
A statement from the families of Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates, said: “Clinicians involved at every stage of Calocane’s care must bear a heavy burden of responsibility for their failures and poor decision-making," adding: “We were failed by multiple organisations pre and post June 13 2023.”
The CQC report comes after Calocane's mother Celeste and brother Elias told BBC Panorama that a psychiatrist warned he could “end up killing someone” three years before the attacks.
What happened in the Nottingham attacks?
At about 4am on 13 June 2023, Calocane fatally attacked Webber and O'Malley-Kumar on Ilkeston Road in Radford, Nottingham. The pair were first-year students at the University of Nottingham and had been walking home from a night out before Calocane emerged from the shadows to attack them. Calocane dressed all in black, inflicted at least 10 stab wounds on Webber and then 23 separate wounds on O'Malley-Kumar.
At Nottingham Crown Court in January, prosecutor Karim Khalil KC said O’Malley-Kumar had demonstrated “incredible bravery” by trying to protect Webber from Calocane’s blows and tried to fight him off, pushing him away and into the road. The killer then turned his attention to her and was “as uncompromisingly brutal in his assault of Grace as he was in his assault of Barnaby”, Khalil said.
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The students both suffered wounds to the chest and abdomen and were later pronounced dead at hospital.
After his attack, Calocane walked slowly through the Radford area to Mapperley Park, ringing his brother at 4.52am to say: “This will be the last time I speak to you. Take the family out of the country." Asked if he was going to do something stupid, Calocane told his brother: “It’s already done.”
At 5.04am, Calocane tried to access a residential building through a window before being punched away by someone inside. He then made his way to nearby Magdala Road, where he fatally stabbed Coates 10 minutes later.
Calocane then stole his van and drove it into people at a bus stop. Footage issued by Nottinghamshire Police showed Calocane deliberately steering towards pedestrian Wayne Birkett, who was hit from behind and suffered two skull fractures and a broken pelvis.
At about 5.30am, Calocane was tasered by police outside a shop on Bentinck Road and arrested.
What happened in court?
In November 2023, Calocane denied three counts of murder but admitted to the manslaughter of his victims on the basis of diminished responsibility. He also pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of three others.
His plea was accepted on 23 January this year and two days later he was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order, with a judge telling him he would be detained "very probably for the rest of your life".
It was found that Calocane was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the killings, which the judge said "significantly contributed" to him carrying out the attacks.
The sentencing judge also made Calocane subject to further restrictions if he is ever discharged, which must be approved by the justice secretary.
Following complaints by the victims' families, the HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) concluded in March that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were right to accept Calocane's manslaughter pleas, but could have handled the case better.
In May the Court of Appeal in London reviewed the sentencing after a referral by attorney general Victoria Prentis, who said it was "unduly lenient".
The attorney general office’s lawyers argued he should instead receive a life sentence as part of a “hybrid” order, meaning he would be treated in hospital before serving the remainder of his sentence in prison.
However, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Lord Justice Edis and Mr Justice Garnham ruled that the sentencing was not too "unduly lenient" and that leave to refer the sentence was refused.
Victims' families' reaction
In a statement following the decision, Emma Webber, mother of victim Webber, said: "Today’s outcome proves how utterly flawed and under-resourced the criminal justice system in the UK is. It also illustrates the need for urgent reforms in the UK homicide law.
"In effect, the families now face their own life sentence of ensuring the monster that is Valdo Calocane becomes the next Ian Brady or Fred West and is never released.
“We do not and never will agree that the vicious, calculated and planned attacks carried out were that of an individual who was at zero level of capability.
“We have never disputed that he is mentally unwell; however, he knew what he was doing, he knew that it was wrong; but he did it anyway. There should be an element of punishment for such a heinous act; alongside appropriate treatment."
Speaking outside court, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, father of victim Ms O’Malley-Kumar, said the outcome was "disappointing but not unexpected".
Prior to winning the general election, Sir Keir Starmer said that if Labour managed to get into power, he would commit to a judge-led inquiry into the Nottingham attacks.
He told LBC: “My resolve is to ensure that we have that inquiry and make sure that that doesn’t happen to anyone else. I’ve had too many examples of victims and family members being let down. We have to improve here."
