Nottingham killings 'wholly avoidable', say victims' families after review

Serious failings by the NHS trust which cared for Valdo Calocane shows it played down the risk he posed to others ahead of his killing spree, as ITV News’ Ben Chapman reports

The families of three people killed by a paranoid schizophrenic on the streets of Nottingham believe their deaths could have been averted if the killer’s care was properly delivered.

A damning review by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has revealed a series of errors in Valdo Calocane’s care meant the public was put at risk by a paranoid schizophrenic refusing to take his medication.

It found risk assessments from Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) played down the fact he was having ongoing psychosis and was violent to others when this was not managed well.

Calocane killed university students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, as they returned from a night out in the early hours of June 13 last year, before killing 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates.

The mother of Barnaby, Emma Webber, said there was a “catastrophic level of failure” between Nottinghamshire Mental Health Trust, the police, and the law.

“The deaths of our loved ones were entirely preventable, on multiple occasions,” she told ITV News.

“Nottinghamshire Mental Health Trust has failed us, the families, my son, my son’s friends. I don’t think it’s isolated in Nottinghamshire, I think it’s systemic across the country.”

She reaffirmed a remark written in a joint victim statement that medical professionals at Nottinghamshire have “blood on their hands”.

“Had they done their job properly Barnaby would be alive today – I have no doubt about that,” Emma Webber told ITV News

“Medical professionals who should know better, they were negligent in their work and their jobs,” she said.

Mr Coates’ son James, also spoke of the review into Calocane’s care.

“If they’d just done the job a little bit better or properly, maybe Valdo’s trajectory, might have been put in a different direction,” he said.

“Or maybe he might have been inside and getting the help he needed before.”

Calocane was diagnosed with schizophrenia three years before launching his van and knife attack in Nottingham city centre and had been sectioned four times.

One of the failures listed by Tuesday’s report highlights that risk assessments didn’t make the danger he posed clear enough.

The CQC report also questioned how well the trust engaged with Calocane’s family – as it found information from them was not consistently acted upon.

The parents of Grace O’Malley Kumar, also killed in the attack, believe tragedy could have been averted if Calocane’s care was properly delivered.

“Each time he was sectioned, his treatment didn’t change or people can be bothered to change his treatment,” said Grace’s father, Dr Sanjoy Kumar.

“I’m more than convinced that this was wholly avoidable if this person had been treated with any form of responsibility whatsoever.”

Grace’s mother, Dr Sinead O’Malley, wants those in charge of his care to be held fully responsible.

She said: “We want accountability because any doctor who fails or is negligent needs to be held accountable quite frankly, and we see that there’s been multiple failures in the delivery of standard treatment.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Sir Keir Starmer is “actively considering” how best to set up a judge-led inquiry into the Valdo Calocane case

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is “actively considering” how best to set up a judge-led inquiry into the Valdo Calocane case.

“There were so many failures that the families of the victims have had to suffer since these appalling homicides,” he said.

“And that’s why the Prime Minister, before the general election, committed to a judge-led inquiry looking at failures not just in the NHS, but throughout the criminal justice system as well.

“Because what I’ve been really mindful of every time I’ve met the families is that their ordeal and the pain that’s been inflicted on them continued after the deaths of their loved ones, and that’s because of failings and a lack of accountability, not just in the NHS, but across the criminal justice system.

“That’s why the Prime Minister is now actively considering how that judge-led inquiry can best operate to deliver the answers and the accountability the families need.”

The CQC said Calocane had “little understanding or acceptance of his condition” which could “have significantly impaired his ability” to weigh up the pros and cons of antipsychotic treatment and the risks of discontinuing it.

It would have been possible to treat him under section three of the Mental Health Act (MHA) 1983 – which would have given doctors the power to administer drugs against his will – on his fourth admission to hospital in January 2022, the regulator said.

Instead, he was treated under section two of the act, which is usually for patients who are not known to mental health services.

Among its recommendations, the CQC said NHFT should review treatment plans for people with schizophrenia regularly, as well as ensure clinical supervision of decisions to detain people under sections two and three of the Mental Health Act.

It also called for NHS England to publish guidance setting out national standards for care for people with complex psychosis and paranoid schizophrenia in the next 12 months.

A Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: “We acknowledge and accept the conclusions of this report and have significantly improved processes and standards since the review was carried out.”

Claire Murdoch, national director for mental health at NHS England, said: “The CQC has identified unacceptable failings in the care and treatment provided to Valdo Calocane.

“Nationally, the NHS has already started work to enact all of the CQC’s recommendations, with every provider of mental health services reviewing the care that people with serious mental illness receive.”

The health secretary says he expects all of the report’s recommendations, including national standards for schizophrenia care to be implemented.

The families believe only a public inquiry will get them the answers they crave and ensure lessons really are learned.