Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane should have sentence changed to life imprisonment, court hears

The knifeman who killed three people in a spate of attacks in Nottingham should have his sentence changed, the Court of Appeal has heard.

Valdo Calocane, 32, stabbed university students Barnaby Webber, 19, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, in Nottingham in the early hours of June 13 last year, and attempted to kill three others.

In January, Calocane was given an indefinite hospital order for manslaughter by diminished responsibility, after Nottingham Crown Court heard he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

The sentencing judge, Mr Justice Turner, told Calocane his "sickening crimes" meant he would likely be detained indefinitely in a high-security hospital "very probably for the rest of your life".

He also ruled Calocane should be subject to further restrictions if ever discharged from hospital, which would need to be approved by the Justice Secretary or a Mental Health Tribunal.

Attorney General Victoria Prentis referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal in February, with lawyers telling a hearing on Wednesday (8 May) that it was “unduly lenient”.

Speaking at the hearing, Deanna Heer KC, representing the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), said Calocane should instead be given a life sentence as part of a “hybrid” order, where he would be treated in hospital before serving the remainder of his sentence in prison.

She said: “The exceptional level of seriousness of the offences was such that the case required the imposition of a sentence with a penal element, an element of punishment.

“The harm caused and the harm risked to members of the public by his crimes was extreme.”

Several members of the victims’ families and friends attended the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice while Calocane attended via video link from Ashworth high-security hospital near Liverpool.

The families have previously criticised Calocane’s sentence, with Mr Webber’s mother, Emma, claiming in January that “true justice has not been served”.

She said: “We were presented with a fait accompli that the decision had been made to accept manslaughter charges.

“At no point during the previous five-and-a-half-months were we given any indication that this could conclude in anything other than murder.

“We trusted in our system, foolishly as it turns out. We do not dispute that the murderer is mentally unwell and has been for a number of years.

“However the pre-mediated planning, the collection of lethal weapons, hiding in the shadows and brutality of the attacks are that of an individual who knew exactly what he was doing. He knew entirely that it was wrong but he did it anyway.”

"He understood the nature of his conduct"

In written submissions to the Court of Appeal hearing, the AGO said: “The learned judge failed to give sufficient weight to the evidence that the offender’s culpability was not extinguished.

“Whilst it is accepted that his ability to exercise self-control and form a rational judgment was substantially impaired, he understood the nature of his conduct and that it was wrong, even in the context of his psychotic beliefs.

“Having identified that the offender’s culpability was low, the learned judge failed to consider the aggravating features which required an uplift from the starting point for a single offence.

“As a result, although the learned judge made a significant uplift to reflect totality, the custodial term failed adequately to reflect the seriousness of the offending.”

If judges rule that a hybrid order should be imposed, they will set the length of time which Calocane should be in custody, with his release then governed by the Parole Board.

The hearing before the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Lord Justice Edis and Mr Justice Garnham is set to conclude on Wednesday, with a judgment due at a later date.

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