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The Nottingham Inquiry has revealed how Valdo Calocane, a man diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, concealed himself before attacking two students and a grandfather in a series of violent incidents on 13 June 2023. Calocane fatally stabbed Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley Kumar, and Ian Coates, and also attempted to kill three more individuals during the assaults. Following his guilty pleas to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility and attempted murder, Calocane was sentenced on 25 January 2024.
During the inquiry, Karim Khalil KC, the lead prosecutor at sentencing, emphasized that although Calocane demonstrated an ability to plan, this did not change the legal assessment of his case. Khalil explained that the attacker’s actions involved significant premeditation, noting: “He acquired weaponry beforehand, he changed his clothing, he changed his sim card, he hid in the shadows.” While Calocane had previously developed an obsession with a particular individual, Khalil stated this did not influence the decisions arising from the case in a meaningful way.
The inquiry, which resumed after a break over Easter, also heard about the psychiatric evaluations undertaken by experts appointed by both the Crown Prosecution Service and Calocane’s defence. Despite these assessments, the families of the victims expressed concerns regarding the psychiatric reports. On the day of the attacks, after stabbing the two students, Calocane killed Ian Coates and then used Coates’s van to run down three more victims—Wayne Birkett, Sharon Miller, and Marcin Gawronski. Khalil pointed out that these events, along with Calocane’s prior fixation on another individual named Sebastian, did not influence his conclusion: “I did not see how they would alter my judgement as to the proper conclusions to reach.”
Currently, Calocane remains under an indefinite hospital order. The prosecution had sought a hybrid order that would allow for transfer to prison following hospital treatment, but this was not granted. Khalil insisted the hospital order is not a lenient outcome, saying it was “far from” an easy resolution. After the sentencing, he met with survivor Wayne Birkett and Birkett’s partner, Tracey Hodgson, to discuss the nature of Calocane’s hospital detention and the likelihood of release. Khalil explained, “Such people are not free to go about their time as they wish,” adding that individuals under similar orders often aim to leave the hospital environment during lucid periods because of its restrictive nature
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