Valdo Calocane is likely to spend the rest of his life in a high security mental health institution after a judge sentenced him to an indefinite secure hospital order for the killing of three people in the 2023 Nottingham attacks.
Calocane fatally stabbed Students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, on the morning of June 13.
The 32-year-old had been charged with murder but at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday (January 23) prosecutors accepted his manslaughter plea on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Earlier the court had heard Calocane had been hearing voices for some time and was suffering from psychosis including paranoid delusions.
He also pleaded guilty to attempting to murder three pedestrians who he tried to run over with by a van on the same morning as part of the attacks.
Passing sentence on Thursday, judge Mr Justice Turner said the crimes were “frenzied and relentless” and added Calocane was still suffering from psychosis.
He made a hospital order on all six charges, meaning Calcocane will be detained indefinitely at Ashworth High Security Hospital, Liverpool.
Reading out the names of the victims’ family and friends, the judge said: “You sentenced them to a life of grief of pain.”
Earlier, the court had been told Calocane had heard voices for three years and believed he was being spied on by flatmates and others who knew him. While he knew his actions would cause harm, psychiatric experts determined his decisions would have been influenced by his mental ill health.
He had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and previously stopped taking medication because be believed the voices were real.
The judge added he must refer to guidelines on mental disorders when passing sentence, and said he would not have committed the crimes if he had not been suffering from psychosis.
The order passed by the judge has no time limit, and Mr Justice Turner said it was unlikely he would ever pass medical assessments in future which would allow him to be gradually released.
Calocane has already been on remand at Ashworth since November.
A warrant had been outstanding for his arrest for 20 months at the time of the killings, following an earlier assault on a police officer, although he had no previous convictions.
University of Nottingham students Ms O’Malley-Kumar and Mr Webber were fatally stabbed in Ilkeston Road, just after 4am on June 13. Mr Coates was later found fatally stabbed in Magdala Road.
Calocane later used Mr Coates van to try to run over three pedestrians in the city centre, before he was tasered by police and arrested after being stopped on Maples Street, Radford.
Thousands of people attended vigils in memory of the victims at the University of Nottingham and Old Market Square following the attacks.
