Previous police contact with Nottingham killer to be investigated
The police watchdog has launched an investigation into a force’s previous contact with Valdo Calocane, the Nottingham triple killer.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is making enquiries into Leicestershire Police’s knowledge of Calocane before he stabbed and killed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, and Ian Coates, a school caretaker, on June 13 last year.
The force has confirmed that six weeks before the killings, officers were called after the 32-year-old assaulted two security guards at a warehouse where he was working.
At the time, Calocane had already been on the run for several months after he failed to appear in court in August 2022 to face charges for assaulting a police officer in Nottingham.
The assaults happened on May 5 2023, while Calocane was working at Arvato Supply Chain Solutions, at a warehouse near East Midlands Airport.
The business reported the incident the same day, and Leicestershire Police attended, but Calocane was no longer there.
The force confirmed that at the time of the Nottingham killings, it was investigating the warehouse incident.
The IOPC statement said: “Our investigation will consider the actions and decisions of Leicestershire Police, focusing on their response to the alleged assaults.
“We will also examine whether any person serving with the force may have behaved in a manner which would justify disciplinary proceedings.”
The IOPC’s announcement comes three days after the Attorney General ordered an independent review of the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to accept paranoid schizophrenic Calocane’s guilty pleas to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility, and whether it sufficiently consulted with his victims’ families.
Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order last week for the killings.
He also pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of three people who were hit by a van stolen from Mr Coates.
Mr Webber’s family, from Somerset, have described the hospital order as a “huge insult” and called for a public inquiry into the case.
Speaking after the Nottingham Crown Court sentencing hearing, Mr Webber’s mother, Emma, said that the bereaved families were “presented with a fait accompli that the decision had been made to accept manslaughter charges” when they met prosecutors in November.
It was revealed during Calocane’s sentencing hearing that in early May last year – about five weeks before the killings – he was accused of attacking two employees at a warehouse in Kegworth, Leicestershire.
The IOPC said that a similar referral into previous contact with Calocane made by Nottinghamshire Police remained under consideration.
Commenting on the inquiry into Leicestershire Police’s contact with Calocane, Derrick Campbell, the IOPC’s regional director, said: “First and foremost, my thoughts and sympathies go to Barnaby’s, Grace’s and Ian’s families and friends, and everyone who has understandably been affected by the tragic deaths and the injuries sustained in June last year.
“Our investigation will be thorough and completely independent of the police.
“We will be looking at whether the investigation into the alleged assaults was progressed properly and whether this presents any opportunity for individual or organisational learning.”
Inspectors examining the actions of the CPS in relation to Calocane have said they will publish their report on March 25.
Anthony Rogers, the deputy chief inspector of His Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, said: “This was a horrific and tragic case and I would like to offer my deepest sympathies to all of Valdo Calocane’s victims, and their families and friends, whose lives have been torn apart by his brutal and senseless attacks.
“It is now our job to diligently and objectively review the CPS’s actions and as part of that, we will be writing to the bereaved families so that we can understand their concerns.”
