Doctors claim race research did not sway their decision to release Valdo Calocane just an hour before he triggered a terrifying incident where a woman jumped from a first-floor window, The Nottingham Inquiry has heard.
Psychotic Break Sparks Woman’s Spine Injury
Calocane, a former mechanical engineering student diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, went into psychosis on 24 May 2020. He repeatedly kicked the door of a property, causing the 22-year-old woman inside to leap out the window in a desperate bid to escape. She severely damaged her spine.
Race Research ‘Considered’ But Didn’t Influence Decision, Say Docs
- The inquiry revealed doctors had been “leaning towards” sectioning Calocane after his arrest on suspicion of criminal damage.
- Counsel to the Inquiry, Rachel Langdale KC said the professionals “considered the research evidence that shows over-representation of young black males in detention,” but still released him.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Khuram Malik, involved in Calocane’s mental health assessment, told the inquiry: “When we make a decision, it’s based on clinical presentation. The discussion about race didn’t happen and didn’t influence the decision.” Another psychiatrist, Dr Rahul Gandhi, who assessed Calocane at the time, admitted he mentioned considering race research in an NHS interview but now says he was “just hypothesising” due to poor memory. “Demographics don’t change my practice,” he stated. “Patients are admitted or discharged based on severity, risk and need. The colour doesn’t come into the picture at all.”
Calocane’s Killing Spree and Current Detention
Three years later, in June 2023, Calocane unleashed deadly violence, fatally stabbing undergraduates Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, as they walked home from a night out. He also murdered grandfather Ian Coates, 65, and attempted to kill three others with a van in Nottingham. Calocane has been admitted to manslaughter and three counts of attempted murder. Prosecutors accepted his not guilty pleas to murder, and he is now detained indefinitely in a high-security hospital. The Nottingham Inquiry continues to probe the circumstances leading to these tragic events.
