Valdo Calocane, a migrant who murdered three people in 2023, had a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia but was never placed in a secure institution
An inquiry into the Nottingham triple murders has learned that Valdo Calocane, a migrant with paranoid schizophrenia who committed a fatal stabbing rampage in 2023, was earlier freed by mental health practitioners who feared accusations of racism.
Calocane, who moved to the UK from Guinea-Bissau in 2007, killed university students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, as well as school caretaker Ian Coates, in a knife attack on June 13, 2023. He then stole Coates’s van and struck three pedestrians with it, causing them serious harm.
A public inquiry heard on Monday that Calocane was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in July 2020 and became a patient of the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. It was revealed that he was later discharged by the NHS after missing appointments and declining to take his prescribed drugs.
The inquiry also heard that in 2020, clinicians contemplated detaining the aggressive patient following an incident where he tried to kick in a neighbor’s door. However, NHS staff opted to release him back into the community due to worries about the “over-representation of young black males in detention.” This choice was made even after a psychiatrist cautioned that “perhaps [he] will end up killing someone.”
Furthermore, the grieving families have alleged that Nottinghamshire Police tried to conceal their failure to detain the paranoid schizophrenic prior to his murderous rampage.
Calocane had a record of violent assaults and complaints of stalking and harassment. None of these prior events seemed to have prompted police action.
The survivors of the vehicle attacks stated that authorities initially informed them they had no previous encounters with Calocane. During the inquiry, however, a Nottinghamshire Police representative admitted the force knew about a number of “unpleasant and antisocial” incidents linked to him. The official maintained that “they did not reasonably herald that he would become a triple killer,” and called it “simply not correct” to allege a cover-up.