Police Failures Exposed in Nottingham Attacks

An inquiry is examining Nottinghamshire Police's handling of violent incidents involving Valdo Calocane in May 2020, three years before the fatal Nottingham attacks. Police initially arrested Calocane for hammering on neighbors' doors, causing one woman to jump from a window and break her back. Despite this severe injury, police closed the investigation after a consultant psychiatrist suggested Calocane lacked mental capacity.

This decision is now under scrutiny as Calocane later killed three people, Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, and Ian Coates, in June 2023. He admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and received an indefinite hospital order. The inquiry heard that a Police Sergeant admitted she should have followed up more comprehensively with the specialist rather than solely relying on the doctor's opinion via email.

The inquiry has also revealed that the two May 2020 incidents were not logged together, obscuring Calocane's escalating violence. Calocane, who had paranoid schizophrenia, had been sectioned four times prior and had a history of violence. He was repeatedly released into the community despite concerning behavior, and Leicestershire Police failed to recognize an outstanding warrant for his arrest from Nottinghamshire Police during a separate incident. Missing evidence and poor information sharing have also been highlighted.