Inaction on warrant a 'serious failure' before Nottingham attacks, says police chief

A warrant to arrest Valdo Calocane before he killed three people was not carried out by police for months in what was described as a "serious, systemic and operational failure".

Calocane stabbed to death Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley Kumar and Ian Coates before seriously injuring three others in Nottingham on 13 June 2023.

As the judge-led inquiry into the Nottingham attacks continue, Nottinghamshire Police suggested it was not "realistic" that Calocane would have been prosecuted and imprisoned if officers had executed the warrant.

But Tim Moloney KC, for the bereaved families, said any attempt to suggest arresting Calocane would not have made a difference would be "cowardly and insulting".

Calocane - who was sentenced to a hospital order in January 2024 - had previously been accused of assaulting a police officer in 2021 and had been summonsed to Nottingham Magistrates' Court in September 2022.

When he failed to attend court - 10 months before the fatal attacks - a warrant was issued for his arrest but was flagged as a "low priority", the Nottingham Inquiry heard.

About a month before the attacks, Calocane was alleged to have assaulted two colleagues at a factory in Kegworth, Leicestershire, but he was not arrested at that time.

Moloney said: "Any attempt by the police to say arresting him would have made no difference to what was to happen on June 13 2023, sheltering behind some notion that he may not have been convicted and may not have received a custodial sentence, would be cowardly, highly offensive and insulting to the intelligence of the brave families.

"If the police do say that executing a warrant for his arrest would have made no difference, then the people of Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire have a lot to worry about in relation to keeping them safe."

John Beggs KC, who is representing Nottinghamshire Police in the inquiry, said the force should have executed the warrant in a "timely manner", adding: "They failed to do so at all."

Hugh Davies KC, representing two Leicestershire Police officers who attended the incident at the warehouse weeks before the fatal stabbings, said that an officer did not view records of Calocane's previous encounters with police and if she had done so, "she would have been able to discover that [he] had an outstanding warrant for his arrest".

The inquiry, which is expected to hear evidence in London over the course of nine weeks, continues.