Host of failings revealed in care of Nottingham attacker

Killer not made to take antipsychotics as didn’t like needles’

- RACHEL CLUN

Triple knife killer Valdo Calocane was not forced to take longlasting antipsychotics because he did not like needles, a damning report outlining a litany of failings in his care has revealed.

The independent investigators also found 15 other incidents where patients cared for by the mental health trust involved in Calocane’s treatment also committed “extremely serious” acts of violence, including one patient stabbing five people over the course of a weekend just months before Calocane carried out his attacks.

The shocking findings were revealed following an about-face by NHS England (NHSE), after the organisation initially refused to release the full report on the grounds that it would breach Calocane’s privacy.

Calocane, who has paranoid schizophrenia, killed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar and 65year-old caretaker Ian Coates before attempting to kill three other people in a spate of attacks in Nottingham in June 2023.

The 300-page report into his care before the killings detailed two years of Calocane’s violent and disturbing behaviour, which included holding his flatmates “hostage”, punching a police officer in the face, and frightening a neighbour so much she jumped out of a first-floor window, sustaining a serious back injury.

NHS England (Midlands) said that, from the report, “it was clear the system got it wrong” in respect of Calocane’s care.