Top judges have refused to jail triple killer Valdo Calocane for life after concluding the public is better protected by an indefinite hospital order.
The 32-year-old killed Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates and tried to kill another three victims in a violent rampage in Nottingham last year.
He was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time, and admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility. In January, a judge ordered that the killer be held indefinitely in a secure hospital to receive treatment for his mental health condition.
The case sparked a public outcry, and Solicitor General Robert Courts brought a challenge to the sentence, arguing it is “unduly lenient”.
The government legal officer argued the sentence should be upgraded to a “hybrid” order – with a life prison sentence to follow once he has received hospital treatment.
But Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Lord Justice Edis and Mr Justice Garnham, sitting in the Court of Appeal, issued a firm rejection of the argument on Tuesday, insisting the original sentence best protects the public.
She said it is “likely” that Calocane “will spend the rest of his life in a secure hospital”.
And she told the hearing that expert doctors had all agreed that the killer was “in the grip of a severe psychotic episode” when the attacks took place.
“It is impossible to read of the circumstances of this offending without the greatest possible sympathy for the victims of these terrible attacks, and their family and friends”, she said.
“The victim impact statements paint a graphic picture of the appalling effects of the offender’s conduct.
“Had the offender not suffered the mental condition that he did, the sentencing judge would doubtless have been considering a whole life term.
“But neither the judge nor this court can ignore the medical evidence as to the offender’s condition which led to these dreadful events or the threat to public safety which the offender continues to pose.”
The judges ruling represents an emphatic rejection of the government’s argument, refusing leave to appeal the sentence and finding the experienced sentencing judge had made no errors.
The Lady Chief Justice said the Solicitor General had accepted that the sentencing judge did not make any errors of legal principle, but sought to argue that his final decision had been wrong.
The Court of Appeal bid also concluded that the government’s argument had been “misconceived” in part.
Calocane killed students Mr Webber and Ms O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and 65-year-old school caretaker Mr Coates in the early hours of June 13 last year before stealing a van and hitting three pedestrians before being arrested.
The CPS came under fire for accepting his pleas of not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility.
But the CPS Inspectorate concluded in March, after an investigation, that the decision had been taken correctly.
A series of expert assessments had been carried out during Calocane’s time in custody, and all concluded that he was suffering from severe mental health issues at the time of the crimes.
