- By Caroline Lowbridge
- BBC News, Nottingham
January 25, 2024, 10:34 GMT
Updated 20 minutes ago
Image source: Nottinghamshire Police
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An arrest warrant was issued against Valdo Calocane in September 2022
Valdo Calocane will likely spend the rest of his life in a high-security hospital after being convicted of murdering three people and attempting to kill three others with a van.
But what do we know about the perpetrator of the Nottingham attacks?
Where did Valdo Calocane grow up?
Valdo Calocane, who refers to himself as Adam Mendes, was born on September 4, 1991 in Guinea-Bissau.
His family moved to Madeira when he was about three years old, and then to Lisbon, Portugal, when he was about eight years old.
He and his family came to the UK in 2007 when he was 16.
According to the prosecution at Nottingham Crown Court, his time at school was “largely uneventful”.
The court was told he had decided not to take his A-levels because he believed he would not be able to achieve the required grades.
Instead, he got work as a laborer or cleaner.
What was Calocane doing in Nottingham?
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Calocane had previously lived in a student flat in Madison Court, Derwent Way, Lenton
Calocane later resumed his education and completed a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Nottingham.
He graduated in June 2022, when he was 30 years old.
He had been living in a student flat in Derwent Way, Lenton, but the court heard he was thrown out for assaulting his flatmates.
In May he briefly worked for Arvato Supply Chain Solutions at the company's distribution center near East Midlands Airport.
About six months before the murders he lived in a shared apartment on Burford Road, on the border of the Forest Fields and Hyson Green areas.
When did Calocane's mental problems begin?
Defense lawyer Peter Joyce KC said his client's mental illness began in 2019.
Elias Calocane told police he first learned that his brother suffered from mental health problems while he was studying.
He apparently believed that he was being spied on by his roommates and MI6 and that his family was under threat.
He was prescribed antipsychotic medication but stopped taking it, which led to further deterioration in his mental health, according to prosecutors.
Calocane's family became concerned about his mental health again in May 2021. According to his brother, he heard voices telling him that his family members were dying.
Mr Joyce told the court that Calocane even traveled to MI5 headquarters on May 31, 2021 to try to prevent control over him.
“This is not his invention,” he said.
“There is a photo taken by their systems at Thames House that says: 'Please arrest me' – in effect: 'Stop controlling me'.”
Was Calocane already known to the police and mental health services?
Image source: Helen Tipper
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The prosecution informed the court of Calocane's previous contact with the police
Nottinghamshire Police said it had “worked with Calocane on a number of occasions between 2020 and 2022” and said this was “mainly in supporting our colleagues in the NHS”.
On May 23, 2020, the court heard that he went to the emergency room thinking he was having a heart attack, then went home and tried to get into another apartment in his building by breaking down the door.
He was arrested for criminal damage and was assessed by mental health services while in custody.
They concluded that he was psychotic but that the risk to others was low and that he should be referred to a crisis team for evaluation at home.
He was released without charge, but an hour later he ripped down another door in his apartment building.
Calocane was arrested a second time for criminal damage, reassessed and then jailed under the Mental Health Act.
On May 25, 2020, he was admitted to psychiatric treatment at Highbury Hospital.
He was treated with antipsychotic medication and released into the care of a crisis team on June 17, 2020, who was advised to take medication for up to nine months.
The following month, the court heard he had forced his way into a third flat in his block and was taken back to Highbury Hospital.
His medication intake was increased and he was subsequently cared for in the community.
Calocane admitted to doctors during a home visit in August 2021 that he had stopped taking his medication. He then avoided contact with the community mental health team.
Image source: Helen Tipper
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Valdo Calocane was charged with assaulting a police officer but did not appear in court
As a result, police had further contact with him when a search warrant was obtained to gain entry to his home and detain him under the Mental Health Act.
He was executed on September 3, 2021, but attacked a police officer while being transported to Highbury Hospital.
He was hospitalized but was then allowed to return to his apartment until mid-January 2022, when prosecutors said he was “involved in an argument with a roommate.”
Following two further Mental Health Act assessments, he was readmitted to hospital on January 27, 2022, but was released into the care of a community team on February 24, 2022.
Calocane was eventually charged with assault by beating against an emergency services worker – for previously attacking the police officer – and was due to appear at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on September 22, 2022, more than a year after the incident.
However, since he did not appear in court, an arrest warrant was issued for him.
However, he was never arrested and the warrant was still outstanding at the time of the Nottingham attacks.
Rob Griffin, Nottinghamshire's assistant chief constable, said: “I have personally reviewed the matter and we should have done more to arrest him.”
“However, given the circumstances prevailing at the time of the alleged assault, it is, in my view, highly unlikely that he would have received a custodial sentence.”
“Of course an arrest could have resulted in him returning to mental health services, but as we have seen in his previous encounters with these services, it is unlikely that he would have engaged in this process.”
Does Calocane have a criminal record?
In addition to attacking the police officer and his roommates, Calocane attacked two colleagues while briefly working at Arvato Supply Chain Solutions.
The attacks occurred on May 5 – four days after he started work there and around six weeks before the Nottingham attacks.
Prosecutors did not say how serious the attacks were or whether or not they were reported to police.
Prosecutors said Calocane had no previous convictions at the time of the Nottingham attacks.
What was Calocane ultimately charged with?
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Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar were all stabbed
Calocane fatally stabbed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and caretaker Ian Coates, 65, on the streets of Nottingham on the morning of June 13.
He then stole Mr Coates' van and drove it into three other people, seriously injuring them.
However, while in custody he was moved to a “secure hospital environment” and examined by three forensic psychiatrists, the prosecutor's office said.
The joint assessment found that at the time of the attacks, Calocane was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, which resulted in an abnormality in mental performance that contributed to the commission of the crimes and also impaired his ability to control himself.
At a hearing on November 28, he pleaded guilty not to three counts of murder but to manslaughter, citing diminished responsibility. He also admitted three counts of attempted murder.
His requests were accepted on Tuesday.