NHS mental health services discharged Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane months before his fatal attacks because staff were unable to locate him, the public inquiry into the Nottingham attacks has heard.
The disclosure emerged as the independent inquiry examined the care given to the 34-year-old by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Calocane, who has paranoid schizophrenia, was discharged from its Early Intervention in Psychosis service in September 2022 after he failed to attend appointments or respond to outreach efforts.
Calocane had been under the trust's care for two years prior to discharge. During that time he was sectioned four times under theMental Health Act. A consultant psychiatrist had warned he could end up killing someone if his condition was not managed.
Contact attempts proved fruitless. His care coordinator attended his address, made phone calls and sent a letter, all without success. The last contact with the EIP team was by phone on 16 July 2022, when Calocane claimed untruthfully to be abroad.
In a BBC report NHS team leader Emma Robinson described him as 'a difficult person to engage with'. Risks to the public had been considered but the team felt it had 'no holding powers'. 'We couldn't work with him, we couldn't find him at this point,' Robinson said.
The trust opted to discharge Calocane back to his general practitioner. Counsel representing the bereaved families, Tim Moloney KC, put it to Robinson that this effectively left the man 'to the general public to deal with'. She rejected that characterisation but conceded such discharges of non-engaging patients were not uncommon at the time. 'I think things are very different now,' she added.
In her written statement to the inquiry, Robinson had explained the rationale. 'It feels safer to have somebody discharged back to the queue of the GP, than open to a secondary service when we can't engage them, or we can't do anything for them,' the statement read. The discharge letter sent to the GP was criticised as inadequate.
The GP was sent very little information, with key documents including a risk assessment and care plan not included. The trust also failed to notify Nottinghamshire Police. Robinson accepted the letter was 'wholly inadequate'.
No dedicated training had been given to staff on managing disengaging patients or medication compliance. Robinson told the inquiry there was nothing specific to early prevention or forensic referral pathways. The testimony has highlighted gaps in training for staff dealing with complex cases of non-engagement. BBC East Midlands, on its verifiedInstagram account, shared the key quote from the hearing: 'We couldn't find him to treat him or engage him.'
The Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane went on to stab three people to death in Nottingham on 13 June 2023. His victims were students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, and school caretaker Ian Coates.
Source: International Business Times UK
