The mother of one of the victims of the Nottingham knife attacks has said she was “foolish to trust the legal system” after the killer was sent to a high-security hospital rather than jailed for murder.
Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, were stabbed to death on 13 June last year by Valdo Calocane, who then tried to kill three others with a van.
The 32-year-old, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was last week handed an indefinite order to be detained in a high-security hospital after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility. The government has today ordered a special review into Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, where Calocane was treated.
Calocane ‘got away with murder’
Calocane’s crimes are “among the darkest in British history”, said Leo McKinstry in The Sun, and his journey is a “grim saga of negligence, incompetence and leniency which has denied justice to the families of his victims”.
On the steps outside Nottingham Crown Court after the sentencing, the son of Ian Coates, James, suggested the killer had “made a mockery of the system and he has got away with murder”. This view was echoed by Barnaby Webber’s mother, Emma, who told Sky News that, “with hindsight”, she felt she “was foolish to just trust in our legal system”. She said she was “ill-prepared” to find out that the killer’s manslaughter plea had been accepted.
The ruling has left bereaved families with “more questions than answers”, said Sky News presenter Sarah-Jane Mee. “They were failed by a system meant to keep them and those living with mental illness safe,” she said. “In this horrendous case it did neither”, and there were “so many missed opportunities which highlighted a stretched NHS mental health provision and police system that too often work against rather than with one another”.
‘Very probably’ a life in high-security hospital
In handing out the sentence, Mr Justice Turner said that after seeing detailed reports from “no fewer than five distinguished consultant psychiatrists”, he was “very clear” that the ultimate conclusion with respect to diminished responsibility has been properly reached.
He said Calocane would “very probably” be detained in a high-security hospital for the rest of his life. However, under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983, an offender is entitled to a review of their mental health every three years. As a result “they could become eligible for release if doctors assess that they have recovered and are of sound mind”, reported The Telegraph.
Rishi Sunak has so far refused to order a public inquiry, despite that being supported by Labour leader Keir Starmer and Wayne Birkett, who was one of those hit by a van during Calocane’s attacks, said the BBC. Webber’s father David said they were “horrified” there were no immediate plans for a public inquiry.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Victoria Prentis did confirm that her office had received a submission arguing the sentence handed down was “unduly lenient”. She has 28 days from sentencing to review the request and decide whether to refer the case to the Court of Appeal, although her considerations are “unlikely to look at whether the correct charge was pursued in Calocane’s case”, said The Independent.
NHS England has said it is also planning to order a separate Independent Mental Health Homicide Review into Calocane’s contact with mental health services, which is expected to take many months to complete.
Mother of victim says she was ‘foolish to trust legal system’ after killer Valdo Calocane is sent to high-security hospital
