Nottingham attacks: Families get ‘confirmation public inquiry will take place’
A public inquiry is to be held to examine the events which led to Valdo Calocane stabbing three people to death in Nottingham in June last year.
A review into the treatment given to Valdo Calocane who went on to stab and kill three people, found there were a series of errors, omissions, and misjudgements in his care:
Calocane had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and professionals knew he wasn't taking his medication
The review says knowing the risk he presented to others, he could have been detained under the Mental Health Act
Calocane's family have revealed that a doctor warned his illness was so severe he could kill someone
He was ordered to be detained earlier this year after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
A statement from their families revealed they have had confirmation that a public inquiry will take place, after meeting Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Attorney General Richard Hermer.
It said: “Following meetings with the Attorney General and Health Secretary on Tuesday of last week, we are pleased to have had confirmation that a public inquiry will take place.
“The final form of the inquiry is yet to be determined, but we families urge that it must be a statutory, judge-led one.”
It comes after the final part of a special Care Quality Commission (CQC) review into the care of Calocane by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT), found risk assessments “minimised or omitted” key details of the serious risk he posed to others.
It also questioned how well the trust engaged with Calocane’s family, who raised concerns about his mental state.
The families’ statement added:
“Progress is slowly being made and we will continue in our fight to ensure there is full organisational and individual accountability for the horrific events of 13 June 2023.
“We will also fight to ensure that appropriate changes and improvements to our systems and laws are made so as to ensure that a tragedy of this level is prevented from ever happening again.”
Calocane’s brother Elias echoed calls from the victims’ relatives for a public inquiry earlier this week.
“We need some strong recommendations,” he told the BBC’s Panorama programme.
“But we can’t just say we’ll just wait until it finishes how many years down the line and then do something about it then. Something needs to happen now.”
It also emerged that a psychiatrist warned Calocane could “end up killing someone” three years before the attacks in June 2023.
His family told Panorama they only received the 300-page medical summary containing the warning after his sentencing.
Calocane was handed an indefinite hospital order in January, after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Prosecutors accepted his not-guilty pleas to murder after multiple medical experts concluded he had paranoid schizophrenia.
The Department of Health and Social Care and the Attorney General have been approached for comment.