Police say Nottingham attacks were ‘not preventable’, public inquiry hears
BBC News
Nottingham – Nottinghamshire Police has stated that the Nottingham attacks were not "reasonably foreseeable or preventable," a public inquiry has been told.
On June 13, 2023, Valdo Calocane—diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2020—stabbed to death Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, and Ian Coates, and attempted to kill three others, in a series of attacks.
Nottinghamshire Police had encountered Calocane on 10-11 occasions between 2020 and 2022, but John Beggs KC, representing the force, argued that police cannot manage individuals with paranoid schizophrenia.
During the Nottingham Inquiry, Beggs challenged the notion that any police mistakes before the killings constituted missed opportunities. Calocane pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter and three counts of attempted murder.
Following Calocane’s sentencing to a hospital order in January 2024, failures in his care emerged, leading to calls from affected families for a statutory public inquiry.
Beggs, addressing the inquiry chair, stated:
"We respectfully invite you to avoid the mindset that a mistake or an omission by an officer represents a missed opportunity to prevent this tragedy… The police cannot manage dangerous paranoid schizophrenics."
Nottinghamshire Police maintains that executing an outstanding arrest warrant would not have prevented the attacks. This claim is contested by bereaved families, who argue otherwise.
The inquiry previously revealed Calocane’s history of violence and aggression, including breaking into neighbors’ homes, assaulting housemates, and attacking a police officer. In May 2020, he broke into a woman’s flat, causing her to fall from a first-floor window and suffer a fractured spine.
Documents found in Calocane’s bin, not disclosed by police, were also discussed during the hearing.
