Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane thought the voices in his head were a punishment from the Government for breaking lockdown rules during Covid-19, an inquiry has heard. The paranoid schizophrenic stabbed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and caretaker Ian Coates, 65, to death on June 13 2023, before he tried to murder three more people with a stolen van.
Calocane, a former mechanical engineering student, had been under the care of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust for two years and was sectioned four times before the fatal incident.
On Friday, Dr Austin Nwawueze - a specialty doctor involved in Calocane's care during his time at the mental health facility Victoria House in Darlington, Co Durham - gave evidence to the inquiry, which is examining events leading up to the fatal attacks. It was revealed that Calocane stopped taking his antipsychotic medication because he believed thoughts were being inserted into his mind by the Government.
A doctor's report read to the inquiry stated Calocane thought he was 'subject to harassment' by the Government through 'interference with his mind by inserting thoughts there which are not his by transmitting voices to his head'. It read: 'Valdo believes that this harassment is done as a punishment for him breaking the lockdown rules. Valdo indicates he has done research on the matter and does not believe that these experiences are contributable to mental illness, hence he stopped taking his antipsychotic medication.'
Lance Baynham, counsel to the inquiry, asked Dr Nwawueze whether it is an issue for a psychotic patient to be conducting research that 'might have the effect of appearing to validate those delusional beliefs'. Dr Nwawueze, who only came into contact with Calocane during a ward round on September 28, 2021, replied: 'If he did conduct the research, then he might be trying to prove the points to say, I'm not psychotic, I don't need to take medication.' He added that usually what an unwell patient says, however, is 'not founded on truth'.
He said: 'The patient's unwell and a lot of the things they tell you, most times, are not founded on truth. So usually he says the NHS is putting things in his mind. That's not founded on truth. So in that sense, if he said he was doing research I would assume that that's probably tied to the fact that he's unwell and it's a delusion in itself.'
Calocane fatally knifed 19-year-old University of Nottingham students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar at 4am on June 13 as they were returning from a night out before going onto kill 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates. He then stole Mr Coates's van before deliberately mowing down Wayne Birkett, Sharon Miller and Marcin Gawronski in the city centre. Calocane was charged with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder on June 16, 2023 and was remanded in custody on June 17. He denied the three counts of murder, but admitted three counts of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility and three further counts of attempted murder. On 25 January 2024, Calocane was sentenced to be detained indefinitely at a high-security hospital. The inquiry continues.
