A man who killed three people during a 2023 knife attack in Nottingham had attempted to hand himself in to MI5 for arrest two years earlier, an investigation has heard.
Valdo Calocane, 34, fatally stabbed Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, during a stabbing spree in the city on June 13, 2023.
He admitted to involuntary manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility and was sentenced to indefinite detention in a high-security hospital.
The investigation, which is being carried out in London, discovered on Tuesday that, in May 2021, Calocane had attempted to surrender to MI5 at its Thames House headquarters in central London.
PC Graham Foster, who confronted Calocane outside after he had called the building’s intercom, told the inquest that Calocane had informed a member of security that he wanted to be arrested and speak to police.
When asked why he did not question Calocane about why he wanted to be arrested, Foster told the inquest his goal was to “establish a relationship” as he thought it was the best way to see if he was “offering any other information.” He described Calocane as “calm, docile and coherent.”
Superintendent Lorraine Busby-McVey of the Metropolitan Police told the inquest that Calocane was “vetted” by the Fixed Threat Assessment Center (FATC), a unit that examines threats from targeted people, but did not meet the threshold to be further assessed.
Busby-McVey said that an FTAC intelligence report on Calocane’s visit to Thames House was passed to Nottinghamshire Police the following day, June 1, but that the force did not carry out its own assessment. Busby-McVey said that was something she “would have really liked” to happen.
He also said the report, although sent to the force, was not available to all officers. A new system has since been put in place to improve the quality of information shared between police forces, he said.
The inquest also heard from Calocane’s former flatmate, named only as Sebastian, who said reports he made to Nottinghamshire Police that Calocane had harassed him in his flat were ignored.
“He grabbed my shirt and arm, pushed me against the wall and said some confusing words,” she said. “Then he basically said that someone would contact me and that if they contacted me, I should tell them that VC would find them.”
Sebastian subsequently contacted Nottinghamshire Police. An officer told him they would file a report, which would be forwarded to an agency, but did not specify which one.
As well as being grabbed by Calocane, Sebastian told the inquest that he suspected Calocane was stalking him and trying to enter his room at night.
Sebastian said he started locking his door after the incident, saying, “I know he’s aggressive and he could hurt me again out of nowhere.” He also reported that Calocane tried to enter his room with the officer he had previously contacted, but did not receive a response, which he found “very surprising” and “strange.”
He said that when he heard about the Nottingham attacks he suspected Calocane might have been the perpetrator before his identity was confirmed.
The investigation continues.
