Special review of NHS Trust where Nottingham attacker was treated is ordered

29 January 2024 , 00:01

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Triple killer Valdo Calocane has been handed a hospital order (Image: PA)

A special review has been ordered into the NHS trust where Valdo Calocane was treated before the horrific Nottingham killings.

The 32-year-old was convicted last week of stabbing to death 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, last June.

A judge handed down a hospital order to the triple killer, who has paranoid schizophrenia, after his pleas to manslaughter by diminished responsibility were accepted. The court heard he had been detained in hospital four times under mental health laws before he launched his attack.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins has ordered a special review into Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust, where he was treated. The Care Quality Commission will publish its findings in March on patient and public safety, and on the quality of care provided by the trust, including at Highbury Hospital and Rampton Hospital.

Ms Atkins said: “My thoughts remain with the families and friends of Barnaby, Grace, and Ian, who lost their lives in such a tragic, cruel and barbaric way. It is crucial that our mental health services ensure both the care of patients and the safety of the public. I hope the review provides the families and public with some much-needed answers, and that it helps the Trust to improve the standard of mental health care in Nottinghamshire.”

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

More than 30 staff at Highbury Hospital have been suspended as a result of an internal investigation into allegations of serious conduct, including the falsifying mental health observations and maltreatment of patients. Rampton Hospital, a facility run by the same trust, was criticised by the Care Quality Commission after it found understaffing had caused patients to be locked in their rooms for extended periods.

At the end of January 2022 Calocane was admitted as an inpatient to one of the trust’s hospitals under the Mental Health Act, before being discharged on February 24. He was then reviewed in March 2022 in an outpatient clinic and in July 2022 claimed, it is believed falsely, that he was not in the country.

The family of Barnaby Webber has backed calls for a full public inquiry into the killings.

John Stevens