A future triple killer was seen ‘trying to reach for a knife’ after assaulting two colleagues just weeks before he carried out the Nottingham stabbing atrocity, an inquiry heard.
Valdo Calocane attacked a man at a warehouse in Derby on May 5 2023, then kicked a woman – his wife – who came to her husband’s defence, the week he started work as agency staff.
Yet police did not charge Calocane, despite his history of violence, amid claims from witnesses that the ‘wild’ suspect was reaching for a knife.
It meant he was free to fatally stab 19-year-old Nottingham University students Barney Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, and 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates on June 13 2023.
An inquiry is looking into failings in the case.
Workers at the Arvato warehouse in Leicestershire described how ‘quiet’ Calocane launched an unprovoked attack on the man and his wife.
The male victim, whose name was redacted, told the inquiry Calocane approached him to talk about machine then, ‘in the next second … hit me with a clenched fist twice.’
He said: ‘He hit me once when I was facing away from him. (Calocane) punched me behind the left ear, and it hurt a lot.
Valdo Calocane, now 34, has been jailed for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished reponsibility
Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber – known as Barney – and Grace O’Malley-Kumar were killed in Nottingham in a series of supposedly random knife attacks by one man
‘After he hit me the first time, I lost my balance. In those moments I just wanted to get out of there.
‘Then immediately (Calocane) jumped over some pallets and he punched me again. Again, he punched me behind the left ear, and I fell to the ground.
‘Then (Calocane) got very angry and he kicked my wife.’
Work colleagues were able to get between Calocane and his victims, and described the suspect as ‘looking through’ them.
One witness, named only as Volodimir, said Calocane was ‘very wild’.
He said: ‘His eyes were very popped out and he said “don’t touch me, don’t touch me”, I say “please calm down”.’
He said he believed Calocane was then looking to grab hold of a Stanley knife on the floor – an item prohibited for use by workers.
‘I think maybe he could use it as a weapon,’ he said.
‘I was not sure, because at the time you’re not allowed to have these types of knife, so I don’t know where that knife was (from).’
Another colleague, known as Matthew, said he told police his concerns about the incident.
He told the inquiry: ‘I did mention to police a knife might have been kicked under the track, and I said I felt he had some kind of mental illness to be honest, or he was mentally unstable.
‘There was something not right with him mentally.
‘When I spoke to people after, it seemed like a random attack to be honest. I assume something would have triggered him – what that was, I have no clue.’
Police later closed the incident.
The inquiry heard Calocane was arrested on suspicion of several violent offences, including battering down neighbours’ doors, grabbing a flatmate in a headlock, and assaulting another man. He was also detained after he struck a police officer while being sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
Yet the inquiry heard how a junior officer failed to spot Calocane’s violent past because his name was spelt incorrectly on a log.
Police constable Sarah Barnes, the officer in charge when Calocane’s former flatmate reported being stalked in 2022, said she did not properly look for previous incidents because she ‘prioritised my time’ in other ways.
She said she accepted some personal responsibility for the lack of investigation that tookplace.
She said: ‘I think there could have been more time put into the case, but due to demand and the caseload that I had at the time, being very new, very young… I needed further guidance.’
Calocane was handed an indefinite hospital order after pleading guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
The inquiry continues.
