Emma Webber, mother of Barnaby Webber, making a statement alongside relatives of the victims, outside Nottingham Crown Court after Valdo Calocane, who stabbed three people to death in Nottingham city centre and attacked three others, was sentenced to a hospital order. Photo / Getty Images
Emma Webber, mother of Barnaby Webber, making a statement alongside relatives of the victims, outside Nottingham Crown Court after Valdo Calocane, who stabbed three people to death in Nottingham city centre and attacked three others, was sentenced to a hospital order. Photo / Getty Images
The family of one of Valdo Calocane’s victims say they were “railroaded” by prosecutors into accepting the triple killer’s manslaughter plea, after he was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order.
Calocane was told by a judge at Nottingham Crown Court that he would be detained in a high-security hospital “probably for the rest of your life”.
Outside court, Barnaby’s family said that “true justice has not been served today”.
His mother, Emma Webber, said: “We as a devastated family have been let down by multiple agency failings and ineffectiveness. The CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] did not consult us as has been reported – instead we have been rushed, hastened and railroaded.”
Webber said the first meeting with the CPS was on November 24.
Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates were stabbed to death in Nottingham, UK, in June 2023.
She said: “We were presented with a fait accompli that the decision had been made to accept manslaughter charges. At no point during the previous five-and-a-half-months were we given any indication that this could conclude in anything other than murder.
“We trusted in our system, foolishly as it turns out. We do not dispute that the murderer is mentally unwell and has been for a number of years.
“However, the pre-meditated planning, the collection of lethal weapons, hiding in the shadows and brutality of the attacks are that of an individual who knew exactly what he was doing. He knew entirely that it was wrong but he did it anyway.”
In a comment directed towards Nottinghamshire Police, Emma Webber said: “I say this, you have blood on your hands.
“If you had just done your jobs properly, there’s a very good chance my beautiful boy would be alive today.
“There is so much more to say and clearly serious questions regarding this case and events leading up to this monster being out in society.”
Janine McKinney, from the CPS, said the pleas to manslaughter were only accepted after “very careful analysis of the evidence”.
She said: “We reached this conclusion because the expert medical evidence was overwhelming; namely that his actions were substantially impaired by psychosis resulting from paranoid schizophrenia.
“During this lengthy and complex sentencing exercise, the prosecution’s case has been that Calocane was criminally responsible for what he did, as well as being impaired by his mental health.”
Prosecutors have accepted Valdo Calocane's pleas to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility. Photo / Nottinghamshire Police
Calocane remained emotionless as the order was handed down. Barnaby’s mother was seen shaking her head.
Outside the courtroom the dozens of friends and family members who had attended the sentencing embraced and loud sobs were heard throughout the building.
All of the victims’ families came to court for the final day, with Barnaby’s brother Charlie also attending for the first time.
Lee Coates, Ian’s son, stood up in court before proceedings began and addressed Grace and Barnaby’s relatives, who sat on the other side of the room.
He said: “Can I just say to Grace and Barnaby’s parents, no matter what the outcome, I know it’s a really difficult time for all of us, but our family are here for you.
“I’m so sorry we had to go through this and this is how we met. If I can’t stay the whole day because I can’t keep my mouth shut, I apologise.”
Grace and Barnaby’s parents became emotional, thanked him, and a round of applause went around the courtroom.
Valdo Calocane’s brother, Elias, and his mother Celeste, watched the hearing via videolink.
Justice Turner began the sentencing hearing by saying: “Valdo Calocane, I’ll say at the outset that the sentence I am about to pass will result in you being detained in a high-security hospital very probably for the rest of your life.”
He then went on to describe the “harrowing” details of the attacks which had been “explored in detail” over the past two days.
He said: “You committed a series of atrocities in this city which ended the lives of three innocent people. You went on to attack three more, fully intending but failing, to kill them too.
“Your sickening crime both shocked the nation and wrecked the lives of your surviving victims and the families of them all.
“At 4am in the morning of June 13 last year Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley Kumar, who were both just 19 years old, were walking back to their student accommodation after a night out.
“They were almost home when you attacked them. What followed was truly shocking.”
The judge described how Barnaby was attacked from behind before Grace attempted to come to his aid.
He continued: “With astonishing bravery, Grace tried to save him. She sacrificed her life in the attempt as you dealt with her in the same brutal fashion before turning back to Barnaby to continue your brutal attack on him.”
Describing the death of Coates, Justice Turner said: “You stabbed him to death with the same merciless ferocity with which you had earlier attacked Barnaby and Grace ... you drove his van on the lookout for yet further victims.”
The judge said, in his view, Calocane’s abnormality of mind had significantly contributed to him perpetrating the string of attacks.
He added: “I have to say however, none of the evidence relating to your mental state detracts from the horror of your actions or the disastrous impact they have had on so many people.”
He said Calocane had “no relevant, religious, ideological or political affiliation”.
“You believed at the time of your offences the voices were controlling you and had the power to harm your family.”
He said as a result of his mental illness, the level of personal responsibility was at the lower end of the scale but “you were and remain dangerous”.
Calocane was wanted by police at the time of the killings for an assault on an emergency worker and had been sectioned on four occasions in the three years before.
He was released back into the community each time after healthcare professionals deemed his risk to the public was low.
Two years before the attacks, in May 2021, he went to Thames House, MI5′s London headquarters, and begged them to “stop controlling him”.
The court heard he repeatedly lied about taking his antipsychotic medication and Prof Nigel Blackwood, a forensic psychiatrist at King’s College London, described him as “an intelligent man who strove to conceal his madness from clinicians”.
Calocane’s barrister, Peter Joyce KC, said: “He should not have been on the streets of Nottingham but the fact he was is not his fault.”
Calocane has never offered any explanation for the killings, but psychiatrists said he claimed that voices told him to find innocent victims or “something atrocious” would happen to his family.
In his victim impact statement, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace’s father, accused the mechanical engineering graduate of “concocting” a story of mental illness after his arrest and said he had “deceived” psychiatrists.
Sinead O’Malley, Grace’s mother, previously described her daughter as “brave beyond words”.
She has called for mandatory prison sentences for anyone caught in possession of a knife and said carrying one was no different to having a gun.
Barnaby’s mother, Emma Webber, said she had nothing but “utter rage and pure hatred” for her son’s killer.
Assistant Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police, Rob Griffin, has admitted more could have been done to locate Calocane before he carried out the killings.
He claimed however that he thought it “highly unlikely” that Calocane would have received a custodial sentence.
Calocane’s lawyers suggested that the killer’s mental health would have deteriorated further during his time “unlawfully at large”.
