Nottingham attacks: one year since three people killed by Valdo Calocane
Today marks one year since three people were killed after being stabbed and another three injured, in the Nottingham attacks.
Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, who were both 19 and students from the University of Nottingham, were attacked in the city centre at around 4am on June 13, 2023.
Ian Coates, a 65-year-old school caretaker, was attacked on his way to work. His van was then stolen and used to hit three pedestrians.
Valdo Calocane was given an indefinite hospital order for the killings, on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Here is a timeline of events:
12 June, 2023
The night before the attacks, Calocane arrived in Nottingham on a train from London.
He then took a tram to Wilkinson Street in the Basford area of the city and wandered the city streets for the next few hours.
13 June, 2023
3.03am
Calocane turned off his mobile phone, failing to switch it on again until more than 90 minutes later.
3.11am
He was caught on CCTV, which has not been released, loitering in an alleyway until about 3.29am.
4am
Cameras on Nottingham’s Ilkeston Road, an area popular with students, caught Grace and Barnaby, both 19, walking unhindered along a pavement moments before Calocane emerged from the shadows to attack them.
They were walking home after a night out to celebrate the end of their exams.
Both of the students were stabbed and died at the scene.
Investigations revealed Grace tried to fight off Calocane as he attacked Barnaby, with one witness telling police the attack was “merciless and brutal”, and the attacker headed towards the city centre “so calm and just walked away like nothing had happened”.
4.52am
Calocane then 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.”
5.04am
A camera on Seely Hirst House, a residential home providing supported living, captured him trying to gain entry through a ground floor window.
After being punched by a resident through the window, Calocane “retreated”.
He made his way to nearby Magdala Road, where he attacked and killed school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, around 10 minutes later.
Mr Coates was on his way to work as a primary school caretaker at the nearby Huntingdon Academy when he was stabbed in the chest.
Calocane then stole Mr Coates' van, leaving his body by the roadside.
5.23am
CCTV shows Calocane swerving to hit pedestrian Wayne Birkett, who was hit from behind and suffered two skull fractures and a broken pelvis.
He then drove onto a pedestrian island in Upper Parliament Street to mow down two other pedestrians seven minutes later.
5:40am
Approximately 10 minutes later, Calocane was finally stopped by police on Bentinck Road.
Officers dragged him from the van and Tasered him, before moving in to arrest him.
For several hours after the attacks, Nottingham remained on high alert, with six roads closed and the city's tram network shut down.
Armed police stormed a house on Ilkeston Road close to where the attacks began.
A day of huge trauma ended with a vigil at St. Peter's Church. The majority of those there were university students, as a city in shock began to mourn.
Valdo Calocane was charged with murder for the three knife attacks.
November 2023
Valdo Calocane admitted to three counts of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility.
January 26, 2024
Valdo Calocane, 32, who has paranoid schizophrenia, has been sentenced to a high-security hospital order after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility.
Prosecutors accepted his pleas of not guilty to murder and guilty to manslaughter at a hearing at Nottingham Crown Court, on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to "serious" mental illness.
He also admitted three counts of attempted murder relating to pedestrians he deliberately targeted with Mr Coates' van.
Sentencing Calocane on Thursday, judge Mr Justice Turner said the killer would be detained in a high-security hospital "very probably for the rest of your life".
He said: “You committed a series of atrocities in this city which ended the lives of three people.
“Your sickening crimes both shocked the nation and wrecked the lives of your surviving victims and the families of them all.”
He said the “harrowing” details of the attacks have been “fully recounted and explored” in court over the past days and Calocane sentenced many relatives and friends to “a life of grief and pain”.
The judge told the triple killer: “There was never any doubt that it was you who had committed these appalling crimes.
January 30, 2024
The attorney general has ordered an independent review of the Crown Prosecution Service’s handling of the Nottingham stabbing case and whether it sufficiently consulted with the families of the victims.
Attorney General Victoria Prentis said she ordered an inspection into the CPS handling of the case “so we can properly investigate the concerns raised by the families”.
The review announced on Tuesday will include examining the CPS decision to accept triple killer Calocane’s guilty pleas to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility and whether the CPS met its duties to consult with families ahead of accepting pleas.
April 2024
The families of three people stabbed to death in Nottingham have said they are glad a date has been set to review the sentence of Valdo Calocane.
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.
May 2024
The Court of Appeal has refused to change the sentence of Valdo Calocane.
The Attorney General referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal, claiming his indefinite hospital order was ‘unduly lenient’.
A hearing at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday 14 May was told: "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."
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