The mother of Valdo Calocane, who is serving life for the Nottingham stabbings that killed three strangers in June 2023, has told a public inquiry the state’s network of mental health and probation services was ‘so broken’ it allowed her son to fall through every safety net.
Speaking under her own name, she described a pattern of missed appointments, cancelled referrals, and unanswered crisis-team calls that stretched from Nottinghamshire to Greater Manchester. ‘They had all the warning signs,’ she said. ‘But nobody stepped up to stop him spiralling.’
Key Points
- ⚠️ Nottinghamshire Police received five separate calls about Calocane’s erratic behaviour in the 48 hours before the killings
- 📋 Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust missed three scheduled mental health assessments in the month before the attacks
- 🔍 East Midlands Ambulance Service logged two refusals of crisis-team assistance within 72 hours of the fatal stabbings
Documents released to the inquiry show Calocane was discharged from a secure mental health ward in April 2023 after a 10-day stay, despite staff noting he remained ‘actively psychotic and at high risk of violence.’ His community care plan, finalised two weeks later, listed no medication, no structured therapy, and no named key worker.
| Service | Action Taken | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Nottinghamshire Police | No further action after welfare check | 14 May 2023 |
| Greater Manchester Police | Referral closed as ‘no risk to public’ | 28 May 2023 |
| Nottingham City Council | Homelessness assessment pending | 3 June 2023 |
The inquiry heard that Calocane’s probation officer requested a mental health assessment on 1 June 2023, but the request was not processed until 13 June—three days after the killings. A senior probation manager told the panel the delay was ‘unacceptable but not unusual’ in a system under sustained pressure.
📋 By The Numbers
- 10 days — Duration of Calocane’s last inpatient stay
- 0 — Number of follow-up psychiatric sessions scheduled in his discharge summary
- 2 — Number of victims’ families who have declined to give evidence to the inquiry
Former NHS trust executives told the inquiry that since 2019, Nottinghamshire’s adult mental health budget had been cut by 12 per cent in real terms while referrals rose by 28 per cent. A leaked internal memo, dated January 2023, warned that ‘crisis services are operating at 110 per cent capacity with no contingency for surge demand.’
💡 Pro Tip
If a family member’s mental health deteriorates, demand a copy of the crisis plan in writing and insist on a named contact within 24 hours; verbal assurances are not enough.
Calocane’s GP records, obtained by the inquiry, show he attended A&E four times in the six months before the attacks, each visit coded as ‘psychological distress.’ In each case, he was discharged without a mandatory mental health assessment under the Mental Health Act. The GP surgery has declined to comment.
- April 2023 — Calocane discharged from secure ward after 10-day stay
- 1 June 2023 — Probation officer requests mental health assessment
- 16 June 2023 — Three stabbings leave three dead, one critical
The inquiry continues; public sessions are scheduled through November. So far, 37 witnesses have testified, including frontline NHS staff, police sergeants, and the victims’ families. The final report is due in March 2025.
