Doctor warned Nottingham attacker could kill three years before stabbings

The family of Valdo Calocane say his mental illness was so severe, a psychiatrist warned he could “end up killing someone” three years before he stabbed three people in Nottingham.

Calocane’s mother and brother have told the BBC’s Panorama programme they only received the 300-page medical summary containing the warning after his sentencing.

He killed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar as they returned from a night out, 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. His family say they only found out three years later and is calling for a public inquiry and urgent reforms to mental health services.

His mother Celeste and brother Elias told the BBC the killings were a “tragedy that could have been prevented” after learning of the warning by a psychiatrist in his medical records.

They described the mental health system as “broken”.

His brother said Calocane had shown no signs of mental illness before a phone call in May 2020 while studying mechanical engineering at the University of Nottingham.

After his brother had cried on the phone for 40 minutes, Elias recalled: “Finally, he said to me ‘I hear voices’.”

The medical report came during a second stay in hospital under the Mental Health Act following arrests for breaking into flats.

According to the BBC, medical records from July 2020 said “there seems to be no insight or remorse and the danger is that this will happen again and perhaps Valdo will end up killing someone”.

He had no further contact with the mental health team after September 2022 when he was discharged back to his GP.

“Basically, they wash their hands and say, ‘OK, that’s it’,” said his mother, who said her son distanced himself from the family over the next nine months.

His brother Elias echoed calls from the victims’ families for a public inquiry.

“We need some strong recommendations,” he said. “But we can’t just say, we’ll just wait until it finishes how many years down the line and then do something about it then. Something needs to happen now.”

The 32-year-old was sentenced to an indefinite period in a high-security medical facility after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

A Care Quality Commission review of the care of Calocane by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) will be published on Tuesday.

NHFT chief executive Ifti Majid told the BBC he was “committed to do everything within my power to prevent such a tragedy reoccurring”.

Calocane’s sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal in February, but three judges ruled the hospital order was not “not arguably unduly lenient”, stating the court could not ignore medical evidence related to his paranoid schizophrenia.

Speaking following the appeal ruling, Barnaby Webber’s mother Emma Webber said: “Today’s ruling comes as no surprise to the families of the Nottingham attack victims. It was inevitable and was not a review of anything other than the letter of the law as it stands.

“Despite the fact that the Attorney General herself feels that Valdo Calocane did not receive the appropriate sentence, 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.

“The fact remains, despite the words of the judge, that almost 90% of people serving hospital orders are out within 10 years and 98% within 20 years. 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.

Published: 12/08/2024 by Radio NewsHub