Schizophrenic Man Who Killed British-Indian Teen, Two Others Will Be Detained In High-Security Hospital 'Indefinitely': Judge

A 32-year-old man, suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, was on Thursday sentenced to indefinitely be detained in a high-security hospital for killing British-Indian teen O'Malley-Kumar, her friend and a school caretaker last year.

Valdo Calocane admitted three counts of manslaughter by diminished responsibility, after denying the murder of Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, in Nottingham in June last year.

He also pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted murder for driving a vehicle at three others, the BBC News reported.

Justice Turner said Calocane was "substantially impaired" by mental illness, but this did not detract from the "horror" of the crimes.

Turner said he was satisfied that Calocane was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and should therefore be detained in the Ashworth Hospital under section 37 of the Mental Health Act, adding that he would be detained "probably" for the rest of his life.

Justice Turner said that Calocane will in future have the ability to apply to the first-tier tribunal for potential discharge to the community.

He will be subject to "careful independent consideration" and his discharge would be based on conditions, such as him meeting a supervisor regularly, being compliant with his medication and remaining at a fixed address.

Any "deterioration" in his mental condition would lead to a "prompt recall" to a psychiatric hospital, the justice said, adding that given the severity of his offences, his condition and his chronic need for medication, it was "highly unlikely" that he would be given an absolute discharge.

Webber's parents said they did not dispute that Calocane had been "mentally unwell" but he "knew exactly what he was doing".

They said justice had not been served today, hitting out at what they see as failures in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the police service.

In a statement, Barnaby's family said the CPS did not consult with them on accepting the defence's manslaughter plea. "Instead we have been rushed, hastened and railroaded," family members say.

Prosecutors late last year accepted a plea of manslaughter from Calocane based on diminished responsibility after he denied murder charges in November.

Commenting on Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffen's earlier statement "We should have done more to arrest" Calocane before the killings, Barnaby's parents said: "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."

Nottinghamshire Police earlier said it had "previously engaged" with Calocane "on several occasions between 2020 and 2022", saying this was "mostly while supporting our colleagues in the NHS".

Calocane, formerly of Forest Fields, Nottingham, is expected to be sentenced at the city’s Crown Court for the manslaughter of students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, on June 13 last year.

Defence KC Peter Joyce, offering mitigation on behalf of Calocane on Wednesday, urged Justice Turner not to consider a whole-life order as the accused suffers from Schizophrenia.

Joyce went on to describe Calocane as “a man who before being smitten” by mental illness “was wholly law-abiding, was hard-working, put himself through university and was doing his very, very best to become a meaningful member of society”.

“Of course, he destroyed these lives. It (mental illness) destroyed their lives and his life is destroyed too.

Dr Sinead O'Malley and Dr Sanjoy Kumar, O'Malley-Kumar's parents, said there needed to be a "massive deterrent" against using knives and called on the government to "urgently" examine the issue.

They told the court how O'Malley-Kumar was killed "heroically" trying to protect Webber as they walked home from a night out.

In an emotional interview with the BBC's Breakfast, Dr O'Malley, a consultant anaesthetist, said carrying a knife was "no different" to carrying a gun.

She said: "I believe there has to be mandatory prison sentences for carrying a knife.

"It is not just an offensive weapon or something you could eat your food with. It is a lethal weapon."

Dr Kumar, a GP, described knife crime in England as an "epidemic", adding that existing legislation on the issue appeared "easy-going".

O'Malley-Kumar's younger brother James echoed the calls of his parents, saying it seemed "easier to get access to a knife than alcohol".

He has set up a foundation in his sister's name to fund causes she supported and to "ensure she is never forgotten".

Parents of O'Malley-Kumar, who was studying medicine at the University of Nottingham, said she dreamed of becoming a doctor like her parents and administered hundreds of jabs in the Covid vaccination programme.

She was also a keen cricketer and hockey player.