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Court of Appeal refuses to change sentence of Nottingham triple killer Valdo Calocane




The Court of Appeal has refused to change the sentence of Valdo Calocane, who killed three people in Nottingham last summer.

The 32-year-old was given an indefinite hospital order after admitting the manslaughter of Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates by reason of diminished responsibility, and the attempted murder of three others last June.

The Attorney General referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal in February, with lawyers arguing last week that Calocane — who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia — should be given a “hybrid” order where he would be treated before serving the remainder of the sentence in custody.

Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order for stabbing to death, left to right, Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar. Photo: Nottinghamshire Police/PA
Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order for stabbing to death, left to right, Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar. Photo: Nottinghamshire Police/PA

But three senior judges dismissed the bid on Tuesday, stating that while Calocane’s offences caused “unimaginable grief”, his sentence was not unduly lenient as his paranoid schizophrenia was “the sole identified cause of these crimes”.

Court artist sketch of Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane. (Elizabeth Cook/PA)
Court artist sketch of Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane. (Elizabeth Cook/PA)
Valdo Calocane, 32, pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter by diminished responsibility and three counts of attempted murder after the attacks. (Nottinghamshire Police/PA)
Valdo Calocane, 32, pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter by diminished responsibility and three counts of attempted murder after the attacks. (Nottinghamshire Police/PA)

Giving their judgment, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said: “There was no error in the approach adopted by the judge.

“The sentences imposed were not arguably unduly lenient.”



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