The parents of the Nottingham attack victims have criticised the NHS for releasing their “ticking timebomb” killer despite being scared to treat him. Valdo Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order after killing 19-year-old students Barnaby and Grace O’Malley-Kumar and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates before attempting to kill three other people, in a spate of attacks in Nottingham in June 2023.
An damning independent report released on Wednesday said Calocane was not forced to have long-lasting anti-psychotic medication because he did not like needles and other patients cared for by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust also committed “extremely serious” acts of violence – including stabbings – between 2019 and 2023. Solicitor Neil Hudgell, acting on behalf of the victims’ families, told a press conference: “Without the full report you wouldn’t know today how frightened health professionals were to visit Valdo Calocane.
“How they withdrew on occasion, how they planned their exits - yet at the same time were willing to discharge him from care in the face of very obvious risks of danger. You wouldn’t know the extent of his condition. He got better inhospital he got worse when releaed.. “He didn’t like needles. He knew what not taking his medication did to him, it made him paranoid and violent. “Undoubtedly he wasn’t well but he had insight and knowledge. He was discharged 9 months before the attacks and left for the general public to cope with. The NHS washed their hands of him. He was discharged effectively as a ticking timebomb.”.
