Mother of Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane asked for son to be admitted to hospital after outburst
Valdo Calocane’s mother pleaded for her son to be admitted to hospital after a violent outburst – three years before he killed three people in a mass stabbing in Nottingham, a public inquiry has heard.
Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, killed University of Nottingham students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and caretaker Ian Coates, 65, and attempted to kill three more people in Nottingham in June 2023.
A series of reports into the incident by the NHS so far have highlighted failings in Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust’s management of Calocane, including failures to appropriately assess his risk to himself and others. A public inquiry will now scrutinise prosecutors, police and medical professionals.
During the first day of the hearings on Monday, the inquiry heard that Calocane first had a serious violent episode on 24 May 2020. But mental health professionals ruled Calocane was safe to be treated in the community rather than being admitted.
Counsel to the inquiry Rachel Langdale told the hearing that, during the incident, Calocane, who is referred to as VC in proceedings, was found “repeatedly kicking and punching a door” in an attempt to get into a neighbour’s flat.
He was assessed by a mental health professional and found to be suffering from a psychosis mental health episode and “was noted to be presenting with mental health issues, hearing voices, appeared vacant, and had not slept for five days”.
At a follow-up mental health act assessment, Dr Gandhi, along with an approved mental health practitioner, Ben Williams, and a mental health nurse Anna Palmer, agreed he would be offered treatment with antipsychotic medication in the community rather than as an inpatient admission.
According to the statement, Dr Gandhi said he was learning towards detaining Calocane “given it was the first presentation of psychosis, and a lack of information on risk history”. But he said that the team of professionals also “considered the research evidence that shows overrepresentation of young black males in detention”.
Dr Gandhi said it is part of his role in assessments to be aware of research, evidence and data including health inequalities but that it would not have affected the decision to admit or treat Calocane in the community.
The inquiry will look at how appropriate that mental health act assessment was.
Shortly after being released, Calocane was arrested after attempting to get into another neighbour’s flat and causing the the woman to become so scared she jumped out of her first floor window, causing serious damage to her spine.
Following his arrest, Ms Palmer spoke with his mother Celeste Calocane who “noted that she would prefer that her son goes into hospital for treatment, as he’s a risk to others in his current mental state”, the inquiry heard.
Ms Langdale added that the chair of the inquiry Deborah Taylor may ask why Calocane was released at that stage and whether release straight into the community was appropriate.
It was not until the next day, during a further mental health act assessment, that he was recommended for section.
The inquiry will also probe why services deemed, prior to discharging him, that there had been “no incidents of violence” from Calocane despite the episodes in May 2020, as well as a prior incident in which he “had entered a neighbour’s flat to confront those who believed were trying to spy on him and torment his mind”.
Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January 2024 after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility and attempted murder – something which has been widely criticised by the victims’ families.
The inquiry continues.
