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 for months in what was described by a police chief 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" 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.

Opening the inquiry hearings on Monday - inquiry counsel Rachel Langdale KC, speaking about the warrant, said: "Temporary deputy chief constable Rob Griffin will address this in oral evidence - he has described it as 'a serious systemic operational failure on the part of Nottinghamshire Police'."

In addition, about a month before the attacks and while the warrant was still active, Calocane was alleged to have assaulted two colleagues at a factory in Kegworth, Leicestershire, but he was not arrested at the time having reportedly been escorted off site by security.

Calocane stabbed students Barnaby and Grace, both 19, to death as they walked home from a night out in Ilkeston Road, Nottingham.

He then killed Ian, 65, before stealing his van and driving it into three pedestrians - Wayne Birkett, Marcin Gawronski and Sharon Miller in Nottingham city centre.

At the time of the attacks, the warrant for Calocane's arrest had been outstanding for 10 months.

Moloney said police "just left him out on the streets".

He added: "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."

But the barrister asked the chairwoman of the inquiry to consider whether it is realistic that Calocane would have been prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned at that time while he was suffering with mental illness.

He added: "We respectfully suggest not but we understand why the bereaved and survivors are concerned by the failure to execute the warrant, and I repeat, we do not seek to defend that failure."

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".

Addressing the events of 13 June 2023, Moloney told the inquiry that recordings of police calls from the morning of the attacks were "seemingly lost or unavailable", which he described as "astonishing".

He added: "The inquiry may consider whether this lack of consistent, contemporary record is reflective of the care with which Nottinghamshire Police approached the events of June 13 2023."

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