Valdo Calocane, who committed three fatal attacks in Nottingham, has been informed that he will likely spend the remainder of his life in a high-security hospital. Calocane was given a hospital order after admitting to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both aged 19, were fatally stabbed on June 13, 2023, along with 65-year-old Ian Coates. Pedestrians Wayne Birkett, Marcin Gawronski, and Sharon Miller were subsequently driven at, but not injured.
In Nottingham Crown Court, the judge, Mr Justice Turner, informed Calocane that he remained a danger and that the sentence would “probably result in you being detained in a high-security hospital for the remainder of your life.” “In the early hours of 13 June last year, you committed a series of atrocities in this city, which ended the lives of three innocent people,” he said. “Your sickening crimes both shocked the nation and ruined the lives of your surviving victims and the families of them all.”
Calocane, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia before the attacks, also pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted murder. Speaking after the verdict, the victims’ families expressed their dissatisfaction with the sentence. Emma Webber, Barnaby Webber’s mother, stated that “true justice has not been served today,” and that the families had been “let down” by the police and Crown Prosecution Service.
Grace O’Malley-Kumar’s father, Dr. Sanjoy Kumar, said that they would never come to terms with the loss of their daughter or her heroic actions. James Coates, Ian Coates’ son, stated in a statement that his family had “suffered a great loss,” and that “the city of Nottingham has suffered a great loss.
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