What happened in the Nottingham attacks?
A court has ruled that Valdo Calocane's sentence for killing of two students and a school caretaker in June 2023 was not 'unduly lenient'.
The families of the victims of the Nottingham attacks say they "face their own life sentence" after judges ruled that killer Valdo Calocane's sentence was not "unduly lenient".
Three senior judges at the Court of Appeal in London said on Tuesday that they refused to change the sentence given to Calocane, 32, who killed three people in Nottingham last summer.
Calocane stabbed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and caretaker Ian Coates, 65, during the early hours of 13 June last year.
In January, Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite detention in a high-security hospital after he admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The Court of Appeal in London reviewed the sentencing after a referral by attorney general Victoria Prentis, who said it was "unduly lenient".
The attorney general office’s lawyers argued he should instead receive 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.
But the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Lord Justice Edis and Mr Justice Garnham ruled on Tuesday that the sentencing was not too lenient and that leave to refer the sentence was refused.
Giving their judgment, Carr said: “There was no error in the approach adopted by the judge. The sentences imposed were not arguably unduly lenient.”
Calocane attended the hearing via video link from Ashworth high-security hospital near Liverpool and did not react as the decision was given.
In a statement after the ruling, Emma Webber, the mother of victim Mr Webber, called for a public inquiry into the case.
She said: "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% of people serving hospital orders are out within 10 years and 98% 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."
Baroness Carr said it was "impossible" to read details of the case "without the greatest possible sympathy for the victims of these terrible attacks, and their family and friends", adding that the victim impact statements "paint a graphic picture of the appalling effects of the offender’s conduct".
In her conclusion, she said: “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.”
What happened in the Nottingham attacks?
At about 4am on 13 June 2023, Calocane fatally attacked Webber and O'Malley-Kumar on Ilkeston Road in Radford, Nottingham. The pair were first-year students at the University of Nottingham and had been walking home from a night out before Calocane emerged from the shadows to attack them. Calocane dressed all in black, inflicted at least 10 stab wounds on Webber and then 23 separate wounds on O'Malley-Kumar.
At Nottingham Crown Court in January, prosecutor Karim Khalil KC said O’Malley-Kumar had demonstrated “incredible bravery” by trying to protect Webber from Calocane’s blows and tried to fight him off, pushing him away and into the road. The killer then turned his attention to her and was “as uncompromisingly brutal in his assault of Grace as he was in his assault of Barnaby”, Mr Khalil said.
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The students both suffered wounds to the chest and abdomen and were later pronounced dead at hospital.
After his attack, Calocane walked slowly through the Radford area to Mapperley Park, ringing his brother at 4.52am to say “This will be the last time I speak to you. Take the family out of the country”. Asked if he was going to do something stupid, Calocane told his brother: “It’s already done.”
At 5.04am, Calocane tried to access a residential building through a window before being punched away by someone inside. He then made his way to nearby Magdala Road, where he fatally stabbed Coates 10 minutes later.
Calocane then stole his van and drove it into people at a bus stop. Footage issued by Nottinghamshire Police showed Calocane deliberately steering towards pedestrian Wayne Birkett, who was hit from behind and suffered two skull fractures and a broken pelvis.
At about 5.30am, Calocane was tasered by police outside a shop on Bentinck Road and arrested.
What happened in court?
In November 2023, Calocane denied three counts of murder but admitted to the manslaughter of his victims on the basis of diminished responsibility. He also pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of three others.
His plea was accepted on 23 January this year and two days later he was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order, with a judge telling him he would be detained "very probably for the rest of your life".
It was found that Calocane was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the killings, which the judge said "significantly contributed" to him carrying out the attacks.
The sentencing judge also made Calocane subject to further restrictions if he is ever discharged, which must be approved by the justice secretary.
Following complaints by the victims' families, the HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) concluded in March that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were right to accept Calocane's manslaughter pleas, but could have handled the case better.
Victims' families' reaction
In a statement following the decision, Emma Webber, mother of victim Mr Webber, said: "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.
"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.
“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."
Speaking outside court, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, father of victim Ms O’Malley-Kumar, said the outcome was "disappointing but not unexpected".
