Families of Nottingham triple killer’s victims condemn ‘utterly flawed’ justice system as sentence bid fails

The families of the victims of the Nottingham killer have said they “now face their own life sentence of ensuring the monster is never released” after the Court of Appeal ruled his sentence will not be changed.

The loved ones of students Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and caretaker Ian Coates hit out at the “utterly flawed” justice system after the ruling on Tuesday, as their hopes for a stiffer sentence were dashed.

Valdo Calocane, 32, repeatedly stabbed the three victims during a knife rampage in Nottingham last summer. After pleading guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility as well as three other attempted murder counts, Calocane, who has treatment-resistant paranoid schizophrenia, was handed an indefinite hospital order to the dismay of his victims’ families.

Following his sentencing in January, the attorney general referred the case to the Court of Appeal to examine whether it had been “unduly lenient”, given the pre-meditation of the attacks and the 32-year-old’s history of refusing to take medication.

However, judges dismissed the bid on Tuesday, 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 a statement following the appeal court’s decision, Emma Webber, Barnaby’s mother, said: “Today’s ruling comes as no surprise to the families of the Nottingham attack victims. 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 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.”

She continued: “There are many, many more serious questions that the families will now continue to fight to get answered.

“We do not and never will agree that the vicious, calculated and planned attacks carried out were that of an individual who was at zero level of capability.

“We have never disputed that he is mentally unwell; however, he knew what he was doing, he knew that it was wrong, but he did it anyway. There should be an element of punishment for such a heinous act, alongside appropriate treatment.

“This is just one part of the fight for justice and appropriate accountability for failures that the families have been forced to endure. So far, there have been no less than eight individual reports, reviews and investigations.

“We do not believe that there is any chance these can be cohesive enough to ensure a full and detailed outcome, and therefore call for a public inquiry.”

Calocane, who attended via a video link from Ashworth high-security hospital near Liverpool, did not react as the three senior judges gave their decision on Tuesday.

Summing up their judgment, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said: “There was no error in the approach adopted by the judge. The sentences imposed were not arguably unduly lenient.”

Describing Calocane as “in the grip of a severe psychotic episode” at the time of the attack, she cited experts as she said: “He was entirely driven by the psychotic process.”

She concluded: “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. 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.”

Lawyers argued at the hearing last Wednesday that Calocane should be given a life sentence as part of a “hybrid” order, meaning he would be treated in hospital before serving the remainder of his sentence in prison.

Lawyer Deanna Heer KC, representing the attorney general’s office, told the court on Wednesday the “extreme” crimes warrant “the imposition of a sentence with a penal element, an element of punishment”.

Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, the father of O’Malley-Kumar, said: “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.”

Calocane fatally stabbed O’Malley-Kumar and Webber, both aged 19, as they walked home from a night out in the early hours of 13 June last year, before killing Coates and stealing his van. He then used the vehicle to knock down three pedestrians, Wayne Birkett, Marcin Gawronski and Sharon Miller, in Nottingham city centre before being arrested.

Prosecutors accepted his not-guilty pleas to murder at his sentencing at Nottingham Crown Court in January after multiple medical experts concluded he had paranoid schizophrenia.

Sentencing judge Mr Justice Turner told Calocane that his “sickening crimes” meant he would be detained indefinitely in a high-security hospital “very probably for the rest of your life”. He also ruled that Calocane should be subject to further restrictions if ever discharged from hospital, which would need to be approved by the justice secretary.

While a later review found that prosecutors were right to accept Calocane’s pleas, attorney general Victoria Prentis referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal, describing the killings as “horrific”.