Valdo Calocane: Warning over Nottingham killer years before attack was 'another kick to the teeth' (2024)

The son of Nottingham attack victim Ian Coates says reports a doctor warned years ago that Valdo Calocane could kill are "pretty disturbing" and "another missed opportunity".

Calocane stabbed Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates in June 2023 and was convicted of manslaughter - rather than murder - due to his paranoid schizophrenia.

Police said he was sectioned several times before his attack and the BBC reports it has seen medical notes from July 2020 which warned he could kill.

One note reportedly states: "Dr [redacted] observed that there seems to be no insight or remorse and that the danger is that this will happen again and perhaps Valdo will end up killing someone."

The warning is said to have come from a psychiatrist and noted as a medical team reviewed Calocane's case during one of his stays in hospital.

It is reportedly part of a summary of records his family received after he was sentenced.

Ian Coates' son James told Sky News: "To see something as damning as this - that a doctor already knew he could go out and kill and nothing was to be done about it - is another kick to the teeth when we're already down."

Mr Coates said he suspected people had taken "shortcuts" and been "lazy" in discharging Calocane too early.

He said all the victims' families had received a letter from Calocane's brother, in which mental health services were blamed for not managing him properly. Mr Coates said he was "too angry to respond" to the letter.

The letter stated: "We have however seen first-hand just how broken the mental healthcare system is and can say without hesitation that this tragedy was completely avoidable if the system worked properly.

"There were three years in which he could've received long-term treatment but was only given short-term quick fixes and left to himself after that, despite our protests.

"My mother regularly expressed concerns to the relevant services about Valdo's mental deterioration but these were constantly played down because he 'looked okay' - of course, we knew this to not be true as he would constantly speak of his paranoid delusions to us."

Mr Coates said that he felt the letter meant Calocane's family had "washed their hands of responsibility", adding: "It was all down to the NHS, the mental health, for not doing what they needed to do."

The Nottingham attack victims' families have accused the BBC of causing them "trauma" by making Monday night's Panorama programme without asking them to contribute.

They said the broadcaster only informed them about the documentary on the killings a few weeks ago.

It also features Calocane's mother and brother, who the BBC said have criticised the "broken" mental health system for a "tragedy that could have been prevented".

A statement from Emma Webber, on behalf of the families, said the corporation had failed to consider "the appalling trauma" the programme would cause them.

It said the broadcaster had given them little detail other than "big questions would be answered" and that Calocane's family would appear.

In response, the BBC said it had the "deepest sympathy" for the families and had contacted them with "an outline of its editorial focus".

It said the programme is "very much in the public interest" in looking at potential mental health failings and it complied with editorial rules.

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But the families said they felt let down and had "raised their concern at the lack of consideration at the appalling trauma this would cause them".

They said they did not want to stand in the way of journalism but "believe the BBC have failed in their duty of care in any form of consideration for them".

The Panorama episode is being aired the day before a review is published into how the NHS dealt with Calocane in the years before his rampage.

Mr Coates told Sky News he believes a public inquiry will be announced soon and that the health secretary supports the move.

Calocane's family also reportedly want an inquiry.

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Calocane was detained in a high-security hospital - "very probably for the rest of his life" - in January after prosecutors accepted a manslaughter plea on the basis of diminished responsibility.

The victims' families criticised the decision, with Mr Webber's mother Emma telling Sky News in May: "We recognised he is very mentally unwell.

"However, as we've always said, we do not accept that he was not without ability to make rational decisions, and that he planned these heinous murders, and that he knew exactly what he was doing."

The Court of Appeal, however, ruled the sentence was not unduly lenient.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is also looking into officers' previous actions in relation to Calocane before he committed the killings.