A former chairman of the NHS trust that treated paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane has admitted there was a “missed opportunity” to prevent the Nottingham killings. Paul Devlin, who led Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust until December last year, told an inquiry that the trust failed to act on a fatal attack by another former patient months before Calocane’s rampage.
Calocane, who was under the trust’s care from 2020 until his discharge in 2022, stabbed to death students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and caretaker Ian Coates, 65, on June 13, 2023. He then attempted to murder three pedestrians using a van stolen from Mr Coates. He is now detained indefinitely in a high-security hospital after admitting manslaughter and attempted murder.
The inquiry heard that in August 2022, a former patient of the trust carried out a fatal attack. James Weston, counsel to the inquiry, said: “From a board level, not enough was done in relation to this incident.” He added that the attack occurred weeks before Calocane’s discharge, yet “no meaningful steps” were taken by the board.
Mr Devlin said the board was informed of the incident in September 2022, but the trust’s investigation was delayed pending a police inquiry. An action plan was only approved in May 2025. Asked if an audit of “unsafe discharges” in September 2022 could have prevented the June 2023 attacks, Mr Devlin acknowledged the missed opportunity.
