Doctor warned Valdo Calocane could kill three years before Nottingham stabbings

Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates were stabbed to death in June 2023

Valdo Calocane (PA Media)

A psychiatrist warned that Valdo Calocane could “end up killing someone” three years before he stabbed three people in Nottingham.

Calocane’s mother and brother 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 – whose van he stole and drove into three people at a bus stop.

Calocane was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2020. His family say they only found out three years later and are 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”.

Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar (PA Media)

In March the watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) warned Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust that it was discharging patients from its hospitals in a worse state than when they were admitted – and a new report will be published on Tuesday, focussing on the care given to Calocane.

Calocane’s brother said he 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.

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.

Elias Calocane

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”.

Valdo Calocane was sectioned four times before his killings with his final section in January 2022.

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

Calocane’s mother told Panorama: “Basically, they wash their hands and say: ‘OK, that’s it.’”

She said her son distanced himself from the family over the nine months.

The urgent review into the trust’s services, published in March, called for a national review of community mental health services in England. The watchdog’s recommendation came after The Independent revealed 15,000 patients being cared for by those services died in a single year.

Calcone’s 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.

Handout photo of people attending a memorial event at the University of Nottingham to mark the first anniversary of three people stabbed to death by Valdo Calocane. (PA Media)

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 per cent of people serving hospital orders are out within 10 years and 98 per cent 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.”