THE families of the Nottingham attack victims have slammed doctors for their “failure” to treat triple killer Valdo Calocane appropriately.
Dr Sanjoy Kumar, the father of Grace O’Malley Kumar, said he would be writing to Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
Triple killer Valdo Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order[/caption]
Nottingham stab victims, from left: Ian Coates, 65, Barnaby Webber and his friend Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19[/caption]
Dr Sanjoy Kumar and Dr Sinead O’Malley, the parents of Grace O’Malley-Kumar[/caption]
He wants him to order the mental health trust in question to hold individual clinicians “responsible” adding: “We demand accountability.”
His words follow those of the mother of Barnaby Webber, Emma Webber, who said that a report into Calocane’s care is a “horror show”.
She added that it showed mental health teams “missed opportunities because “they just didn’t do their jobs properly”.
Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order for a spate of attacks in Nottingham in June 2023.
He killed 19-year-old students Barnaby and Grace and caretaker Ian Coates, 65, before attempting to kill three other people.
Dr Kumar said on Wednesday: “We’ve been failed at every intersection that Valdo Calocane had with any authority.”
He demanded individual accountability for the failures shown in the report.
Dr Kumar added: “This report published highlights the failures of the mental health trust, but it fails my wife and I, as clinicians working at the NHS, for the failure to treat Valdo Calocane appropriately.
“We will be asking the Secretary of State for Health to order the trust to hold individual doctors responsible as they know Valdo Calocane was an evil, violent man – a known risk to the public who did not take his medication.”
The report said Calocane was not forced to have long-lasting anti-psychotic medication because he did not like needles.
The review said other patients cared for by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust also committed “extremely serious” acts of violence – including stabbings – between 2019 and 2023.
Mrs Webber urged the Prime Minister not to renege on the promise of a public inquiry following the report’s publication.
She said: “It has to have teeth – there’s no point in doing it otherwise.”
The mother of Grace, Dr Sinead O’Malley-Kumar, said there had been poor decision-making and “laziness” among health staff who treated her daughter’s killer.
Timeline of the Nottingham attacks
THE attacks started around 4am on June 13 on Ilkeston Road, Nottingham, when Calocane launched at Barnaby and Grace.
Prosecutor Karim Khalil KC said the “brutal” attack was captured from a taxi’s dashcam.
He added: “That footage shows that the devastating violence of the attacks was mirrored only by the deliberate and merciless way the defendant acted.”
Once he killed Grace and Barnaby, rampaging Calocane attempted to break into a home but was punched in the face by a stunned occupant.
Undeterred, he made his way to Magdala Road where he came across caretaker Ian.
He then used the van to run down the three pedestrians.
Police announced a “major incident” was taking place around 7am.
In the hours that followed, they revealed three people were dead, another was fighting for his life and two were injured.
Valdo Calocane was identified as the man, and arrested on suspicion of murder.
The families of Grace and Barnaby gathered at a vigil the day after they were killed.
On June 16, three days after the attack, he was charged with the triple murder.
One week after the attack, one of the men who was run down by Calocane’s van opened up about the horror and said he “remembered everything“.
On July 12, grandfather Ian was farewelled at a service filled with loved ones.
Two days later, “extraordinary” Barnaby’s mum broke down in tears at his funeral – where hundreds gathered to say goodbye.
And on July 21, more than 1,000 mourners came together to pay tribute to Grace.
Calocane was found guilty of the manslaughter of Grace and Barnaby, and 65-year-old grandfather Ian Coates on January 23.
“If any of them knew that Valdo Calocane was going to go out and share student accommodation with their children, I suspect their choices may have changed,” she said.
“Accountability on an individual level is essential.”
Solicitor Neil Hudgell, acting on behalf of the families of the Nottingham attack victims, said they will meet the Government next week to discuss a statutory public inquiry.
NHS England commissioned Theemis Consulting to carry out an independent investigation into the care and treatment provided to Calocane by NHS services.
It detailed four hospital admissions between 2020 and 2022 and multiple contacts with community teams before he was discharged to his GP because of a lack of interaction with mental health services.
Investigators found that “the offer of care and treatment available for VC (Valdo Calocane) was not always sufficient to meet his needs” and this was “not unique” to his case.
Health officials have admitted it is “clear the system got it wrong”.
NHS officials published the report in full after initially saying they would only publish a summary due to data protection laws.
Dr Jessica Sokolov, regional medical director at NHS England (Midlands), said: “It’s clear the system got it wrong, including the NHS, and the consequences of when this happens can be devastating.
“This is not acceptable, and I unreservedly apologise to the families of victims on behalf of the NHS and the organisations involved in delivering care to Valdo Calocane before this incident took place.”
Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s national mental health director, said: “It is clear there were failings in the care provided to Valdo Calocane which is why the trust responsible was placed in our highest oversight and support programme, which has seen them overhaul their risk assessment processes.
“Nationally, we have asked every mental health trust to review these findings and set out action plans for how they treat and engage with people who have a serious mental illness, including how they work with other agencies such as the police.
“And we’ve instructed trusts not to discharge people if they do not attend appointments.”
Ifti Majid, chief executive of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We apologise unreservedly for the opportunities we missed in the care of Valdo Calocane and accept the Theemis report in its entirety including its findings and recommendations.
“We are making clear progress with a Trust-wide plan, which is already delivering key improvements in areas such as risk assessment and discharge processes.
“We are also improving the way we listen and engage with patients, families, our colleagues, and local partners – to make sure concerns are acted on as quickly as possible.
“I know that this will never undo the catastrophic damage caused by these events – when three lives were tragically lost, and others changed irreparably.
“But we will do everything possible to prevent similar incidents happening again and remain totally committed to improving services for the communities we serve.”
Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber, during a press conference[/caption]
Calocane killed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar[/caption]
The families of the three murder victims[/caption]
