Update 12/02/24 — the Independent Office for Police Conduct has announced it will independently investigate Nottinghamshire Police and their contact with Valdo Calocane, including the conduct of the homicide investigation.
In case you’re specifically following it all, here’s where we now are with various reviews following last week’s sentencing hearing in Nottingham, for Valdo Calocane who pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and three counts of attempted murder. Mr Calocane killed Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates in June 2023, subsequently attempted to kill Wayne Birkett, Sharon Miller and Marcin Gawronski.
He has been admitted to Ashworth High Security hospital in Merseyside where the judge who sentenced him predicts he will spend the rest of his life.
There are understandable questions being raised about a number of aspects and this week, the families of the victims who died have met with the Prime Minister, the Health and Home Secretaries as well as the Leader of the Opposition (and former DPP) who has given his support to their call for a public inquiry.
WHERE WE ARE
A new review was annoucned today and as there are now a number of them happening, I felt it was worth summarising. There has been or will be –
- Review of the Crown Prosecution’s Service’s decision to accept a guilty plea to the manslaughter charges, rather than proceed to a full trial for murder.
- Review by NHS England of the care provided to Mr Calocane by Nottinghamshire Healthcare – this is what’s called a patient homicide review.
- Review by the Care Quality Commission of Nottinghamshire Healthcare, the mental health trust who cared for Calocane – this should report by the end of March.
- Referral to the Attorney General, that Calocane’s sentence was unduly lenient – this will determine wehther the AG should refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal for review.
- Referral by Leicestershire Police to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, in relation to their handling of the assault allegations from May 2023 – there is another post available outlining the timeline of events.
- Review by the College of Policing of Nottinghamshire Police’s handling of their various contacts with Mr Calocane after a request from the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner.
- Referral by Nottinghamshire Police to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, in relation to their contacts with Valdo Calocane, including the conduct of the Homicide Investigation.
I wrote recently, the healthcare decisions and the policing decisions don’t sit in isolation – they interconnect on a range of levels and it may be the independent homicide review touches upon that. I also suspect the Coroner might. It was for that reason I was glad to see the Nottinghamshire PCC has asked for it to be examined. I hope those examining it are thinking about the issues and difficulties with mental health liaison and diversion because the policing decisions don’t sit in isolation from the care decisions or vice versa. You can see from the above list how we have healthcare reviewing healthcare and police reviewing police – you might ask yourself some obvious question about that, given the inherently inter-connected nature of it all.
As things stand today, though – the call for a public inquiry has been rejected by the Government, ostensibly pending completion of these reviews and then they’ll think again. Of course, there was always going to be an inquest in to each victim’s death and at least in principle, that can proceed now the criminal justice process has run its course. Whether His Majesty’s Coroner for Nottingham factors in the timing of the above in determine when an inquest should begin, we remain to see but in other cases I’ve known where mentally ill defendants are found guilty of manslaughter or not guilty due to insanity, inquests take about a year to materialise so we could be looking at 2025 for this.
NB: this is the latest in post about the terrible events in Nottingham, June 2023. You can find all the others collated on a specific Nottingham resources page along with other materials, inc reports and legal documents.
Winner of the President’s Medal, the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Winner of the Mind Digital Media Award
All opinions expressed are my own – they do not represent the views of any organisation. (c) Michael Brown, 2024
I try to keep this blog up to date, but inevitably over time, amendments to the law as well as court rulings and other findings from inquests and complaints processes mean it is difficult to ensure all the articles and pages remain current. Please ensure you check all legal issues in particular and take appropriate professional advice where necessary.
Government legislation website – www.legislation.gov.uk
Mental Health Cop 