A man who "brutally massacred" two university students and a caretaker in a violent rampage through Nottingham has been sentenced to a hospital order.Valdo Calocane, 32, appeared at the city’s Crown Court for sentencing on Thursday after admitting the manslaughter of the three victims by reason of diminished responsibility.
Judge Mr Justice Turner sentenced him to detention at Ashworth High Security Hospital, adding: "You were and remain dangerous."
Calocane was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia when he stabbed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, to death with a dagger in Nottingham in the early hours of last June 13.
Judge Mr Justice Turner told Valdo Calocane: "None of your victims were known to you.
"But for the voices inside your head … you had no reason to harm any of them. You still labour under the strong impression that the voices are real. You were and remain dangerous."
The killer, a graduate of the University of Nottingham, also admitted three counts of attempted murder relating to pedestrians he deliberately targeted with a van he had stolen from Mr Coates.
The families of Calocane's victims attended his sentencing on Thursday.
Before the judge sat to sentence Calocane, Lee Coates, one of the sons of stabbing victim Ian Coates, was applauded after standing up in courtroom one to make an impromptu address.
Speaking towards the families of Mr Webber and Miss O’Malley-Kumar, Mr Coates said: “No matter what the outcome is our family are here for you from now until whenever.
“I am so sorry that we had had to go through this and this is how we have met.
“If I don’t manage to stay the whole day because I can’t keep my mouth shut, I apologise. But we are in the same boat.”
Relatives of those killed and injured in the attacks, sitting in the public gallery, responded by applauding Mr Coates’ remarks.
During sentencing Judge Mr Justice Turner said Calocane started to show symptoms of mental disorder in 2019, and began hearing voices "which were threatening and controlling".
He "became convinced" he was being spied on by neighbours and even presented himself to the MI5 headquarters in London in the hope staff there would help him.
Calocane "continued to believe the voices were real", Justice Turner continued, adding that his mental state does not "detract from the horror" of his actions.
Written reports by psychiatrists said Calocane's history of mental illness indicated he was experiencing "hallucinatory voices" alongside other "enduring and psychotic" symptoms, the court heard.
The judge said the killer would be detained in a high-security hospital "very probably for the rest of your life".
He said: "You committed a series of atrocities in this city which ended the lives of three people in this city.
"Your sickening crimes both shocked the nation and wrecked the lives of your surviving victims and the families of them all."
He said the "harrowing" details of the attacks have been "fully recounted and explored" in court over the past couple of days.
Speaking to the BBC ahead of the sentencing, Mr Coates’s other son James said he feels "hatred" towards his father’s killer.
He said: “He is, to me, the most evil person on this planet. He went out and brutally massacred three people and then attempted to kill another three, but luckily he was caught.”
Lee Coates said he was "super angry" but trying to stay composed as Calocane’s sentencing continues for a third day.
He described his actions as "calculated and premeditated", adding: "He has to spend his life behind bars, otherwise we have been let down once again by this country and this judicial system."
On Wednesday, Calocane’s barrister Peter Joyce KC urged the judge not to consider a whole-life order, saying paranoid schizophrenia is an “unwanted visitor” which “stalked down” a man of previously impeccable character and behaviour.
