‘He has got away with murder’
Families furious at CPS ‘railroading’ as Attorney General to review Nottingham killer’s sentence
THE Attorney General is set to review the sentence of Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane after the families of the victims attacked the Crown Prosecution Service and said he “got away with murder”.
Calocane, a paranoid schizophrenic, was handed an indefinite order to be detained in a high-security hospital yesterday after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility. The 32-year-old took the lives of 19-year-old university students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’malleykumar before killing 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates in a series of attacks in Nottingham on June 13 last year.
After receiving a complaint that the sentence was unduly lenient, Victoria Prentis, the Attorney General, will now consider whether to refer the case to the Court of Appeal for judges to decide if the sentence is appropriate.
Calocane was originally charged with murder but this was downgraded to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility owing to his paranoid schizophrenia. Outside Nottingham Crown Court after the sentencing, Webber’s mother Emma criticised the CPS, saying they had felt “rushed, hastened and railroaded” into accepting the manslaughter plea.
Mr Coates’s son, James, said: “This man has made a mockery of the system, and he has got away with murder”.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman yesterday said “any lessons must be learnt” by the CPS, police and NHS and told them they must review their handling of Calocane and the killings, describing it as a “truly harrowing” case and offering his “heartfelt condolences.”
The families of the victims and the survivors of the attack criticised the CPS, the NHS and Nottinghamshire Police. Mrs Webber accused the CPS of not consulting families over the charges, saying: “We as a devastated family have been let down by multiple agency failings and ineffectiveness. The CPS did not consult us as has been reported – instead we have been rushed, hastened and railroaded.”
She said the first meeting with them was in November: “We were presented with a fait accompli that the decision had been made to accept manslaughter charges. At no point during the previous five-and-a-half months were we given any indication that this could conclude in anything other than murder.
“We do not dispute the murderer is mentally unwell and has been for a number of years. However, the pre-mediated planning, the collection of lethal weapons, hiding in the shadows and brutality of the attacks are that of an individual who knew exactly what he was doing. He knew entirely that it was wrong but he did it anyway.”
She said “justice has not been served” and accused Nottinghamshire Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin of having “blood on his hands” after it emerged Calocane was wanted for a “vicious” assault on a police officer at the time of the killings. “If you had just done your jobs properly there’s a very good chance my beautiful boy would be alive today,” she said.
Mr Coates said: “The letter of the law was once considered the most important rule to live by and abide by, put upon us to make the country a fair and safer place. Now they are just a cautionary tale where the calculated cold brutal killing spree can be reduced down to something that falls within the same sentencing restrictions and guidelines as that of death by dangerous driving.”
Victims’ families have a right under CPS rules to ask for a review of prosecutors’ decisions but only if they decide to drop a case or withdraw all charges. The Telegraph has established that because it was a downgrading of the charges, the families were not offered the chance to ask for a review.
Sir Mike Penning, a former justice and policing minister, said it was “callous” the families were not fully consulted and the CPS needed to explain itself. Dame Priti Patel, the former home secretary, said there needed to be a government review of how the CPS took decisions and engaged with victims. “This is an unsatisfactory situation. The family wanted proper justice. Now we are hearing they felt the system railroaded them in a particular direction without necessarily giving them a right of reply because there was no alternative,” she said.
Calocane was given an indefinite hospital order, which the judge Mr Justice Turner said would “very likely” mean he was detained for the rest of his life. He could be released before he dies if he is judged to be no longer a threat to the public and is assessed to have recovered from his mental ill health. He can only be discharged from hospital if the Justice Secretary agrees. The Justice Secretary could also refer the decision to the mental health tribunal.
Mechanical engineering graduate Calocane attacked O’malley-kumar and Webber after travelling to Nottingham from London and lying in wait on a residential street for a victim to walk past.
He also killed Coates and used his van to mow down three pedestrians, who survived. In a statement issued by his solicitors, Wayne Birkett, one of the pedestrians injured, called for a public inquiry into the killings.
Calocane has never offered any explanation for the killings, but psychiatrists said he claimed that voices told him to find innocent victims or
“something atrocious” would happen to his family.
Asst Chief Constable Griffin has admitted more could have been done to locate Calocane before he carried out the killings.
‘If you had just done your jobs properly there’s a very good chance my beautiful boy would be alive today’
STEPPING on to the platform at Nottingham railway station, Valdo Calocane appeared like every other weary late night traveller on the final leg of their journey home.
Dressed all in black apart from a grey beanie hat, Calocane, unlike his fellow passengers, had no home to go to.
While others carried suitcases and pushed prams as they returned from summer holidays, Calocane had concealed a collection of knives and a double-edged “fighting dagger” in his black rucksack and holdall.
Nottinghamshire Police have now released CCTV footage of his movements on June 13 in the run up to the brutal and senseless killings of university students Grace O’malley-kumar and Barnaby Webber, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65.
The videos show how the 32-year-old was roaming the city streets aimlessly before embarking on his rampage.
Shortly after he arrived at Nottingham, he is filmed boarding Tram 236 bound for the Wilkinson Street stop in the city’s Basford district.
Inside the carriage he can be seen loitering in the gangway, within touching distance of six young people, drinking from cans of beer or bottles of water, who appear to be returning from a night out shortly after it had turned midnight.
At 1.29am he was captured on CCTV walking along a residential street.
He had discarded his holdall and was left carrying only his rucksack. He walked just over a mile to Ilkestone Road where he lay in wait in the shadows for unsuspecting victims.
At 3.49am, O’malley-kumar and Webber were filmed laughing and chatting as they walked home from an end of year night out at Pryzm, a popular club for Nottingham University students. They were just 200 metres from home. One witness later recalled a “blood-curdling scream” as O’malley-kumar asked Calocane “why would you do that?” after he stabbed Webber.
Calocane was as merciless as he was ruthless. Webber was repeatedly stabbed and collapsed, prompting O’malley-kumar valiantly to try to push him off her friend.
The killer stabbed her before returning to Webber. By then, O’malley-kumar’s attempts to fight off their assailant were futile and she was said to have stumbled before collapsing.
Shortly after 4am, a 999 caller alerted officers to “someone lying in the street – I think they’re dead”. By then, Calocane was calmly walking along residential streets, with his hands in his pockets and looking up at the sky.
He was filmed on security cameras attempting to climb in through an open window at a supported living accommodation in Mapperley Road. The resident inside woke up and lashed out at the intruder, who abandoned his break in and fled. He later told psychiatrists he was looking for another victim.
At 5.10am he was spotted half a mile away striding along Woodborough Road near where he happened upon Coates, whom he stabbed repeatedly. Again, witnesses described hearing “blood-curdling screams”.
Calocane stole Coates’s van, which he began driving around the streets of Nottingham. Wayne Birkett was crossing the road on foot when Calocane “deliberately and violently” swerved towards him causing him to “flip” onto the pavement. Birkett suffered a fractured skull, causing a bleed to his brain and was said to be extremely fortunate to survive.
Two other people, Sharon Miller and Marcin Gawronski, were hit and injured as Calocane ploughed into unsuspecting pedestrians heading to work.
About five minutes after his last hit and run, an unmarked police car pulled in hard against the white van, blocking Calocane’s exit from the driver’s side.
A police officer armed with a Taser drawn ran at the van, throwing open the passenger door. Calocane was tasered before being handcuffed and led away by two officers.
After his arrest, the bloodstained Calocane kicked out at officers, swore at them, and refused to allow them to take a toxicology sample.
Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace’s father later criticised the lack of a toxicology report, although police cannot force people to provide a sample.
Calocane was interviewed three times in total, and responded with no comment to every question put to him.
On June 16, Calocane was charged with three counts of murder, and three counts of attempted murder. He was assessed on behalf of the defence in July, with a report provided on Aug 5 by forensic psychiatrist Dr Liam Mcsweeney. He was assessed again on Nov 14. Dr Mcsweeney said that Calocane told him he had “for many years” experienced a “pressure” from voices that would tell him to do things.
Giving the only motivation he has ever provided for the killings, he told the psychiatrist that “this pressure reached a certain point and he felt if he didn’t act something atrocious would happen to his family”. Calocane was assessed by a total of three forensic psychiatrists, who all considered his fitness to plead, an explanation for his crimes, and any possible psychiatric defences to
‘You were of sound mind. You are a deceptive individual, you have deceived psychiatrists’
the charges. The assessment of all three was that Calocane was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia when he carried out the attacks.
They jointly concluded that the condition “impaired his ability to exercise self control” but notably it did not stop him understanding what he was doing was “morally and legally wrong”.
While in prison, before being moved to a secure hospital, Calocane “committed further assaults on staff ”.
Barnaby Webber’s mother, Emma, said the first time the families had met with members of the CPS to discuss the downgrading of the charges to manslaughter was on Friday Nov 24.
She added: “For the record, [the CPS] had suggested meeting us just an hour before the morning of the pre trial hearing, something we felt was far too late.”
Mrs Webber said the victims families had been presented with a “fait accompli” that the decision had been made to accept the manslaughter pleas.
On the Nov 28, Calocane appeared at Nottingham Crown Court, where he denied murder, but admitted three counts of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility. On Tuesday this week it was revealed that the prosecution had accepted the pleas to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility. Calocane is currently being held in a segregated unit of high security Ashworth Hospital due to the risk he poses to other patients.
In reference to Calocane, Dr Kumar said: “It is my regret that psychiatrists did not interview you face to face on the day. If they had they would have seen you were of sound mind.
“You are a deceptive individual, you have deceived psychiatrists.”