The families of the three victims who were killed by Valdo Calocane in Nottingham have criticised NHS England for refusing to publish a full report on the care he received.
The full version of the mental health homicide report is being kept confidential due to data protection laws, but a summary will become publicly available this week.
Only Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust will have access to the full report, with all other mental health trusts also receiving just a summary.
Calocane killed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates before he tried to kill three others in Nottingham in June 2023.
He was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order.
Prosecutors accepted his not guilty pleas to murder after medical evidence showed he had paranoid schizophrenia.
He was later sentenced for manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and attempted murder.
Speaking on behalf of the families ahead of the NHS England (NHSE) report’s publication, adviser Radd Seiger said: ‘The families have already reached out to NHSE to strongly urge them to publish the findings in full.
Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar were killed by Valdo Calocane in June 2023
The family of Barnaby Webber(left-right) Charlie Webber, Emma Webber, and Lee Coates, the son of Ian Coates during a memorial event
Nottingham triple killer Valdo Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order
Dr Sanjoy Kumar, father of Grace O’Malley-Kumar alongside Barnaby Webber’s father David
‘They believe it is very much in the public interest and in the interests of safety to do so. NHSE have thus far refused.’
An NHS England spokesperson said: ‘Independent mental health homicide reports are commissioned by NHS England and published in line with the requirements of confidentiality and data protection legislation relating to patient information.’
Grace and Barnaby were walking back to their student accommodation along Ilkeston Road before they were stabbed to death.
Grace tried to defend Barnaby as he was stabbed ‘repeatedly’ by Calocane, who was suffering from ‘serious’ mental illness at the time of the attack.
She had fought with Calocane before he then turned on her, a court heard.
Mr Coates was then found dead in Magdala Road around an hour later.
The defendant is then alleged to have used Mr Coates’ van to drive at three pedestrians, Wayne Birkett, Marcin Gawronski and Sharon Miller, in Milton Street and South Sherwood Street. They all survived.
Calocane was convinced he was controlled by MI5 and had been in and out of a mental hospital ever since he was diagnosed nearly three years before his killing spree – leaving the authorities with questions to answer about why the loner wasn’t dealt with sooner.
Grace O’Malley-Kumar, was described by her family as being ‘loved endlessly by all’ and ‘resilient and wise beyond her years’
Mr Webber, from Taunton in Somerset, was a keen cricketer and ‘an extraordinary ‘ordinary’ person’, his family said
Ian Coates’ sons said his death had ‘rocked everyone’s world’
The family of Barnaby Webber, second left, with his father David Webber, left, mother Emma and brother Charlie
Victim Grace O’Malley-Kumar, left, pictured with father Dr Sanjoy Kumar, who has criticised ‘gaps’ in Valdo Calocane’s treatment, alongside Grace’s mother Sinead and brother James
Calocane had a four-year history of mental issues. These spiralled during lockdown, triggering the spate of alarming incidents which brought him to the attention of the university, police and healthcare professionals.
One young woman was so terrified after being followed into her accommodation by Calocane that she jumped out of a window to escape him – sustaining serious injuries – a source said.
The woman’s mother was said to be so concerned she is believed to have contacted the university about Calocane, but he was allowed to continue his studies.
In a series of terrifying incidents, Calocane demonstrated outbursts of uncontrollable rage that were chilling precursors of the fatal attacks.
Footage previously obtained by MailOnline shows the powerfully-built mature student grabbing his flatmate in a headlock during a row about a dirty shower. The flatmate, who was left with a fractured finger, says ‘feel my breathing, please man’ as he begs him to stop.
A second clip filmed moments afterwards shows Calocane stopping the same housemate from leaving the kitchen of their flat. The flatmate says ‘he’s not letting me leave for some reason’ before he snaps at being filmed and says ‘you can’t film me.’
The victim said Calocane – now calling himself Adam Mendes – had been ‘a ticking timebomb’. Yet the killer was left free to roam the streets after the authorities missed a string of opportunities to stop him.
Calocane in a court sketch dated November 2023
Emma Webber, pictured alongside husband David as they appeared on ITV’s This Morning in January this year, today reiterated the family’s calls for a public inquiry into the case
Barnaby’s father David embraces Grace’s mother at a vigil at the University of Nottingham
He was sentenced in May 2024, leading to criticism from the grieving families that he was not imprisoned.
In a statement following the Court of Appeal’s decision not to change the sentence of Valdo Calocane, Barnaby’s mother Emma Webber said: ‘Today’s ruling comes as no surprise to the families of the Nottingham attack victim.
‘It was inevitable and was not a review of anything other than the letter of the law as it stands.
‘Despite the fact that the Attorney General herself feels that Valdo Calocane did not receive the appropriate sentence, today’s outcome proves how utterly flawed and under-resourced the criminal justice system in the UK is. It also illustrates the need for urgent reforms in the UK homicide law.
‘The fact remains, despite the words of the judge, that almost 90 per cent of people serving hospital orders are out within 10 years and 98 per cent within 20 years.
‘In effect, the families now face their own life sentence of ensuring the monster that is Valdo Calocane becomes the next Ian Brady or Fred West and is never released.
‘Given the failed investigation carried out by Nottingham Police, the weak prosecution put forward by East Midlands CPS and the over-reliance on doctors’ reports, there was probably no other conclusion that could be made.
‘The families have raised their concerns already with the Government with regard to obvious errors and omissions that have resulted in this tragedy.’
Grace O’Malley Kumar’s family said they were ‘immensely proud of her bravery’ as she tried to save her friend in the attack
Flowers laid by the family and friends of Mr Webber, including his father David Webber at the scene on Ilkeston Road in Nottingham
Dr Sanjoy Kumar, speaking outside court today, ended by saying: ‘We thank everyone for the outpouring of support for our brave and beautiful daughter, Grace’
Dr Sanjoy Kumar and Dr Sinead O’Malley, the parents of Ms O’Malley-Kumar, said: ‘The Nottingham attacks were entirely preventable. Nottinghamshire Police failed to produce a warrant for many months, a flawed investigation, no toxicology, over-reliance on psychiatric reports.
‘Leicestershire Police failed to arrest Valdo Calocane. This is a failure of two police forces, a failure of the mental health trust, along with Nottinghamshire Council as well.
‘Missed multiple opportunities to prevent the Nottingham attacks and the murder of our children and Ian Coates is what has led us here today.
‘We have continued to pursue agencies that failed us and hold them responsible for the Nottingham attacks, so that no other family is made to suffer like ours.
‘We thank everyone for the outpouring of support for our brave and beautiful daughter, Grace.’
In May, the families of the victims suffered fresh agony after appeal judges ruled Calocane’s sentence was not unduly lenient.
The Court of Appeal refused to change Calocane’s sentence, stating that while Calocane’s offences caused ‘unimaginable grief’, his sentence was not unduly lenient as his paranoid schizophrenia was ‘the sole identified cause of these crimes’.
In her summary, Baroness Carr said: ‘It is impossible to read of the circumstances of this offending without the greatest possible sympathy for the victims of these terrible attacks, and their family and friends.
Hockey team mates of victim Grace O’Malley Kumar lay flowers in her memory during a vigil at the University of Nottingham
Flowers were laid on the steps of Nottingham Council House following Grace, Barnaby and Ian’s deaths
‘The victim impact statements paint a graphic picture of the appalling effects of the offender’s conduct.
‘Had the offender not suffered the mental condition that he did, the sentencing judge would doubtless have been considering a whole life term.
‘But neither the judge nor this court can ignore the medical evidence as to the offender’s condition which led to these dreadful events or the threat to public safety which the offender continues to pose.’
Calocane has no previous convictions, though he had been facing a charge of assaulting a police officer in relation to an earlier incident. The case was discontinued late last year.
Another former housemate in Nottingham, who lived in the same flat as Calocane for much of 2020, said the killer ‘seemed like a normal guy’ back then – but admitted grappling with his mental health.
‘I didn’t know him too well but he didn’t do drugs or drink much’, the former student said. ‘He said he heard and saw things that weren’t there.
‘I didn’t talk to him much. When he wasn’t at college he was at work, but he never told me where he worked.’
Calocane is thought to have been born in Guinea-Bissau but grew up in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in a religious family who worshipped at the town’s Calvary Church – a branch of evangelical Christianity.
Reverend Adrian Vaughan, minister at the church, said Calocane stopped going to the church at the age of 15, and moved away from Pembrokeshire while still in his teens.
He never returned to the church. Rev Vaughan added: ‘We knew he’d gone astray a little bit after moving away, possibly getting involved with the wrong sort of people. But Valdo is clever, the whole family are.’
