NOTTINGHAM – A paranoid schizophrenic who randomly ‘massacred’ two students and a caretaker during a knife rampage in Nottingham before ramming into three people with a van was today sentenced to indefinite detention in a high-security hospital.
As the Horror Unfolded
Valdo Calocane, 32, fatally stabbed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar before killing his third victim, Ian Coates – 65-year-old school caretaker four months from retirement – and stealing his white van.
The crazed killer – who said he was hearing voices urging him to kill and believed he was controlled by MI5 and sonic waves – then sped through Nottingham city centre and rammed the van into three pedestrians, all of whom survived.
Chilling CCTV emerged today showing how the day of horror unfolded, with Calocane filmed arriving in Nottingham by train before prowling the streets for hours.
Moments before the Horror
Barnaby and Grace are seen walking home from a nightclub at 4am on June 13, moments before the killer leapt out of a darkened alley and brutally attacked them. A 999 caller who came across their bodies is heard describing the unimaginable scene to police, saying: ‘Oh no…it was awful’.
Calocane is then filmed casually walking away and trying to break into a homeless hostel – only to be punched in the face by a resident. He is next seen ramming into three pedestrians in the white van. Bodycam footage shows his dramatic arrest by Taser-wielding police just minutes later.
Court Ruling
Today a judge told Calocane, who pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter by diminished responsibility and three more of attempted murder, that he would be detained at Ashworth High Secure Hospital ‘very probably for the rest of your life’.
The graduate engineering student had been involved in at least seven alarming incidents that brought him to the attention of officials before the fatal attacks – and an arrest warrant had been issued against him for attacking a policeman.
Mr Justice Turner told him today: ‘You committed a series of atrocities in this city which ended the lives of three people in this city. Your sickening crimes both shocked the nation and wrecked the lives of your surviving victims and the families of them all.’
Victim Families Feel ‘Let Down’
Barnaby’s mother Emma said outside court that ‘true justice has not been served today’, adding the families of Calocane’s victims had been ‘let down’ by the CPS and police.
Mr Justice Turner told the killer his actions had sentenced many relatives and friends of the victims to ‘a life of grief and pain’.
He told the triple killer: ‘There was never any doubt that it was you who had committed these appalling crimes.
‘It soon became clear, however, that the central issue in this case would relate to whether at the time of committing these offences you were suffering from symptoms of severe mental disorder.’
What Fuelled Calocane’s Action
The judge added that the psychiatric evidence did not detract from the ‘horror’ and impact of the offences, but he said, in his view, Calocane’s abnormality of mind had significantly contributed to him perpetrating the string of attacks.
As he was sentenced, Calocane stood with his hands at his side and showed no emotion as he looked towards the sentencing judge.
After being told that he could be led away to the cells, Calocane briefly attempted to sit back down in his seat before one of five people thought to be psychiatric hospital staff motioned for him to stand up and leave.
