The mental health trust that was treating Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane has “blood on their hands” according to his victims’ families, after a damning report revealed multiple failings regarding his care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) review into Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) found risk assessments “minimised or omitted” key details of the serious risk he posed to others. It also questioned how well the trust engaged with Calocane’s family, who warned officials about his mental state.
Officials also played down the fact Calocane was refusing to take his medication and was having ongoing and persistent symptoms of psychosis. The review’s damning conclusions led the victims’ families to say services caring for him in the lead up to the attacks “have blood on their hands”. They also said the CQC report “demonstrates gross, systematic failures” and that they have been told a public inquiry will take place, following a meeting with Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Attorney General Richard Hermer.
Calocane stabbed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, as they returned from a night out early on 13 June last year, before killing Ian Coates, 65. The special review of mental health services at NHFT was ordered by then health secretary Victoria Atkins in January after Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order. The CQC said Calocane’s records make it “clear” that he was “acutely unwell�.