The UK government has ordered a special review into the National Health Service (NHS) Trust, where a 32-year-old man was treated for mental illness before he went on to stab three people, including a British-Indian student.

Valdo Calocane, a dual Guinea-Bissau/Portuguese national, was given a hospital order after he killed 19-year-old students, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, and 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates in Nottingham on June 13, 2023.

Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins ordered a special review into Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, where Valdo Calocane was treated for paranoid schizophrenia.

The review will provide further answers for the families affected by the horrendous and tragic killings in addition to focusing on wider issues in mental health care provision in Nottinghamshire, the Department of Health and Social Care stated today.

“My thoughts remain with the families and friends of Barnaby, Grace, and Ian, who lost their lives in such a tragic, cruel and barbaric way. It is crucial that our mental health services ensure both the care of patients and the safety of the public,” Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins said.

Conducted by The Care Quality Commission (CQC), the review will be carried out alongside the Independent Mental Health Homicide Review ordered by NHS England to examine the case of Valdo Calocane.

Any concerns regarding patient safety, quality of care, or public safety will be reported by the CQC, and it will have access to witness statements and oral evidence regarding health services that were called during the criminal trial, the Department said in a statement.

Acknowledging the importance of identifying any failings as quickly as possible, Atkins has asked the CQC to present its findings in March, following which the government will issue its response to the review in due course.

“We will conduct a rapid review into mental health services in Nottingham to understand whether there are any practical actions, which can be taken to improve the quality of services and ensure people receive safe and effective care," Director of Mental Health at CQC, Chris Dzikiti said.

He added that they would begin the work immediately, aiming to report to the Secretary of State before the end of March.

Claire Murdoch, NHS national mental health director informed that NHS England is commissioning an independent investigation into the case.

Hearing of the case

Calocane was sentenced last week at the Nottingham Crown Court after pleading guilty to three counts of manslaughter based on diminished responsibility, and three counts of attempted murder.

The court was told that Grace showed ‘incredible bravery’ by attempting to fight off Calocane and save Webber as they were attacked while walking home from a night out.

Calling Calocane ‘a cold, cowardly and calculating killer’, Grace’s father, Sanjoy Kumar praised his daughter who ‘heroically and valiantly fought you. Like a hero, she put herself in harm's way’.

During a hearing at the Nottingham Crown Court last week, prosecutors accepted Calocane’s guilty plea based on diminished responsibility after psychiatrists said he suffered paranoid schizophrenia.

The decision was made as Calocane suffered from ‘serious’ mental illness, a judge was told. Calocane was facing life imprisonment or a hospital order.

Also known as Adam Mendes, Calocane, who ‘believed MI6 was spying on him’, denied three counts of murder but admitted three counts of manslaughter based on diminished responsibility in November 2023.

Prosecutor Karim Khalil KC told Nottingham Crown Court that the victims’ families- who had hoped for a murder trial- were consulted before deciding to accept the pleas entered by Calocane.

“You deserve the harshest punishment available. A clear message must be sent out to the families in our country. They must be reassured that their children are safe ... and that something like this never happens again,” Kumar told the court.

Calocane will also be sentenced for three counts of attempted murder after he tried to run over three pedestrians with a van on the same day he killed Grace, Webber, and Coates, local media reports said.

The incident

The CCTV footage played in court showed Calocane walking calmly just hours before the attack, carrying a rucksack and a holdall, later found to contain multiple weapons.

After the first killings, Calocane called his brother and told him to take the family out of the country. When asked: “Are you going to do something stupid?”, Calocane replied: “It's already done.”

According to witnesses, they heard ‘an awful, blood-curdling scream’ and saw Grace crawl towards the houses on the opposite side of the road shouting for help.

The media reported that Calocane had been receiving mental health treatment since 2020, which included being treated with antipsychotic medication.

Prosecutor Khalil said Calocane, who came to the UK at the age of 16 with his family in 2007 and earned a mechanical engineering degree at Nottingham University, “actively concealed symptoms of psychosis” and refused to take his medication.

In 2020, he was admitted to the hospital after breaking down two doors to different apartments in his block, and a year after, he assaulted a police officer during a search of his flat in which a bag of unused medication was found.

(Source: IANS)

-Edited for style

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