Mental health crises that culminated in fatal attacks
In the early hours of June 13, 2023, Valdo Calocane killed three people and attempted to kill three more.
In the years and months before the attacks, he had contact with the police and health services and had previously been detained. Here is a timeline of the attacks:
2007
Calocane, who was born in Guineabissau, in West Africa, comes to the UK with his family aged 16 having lived in Lisbon, Portugal.
2020 May 23
Calocane attends hospital believing he is having a heart attack. He is arrested after damaging a door when he returns to his flat.
An assessment under the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) was carried out at a Nottingham custody suite by psychiatric services, who conclude Calocane is psychotic but that his risk to others is low. He is referred to a crisis team for review at home and is released without charge.
On return home, he knocks down the door of a different apartment and is arrested for criminal damage. He is detained under the MHA and is admitted to in-patient psychiatric services at the Highbury Hospital.
He is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia the same month.
June 17
Calocane is discharged into the care of the Nottingham City Crisis Team. He is advised to take medication for a minimum of six to nine months and told to seek medical advice if he wishes to stop taking it.
July
Having stopped taking his medication, Calocane is readmitted to hospital after attempting to force entry into a flat. Anti-psychotic medication is restarted and increased.
2021 May 31
Calocane attends MI5 headquarters in London and asks to be detained.
August
Calocane is visited at home by a mental health worker and it is believed he actively concealed symptoms. He then evades contact
with a community team, with a warrant issued under the MHA to gain entry into his property to carry out an assessment.
September 3
The warrant is executed, with Nottinghamshire Police requested to support mental health services. A bag of unused medication, dating from February 2021, is found at the property. While being transported to Highbury Hospital in Nottingham, he assaults a police officer.
October
Calocane is discharged from hospital.
2022 January
Nottinghamshire Police attend after Calocane allegedly assaults a flatmate. No arrest is made after police action is not supported. He is again detained in a mental health establishment, with medics concluding he can continue to be treated in the community. Later that month, he is again admitted as an inpatient under the MHA.
February 24
Calocane is discharged from hospital.
March
Calocane is reviewed in an outpatient clinic.
July
Calocane tells medics, it is believed falsely, that he is not in the country.
August
Calocane is summoned to court over the assault of a police officer in September 2021. He is recorded as not being at home after a visit to his discharge address, with a resident saying no-one of that name lives there.
September 22
Calocane fails to attend court following the summons, with a warrant issued for his arrest. He is not detained before the killings on June 13 2023.
2023 May
Calocane begins working in a warehouse in Kegworth, Leicestershire, and attacks two employees. He does not respond to attempts to contact him to tell him he is barred from the premises.
June 13
4.04am: Police are called to Ilkeston Road, Nottingham, after Calocane fatally attacks students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’malley-kumar as they walk home from an end-of-term night out. Both suffer multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen and are later pronounced dead at the scene.
5am: Calocane contacts his brother and says: “This will be the last time I speak to you. Take the family out of the country.” When his brother asks him if he will do something stupid, Calocane replies: “It is already done.”
5.04am: Calocane attempts to gain access to a residential hostel in Mapperley Road, but retreats after being punched in the face by an occupant.
5.14am: Ian Coates is repeatedly stabbed in his abdomen and chest by Calocane while driving his van on Magdala Road and is left for dead. He is found by a member of the public at about 5.30am and pronounced dead shortly after.
5.23am: Calocane, having stolen Mr Coates’ Vauxhall Vivaro, drives on to Milton Street and hits pedestrian Wayne Birkett, who suffers a fractured skull.
5.29am: Calocane drives in a loop and is seen by a marked police car. Less than a minute later, Calocane accelerates and knocks down Sharon Miller and Marcin Gawronski as they cross Market Street.
5.34am: Calocane is Tasered and arrested after he produces a knife when the van is boxed in by police vehicles. A search of his backpack finds two other knives and a scaffold pole.
June 14
Thousands, including the families of the victims, attend vigils at the University of Nottingham’s main campus and in the city centre.
June 16
Calocane is charged with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.
June 17
He appears before Nottingham magistrates and is remanded in custody.
June 20
Calocane makes his first appearance at Nottingham Crown Court.
November 28
He admits the manslaughter of Mr Webber, Ms O’malley-kumar and Mr Coates by diminished responsibility but denies murder. He also admits three counts of attempted murder.
2024 January 23
Prosecutors accept Calocane’s pleas on the basis of his “serious” mental illness at Nottingham Crown Court.
January 24
Three medical experts state Calocane was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attacks. Dr Nigel Blackwood, a professor of forensic psychiatry at King’s College London, tells the court Calocane was “in the grip of a severe psychotic episode” at the time of the attacks, but understood that what he was doing was “morally and legally wrong”.
Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin, of Nottinghamshire Police, said “we should have done more” to arrest Calocane for failing to attend court in September 2022.
January 25
Calocane is sentenced to an indefinite hospital order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act by Mr Justice Turner. A Section 41 requirement is also imposed, meaning the Justice Secretary must approve his release. Following the sentence, Mr Webber’s mother, Emma Webber, says “true justice has not been served”.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct concludes the officer who pursued Calocane on the day of the attacks could not “have foreseen” his actions before he hit two pedestrians.
January 26
The Attorney General, Victoria Prentis, says she is considering whether to refer Calocane’s sentence to the Court of Appeal due to being unduly lenient.
February 20
Ms Prentis refers the sentence to the Court of Appeal.
March 25
His Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate publishes a report which says prosecutors complied with the law when they accepted Calocane’s pleas in January. It further calls for a change to murder laws, establishing three tiers of offence – first-degree murder, seconddegree murder, and manslaughter.
March 26
The Care Quality Commission highlights “ongoing concerns” at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, where Calocane was treated before the killings.