Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane to remain in high-security hospital for life

valdo cerain I will say at the outset that the sentence I'm about to pass on you will result in you being detained in a high security Hospital very probably for the rest of your life I will now tell you why in the early hours of 13th June last year you committed a series of atrocities in this city which ended the lives of three innocent people you went on to attack three more fully intending but failing to kill them too your sickening crimes both shocked the nation and wrecked the lives of your surviving victims and the families of them all over the last two days in court the harrowing details of what you did have been fully recounted and explored by The Advocates and the expert Witnesses at 4:00 in the morning of 13th June last year Barnaby Weber and Grace Alik Kumar both just 19 years of age were walking back to their student accommodation after a night out in the city center they were almost home when you attacked them what followed was truly shocking you first pulled out a dagger from the bag you were carrying and set about Barnaby in a frenzied and Relentless stabbing attack with astonishing bravery Grace tried to save him by pushing you away she sacrificed her life in the attempt as you then dealt with her in the same brutal fashion before turning back to Barnaby to resume your attack on him the injuries which you inflicted upon them were both unsurvivable an hour later you were trying unsuccessfully but with determined persistence to gain access to a hostle for the homeless you were intending to attack those inside but an occupant managed to fend you off shortly after however you attacked Ian coat a school caretaker who was in his van on his way to work you stabbed him to death with the same merciless ferocity with which you had earlier attacked Barnaby and Grace you left the scene driving his van on the lookout for yet further victims your next was Wayne burkit who was crossing the road in the city center you deliberately swerved to hit him at speed from behind and intending to kill him he survived the attempt but suffered life changing injuries in the Collision he sustained serious brain damage as a result of which he lost the ability to carry out even the most straightforward of tasks he still struggles to look after himself his personality has changed and not for the better he's lost interest in many of the things which had made his life worth living such as socializing and football his physical injuries were also very serious and included a dislocated right shoulder injuries to his chest and back and a fractured pelvis he's in constant pain there are times when he feels it would have been better off for everyone if he too had died that morning your final two victims were Sharon Miller and Martian gonsky who were both standing on a pedestrian Central reservation again you deliberately aimed the van at them and struck them at speed from behind intending to kill them they were extremely lucky to survive five Mr gavronsky suffered broken ribs an injury to his left leg and cuts all over his head and body he continues to suffer flashbacks Ms Miller sustained injuries to her body and legs which left her in severe pain and housebound for several months she remains afraid to go out and may never be able to return to work you were eventually stopped and contained by police vehicles when confronted by officers you produced a knife which you dropped only after you'd been tasered you later made no comment to all questions asked of you in interview the court has both heard and read heartbreaking statements from those of your victims who survived and the families and friends of those who died you've sentenced them to a life of grief and pain this is a roll call of just some of those whose lives you have devastated Emma Weber Barnaby's mother David Weber Barnaby's father Charlie Weber Barnaby's brother Thomas Yap Barnaby's close friend Emily Yap another of Barnaby's close friends James am Malik Kumar Grace's brother Shen Malik Kumar Grace's mother Dr sanjoy Kuma Grace's father Katherine and Mali Grace's aunt and all of Grace's maternal relatives in Ireland Dr Shashi Kumar Grace's grandmother Sunil Kumar Grace's Uncle Emma Kumar Grace's Aunt Helen Prescott Morin Grace's Schoolhouse mistress together with many other of her family friends James coats Ian's son Elaine Newton Ian's partner Ian's brother Wayne Burkett your fourth victim Tracy Hodson Wayne's partner Sharon Miller and Marson gonsky your final victims I pay tribute to the extraordinary dignity and restraint which they've shown both in this court and indeed over the last six months the statements that were so bravely read out in court will resonate with those who heard them for many years to come we learned that Barnaby was a loving son brother and friend with an infectiously joyful personality and a positive outlook on life he was making the most of his time he was spending at Nottingham University and showing such great promise for the life of which you robbed him Grace was a treasure to her family and friends she was a successful academically as she was in her sporting achievements studying medicine she'd already been involved in vaccinating against the covid virus and I do not doubt that she would have been an Exemplar practitioner she was a shiny example to to all who knew and loved her Ian was only 5 months short of what should have been a long and happy retirement his son sister and partner have been robbed of a kind and humble man who also always found time to help others there was never any doubt that it was you who committed these appalling crimes and it was inevitable that you would be facing three counts of murder and three of attempted murder it soon became clear however that the Central issue in this case would relate to whether at the time of committing these offenses you were suffering from severe symptoms of mental disorder and if so what part they played in what you did you're clearly an intelligent man having taken a degree in mechanical engineering and Nottingham the university however in 2019 you started to show symptoms of mental disorder as a result of which you were admitted to inpatient hospital treatment the following year there followed a period of three years over which you were hearing voices which you believed were threatening and controlling you you became convinced that you were being spied on by your flatmates and by the intelligence services at one point you even presented yourself to M M M MI5 headquarters in the hope they might stop the voices you were prescribed antis psychotic medication but you stopped taking it because you continued to believe that you were not unwell at all and the voices were real your behavior deteriorated to the extent that you began attempting to gain access to other flats in the block where you lived causing criminal damage in September 2021 you assaulted a police officer who was attempting to gain access to your property so that a mental health assessment could be carried out by the time you committed these offenses a warrant had been outstanding for your arrest for many months but by August 2022 you disappeared from your address and are disengaged from the community mental health Team your condition however did not improve by May of last year you'd started working at a warehouse but 5 days later you physically attacked two fellow employees and lost your job this court has seen detailed reports from no fewer than five distinguished consultant psychiatrists three of of those Professor Blackwood Dr mcweeny and Dr mvis gave evidence to this court yesterday and questioned on behalf of both the prosecution and defense about their conclusions I must of course Factor their opinions into the process of sentence although I'm not bound by them as most people now appreciate judges do not sentence in a vacuum for the majority of crimes there are sentencing guidelines often subsequently interpreted by decisions of the court of appeal this is the case here I must have regard to the sentencing guidelines not only in respect of the specific offenses to which you pleaded guilty but also those of more General application in this case these include sentencing offenders with mental disorders de developmental orders disorders or neurological impairment and totality the first three counts to which you pleaded guilty are of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility naturally the prosecution wanted and were afforded all reasonable opportunities to ensure that the foundations of this plea had been properly established these opportunities were provided and the prosecution is now satisfied that the evidence taken as a whole demonstrates that your ability to understand the nature of your conduct form a rational judgment or or exercise self-control was substantially impaired otherwise you'd have found yourself facing a trial on the original Three counts of murder the decision is obviously one of the utmost significance and it's important that the basis of the reasoning behind it is fully understood I must say however that none of the evidence relating to your mental state detracts from the horror of your actions or the disastrous impact which they have had upon so many people this is what the five psychiatrists had to say about you in their written reports Dr Sweeney was instructed by the defense on 23rd June last year he concluded his history of mental illness and his own explanation of the offenses indicate that he was experiencing hallucinatory voices persecutory delusional beliefs among other psychotic symptoms he was under the false impression that his thoughts and actions were under the control of artificial intelligence and that his family may be in grave danger by definition a person experiencing acute psychosis is not able to accurately test reality or distinguish reality from an abnormal perception it seems likely that Mr cak's decision making was largely governed by his psychotic experiences it is my opinion that Mr cak's abnormality of mental functioning significantly contributed to his perpetrating the alleged offenses that is to say that in my view had he not been laboring under symptoms of acute psychosis which resulted in his interpretation of reality being grossly distorted he would not have perpetrated the acts in a follow-up report of 12th January this year he concluded Mr cakan has an established Lish diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia this is a chronic and enduring psychotic mental illness his illness will never be cured and he will require long-term very cautious management with antipsychotic medication and appropriate psychological and supportive interventions almost certainly for the remainder of his life Dr chafua was also instructed by the defense in his report of 19th November last year he said in my opinion Mr cocaine is highly likely to have suffered from a mental disorder most likely a psychotic condition namely paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the index offense and this state of mind appears to have substantially impaired his ability to understand the nature of the conduct form a rational judgment and or exercise self-control that led to the abnormal behavior such was Mr calin's illness that he was quotes divorced from reality close quotes Professor Blackwood was instructed by the prosecution he spent five hours interviewing you and prepared a report dated 20th November last year he concluded if convicted of manslaughter and attempted murder I would consider that his degree of retained responsibility for his acts was at the lower end of the spectrum he retained some responsibility in that he was not insane at the time of the index assaults however there was substantial impairment of his ability to form a rational judgment and to exercise self-control and the assaults would not have occurred but for his psychotic symptoms the offending was in my view entirely attributable to his mental illness when the matter last came before this court on 28th no November the prosecution stated its intention to place the accumulated medical evidence before a fourth consultant psychiatrist for his consideration Dr leam duly reported on 12th December he said the partial defense of diminished responsibility is the proper conclusion in each of the expert reports there is relatively consistent evidence that he knew what he was doing and that he knew he was committing crimes the basis however for his behavior is very likely to have been psychosis in the form of hallucinations delusional beliefs and other disturbances in his thoughts this psychosis has been described by all three experts as likely to have substantially impaired his ability to form a rational judgment and exercise self-control any other conclusion with respect to diminished responsibility will be highly unusual in the circumstances I've specifically considered from the information available whether Mr cak's account appears that it might have been fabricated by him it is of course possible but the nature of the beliefs and experiences he described are consistent with what has been known about his illness since 20120 the three experts who have interviewed him have all found what he described to be consistent with mental illness it's unlikely that he's fabricated symptoms it's very clear in my opinion that the ultimate conclusion with respect to diminished responsibility has been properly reached I have not interviewed Mr cakan but it's very difficult to foresee a situation where I could reach a different conclusion finally a fifth report dated 14th January this year has been obtained from Dr mvis Who has been your respons responsible clinician at Ashworth High security hospital since you were transferred there from Manchester prison on 1st November Ashworth is one of the three high security hospitals in the country the others being Broadmore and rampton he said in my opinion Mr cak's offenses appear to be highly attributable to his illness there is no evidence of antisocial Behavior or significant substance misuse in his background all Epis of previous aggression and violence appear to be closely linked to psychotic symptoms at the time similarly he reports that the purchase of a knife was in response to hearing voices it follows that on the basis of the material before me I'm entirely satisfied that the prosecution were indeed right to acknowledge that your mental condition satisfied the criteria giving rise to the partial defense of diminished responsibility this defense offense does not however apply to offenses of attempted murder and to those three counts you have pleaded guilty the sentencing guideline for diminished responsibility manslaughter requires the court to follow a stepbystep analysis step one involves the determination of what level of responsibility you retained at the time of your attack high medium or lower it is to be noted that those consultant psychiatrists who expressed a view on the issue unanimously concluded but for your schizophrenia you would not have committed these Dreadful crimes indeed you had no other motive for committing them none of your victims was known to you and but for the control or pressure exercised by the voices inside your head you'd no reason to harm any of them you have no previous convictions although you were certainly laying the foundations for a accumulating a criminal record by your past conduct there's no evidence to suggest you are liable to be violent prior to the onset of your condition you have no relevant religious ideological or political affiliations you believed at the time of your offenses that the voices were controlling you and had the power to harm your family if you failed to comply with their orders and not withstanding the treatment you've since received at Ashworth you still labor under the strong impression that the voices are real and you still believe that you do not suffer from any mental disorder whatsoever you have a history of failing to take the drugs prescribed for you but this arises not from the exercise of a rational choice but from your confidence that the voices were directing you not to take them this of course is a factor inextricably bound up with your mental disease the prosecution perfectly properly draw attention to a number of prepar acts which preceded the period over which you perpetrated your appalling crimes however I'm satisfied from the evidence of the psychiatrist that taken as a whole these acts were also governed by your paranoid delusions in all the circumstances I'm satisfied that not withstanding the extreme gravity and the appalling consequences of your crimes the level of personal responsibility retained was at the lower end if all other things were equ the relevant sentence under the guideline of one offense of diminished responsibility manslaughter would attract a starting point of seven years and a range of between 3 to 12 years imprisonment this would be subject to a very significant upward revision to take into particular account the number of victims involved here and the three counts of attempted murder a life sentence would be appropriate with a long minimum term taking into account the principle of totality the starting point for the minimum term would have been 30 years but this would have fallen to be reduced by onethird to reflect your guilty pleas and by a further third to reflect what would otherwise have been the date of your El eligibility for parole in respect of a determinant sentence the minimum term would therefore have been 13 years and four months but all things are not equal I consider that regardless of the level of your personal responsibility you were and remain dangerous indeed those who represent you realistically and inevitably concede that this is the case I would therefore be failing in my public duty not to reflect this factor in my approach to sentencing you it is in this context that I must consider the appropriateness of a mental health disposal again I must approach the issue in stages first I must assess whether the evidence of the medical practitioners suggests that you are currently suffering from a mental disorder this is undoubtedly the case you've been detained at Ashworth High security hospital since last November but you are still having paranoid delusions hearing voices and believing that you're being controlled by some advanced technology your condition is resistant to treatment but some treatment is available which at least mitigates curing your condition the medication which you're likely soon to be taking is clopine which is intended for the treatment of schizophrenia in patients unresponsive to or intolerant of conventional antis psychotic drugs it is a drug of Last Resort the administration of which requires careful supervision which carries with it a catalog of potentially serious side effects I firstly have to consider whether you require treatment for the mental from the mental disorder dis order from which you suffer all the expert evidence before me shows that you require such treatment and it's necessary inappropriate to make a hospital order I go on to consider the extent to which your offending was attributable to your psychosis the expert evidence is to the effect that but for your mental illness you would not have committed these appalling crimes I must further consider the extent to which punishment is required in this context I must of course bear fully in mind the devastating impact which your offending has had upon your victims and their families I note in passing however that the diagnosis of treatment resistant schizophrenia means that in any event it's very likely that you'll never be released the sentencing options which remain are limited to a hospital order combined with a restriction order or a section 45a hospital and limitation Direction which which is sometimes referred to as a hybrid order which will provide for the possibility that some part of your sentence May later be served in prison I remind myself of the importance where appropriate of reflecting a penal element in the sentence but note in passing that the psychiatric evidence including that of Dr mvis your responsible clinician is that you're unlikely ever to be released in any event the choice is ultimately a matter for this court but will inevitably be substantially informed by the psychiatric evidence in this regard the approach of Dr Blackwood instructed on behalf of the prosecution is worth setting out in some detail he said where Mr calone is to be convicted were Mr calone to be convicted of manslaughter and attempted murder the appropriate disposal will be that of the imposition of a hospital order under Section 37 of the mental health act 1983 together with the additional imposition of a restriction order section 41 of the same act given the seriousness of the alleged offenses and the risk of serious harm to the public if Mr cocaine is returned to the community there is a significant risk to members of the public of serious harm occasioned by the commission of further offenses if his psychosis is not appropriately treated the reduction in the risk of the public posed by their defendant is dependent upon his response to psychological and Psych atric treatment it's not known at this stage how complete that response will be or how complete his recovery will be there's no evidence in the materials available to me to suggest that say for his mental condition he will POS s such a danger his risk to others is driven by a psychotic illness and such a risk is best managed by forensic psychiatric services in the years ahead a bed remains available for his Continuing Care at Ashworth High security Hospital the defendant is so detained will then remain in Secure hospitals for many years or indefinitely if there's limited response treatment approaches and no reduction in the risk he poses to others periods of leave and progress through the secure hospital system will be affected by his responsible clinician in close communication with the secretary of state if the defendant makes a good recovery and there's a prolonged period of cility he will then be transferred to conditions of me medium security and tested with gradually increasing periods of escorted and unescorted Community leave including to a supported hospital setting which is the likely discharged destination with a settled weekly structure of activities any potential discharge to the community will be subject to the careful independent consideration of the first tier tribunal the tribunal would determine whether to release him on condition that for example he met his supervising Community for foric team regularly was compliant with his medication agrees to monitoring by his forensic team and lived at a particular address any period in the community will be subject to very careful scrutiny and compliance with medication is assured by the Restriction order framework in STK contrast to the community regimen before the index offenses any deterioration in his mental condition the driver of his wrist weathers would lead to a prompt recall to psychiatric hospital it would be possible for for him to apply for an unconditional discharge within the community but given the severity of the index offenses his condition and The Chronic need for medication and other treatment approaches it is highly unlikely in my view that the defender would ever be given an absolute discharge which would allow him to end contact with mental health services such an order would ensure that any release and after care is properly focused on the mental health condition of the defendant supervised by the responsible clinician the extent scientific evidence suggest that a hospital disposal is associated with a reduced reoffending rate on Ultimate release from the community in comparison to imprisonment and subsequent release from prison this finding holds when comparison is made with individuals with violent index offenses with prisoners with longer sentences as comparators and when rates of violent re offending are specifically reexamined rates of repeat offending are consistently lower in patients releas in hospital in comparison to those Rel released from prison a period of imprisonment risk non-compliance with medication and a deterioration in his mental state and increase in Risk to others in the defendant's case there's no evidence to suggest that but for his mental condition he poses any risk to the public in these circumstances the parole board would likely to be bound to follow the recommendation of the clinicians and the tribunal as to release the introduction of the parole board into the release procedure procedure in the defendant's case would thus not materially enhance Public Safety monitoring in the community would principally be conducted by the defendant's probation officer and recall to prison and subsequent transfer to hospital may take some time the sections 37st 41 regime avoids situations in which the risk posed by the defendant may increase or his mental condition worsen because of delays in recalling and rehospitalized him in the unlikely event that you were ever to be released I must consider which regime will provide the greatest level of protection for the public the main concern is that upon release from prison you would not be supervised by a team of mental health experts reporting to the hospital and the Secretary of State for justice but instead to a probation officer such a probation officer will not be trained to spot the subtle signs of mental health deterioration and if they are identified will not have the powers to intervene to arrest any such deterioration furthermore there are significant concerns that a prison environment give rise to a risk that in the event of a relapse you present a real danger to prison officers and fellow prisoners alike as the relevant sentencing guidelines States quote there will be cases where the protection of the public VI restriction order will outweigh the importance of a penal element and other cases where a greater public prote ction is provided by hybrid order I'm entirely satisfied on the evidence in the particular circumstances of this case and for the reasons I have given the proper sentence is a hospital order subject to a section 41 restriction order you will now stand for sentence to be passed having heard the medical evidence which has been given in court by Professor Blackwood Dr mweene and Dr mvis and having read the reports prepared by them for the court together with those from Dr shalua and Dr leam all of whom are approved by the Secretary of State under Section 122 of the mental health act 1983 I am satisfied that you are suffering from a mental disorder namely paranoid schizophrenia this disorder is of a nature which makes it appropriate for you to be detained in a hospital for medical treatment and appropriate medical treatment is available for you at Ashworth secure hospital I am of the opinion that because of all the circumstances of your case including the nature of the offenses to which you pleaded guilty and the history of mental illness and having considered all the other available ways in which I might deal with you the most suitable method of dealing with your case is by making an order under Section 37 of the mental health act 1983 I therefore make an order under all six counts of the indict that you will be readmitted to and detained at Ashworth High security hospital I've also considered whether this order should be subject to special restrictions which are specified in section 41 of the act in the light of the medical evidence which I have identified I am satisfied that because of the nature of your offense and also having regard to your past including your history of mental illness and to the risk that you will commit further offenses if you're not detained it's necessary to protect the public from serious harm and it is not possible to say for how long that will be so accordingly I order that you'll be subject to special restrictions set out in section 41 of the mental Act mental health act 1983 you may take him down I will add by way of PostScript that the investigation into this case was both lengthy and complex those who played their part are to be commended for the extremely professional and skillful way in which they carried out their duties the same applies to all those who helped in the aftermath of the shocking events of that morning in particular I'd like to commend the members of the family liaison team the three members of the CCTV team the scenes of crimes officer the files officer the police and medical staff who attended on the victims together with all the other police officers involved in the investigation I'd also like to thank all members of the council teams and their solicor colleagues for their hard work the skillful way in which they presented their cases and for the positive and Cooperative manner in which the case was concluded last but not least I pay tribute to the members of the Court staff whose hard work in accommodating and organizing this challenging hearing has been exemplary

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Length: 33min 52sec (2032 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 26 2024