Taunton man's killer has pleas of manslaughter guilt accepted

The decision was made on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to Valdo Calocane having 'serious' mental illness, a judge was told.

Prosecutor Karim Khalil KC told Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday, January 23, that the families of 19-year-old university students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, had been consulted before deciding to accept the pleas entered by Calocane.

The prosecutor told the court that three psychiatrists had assessed Valdo Calocane, concluding that despite suffering paranoid schizophrenia, he would have understood the nature of his conduct in attacking three of his victims with a dagger described in court as “a double-edged fighting knife”

Valdo Calocane will not face trial for murder after his pleas of not guilty of murder and guilty to manslaughter were accepted. (Image: Nottinghamshire Police/ PA Wire)

Calocane, who answered to the name Adam Mendes in court, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to the manslaughter of Mr Coates and that of university students Barnaby and Grace.

He also admitted attempting to murder three pedestrians who were hit by a van he had stolen from Mr Coates on June 13 last year.

Calocane’s barrister Peter Joyce KC told a previous hearing the defendant “does not dispute the physical facts of the prosecution’s case” but was suffering from “extreme” mental illness at the time of the incident.

Calocane fatally knifed Miss O’Malley-Kumar and Mr Webber, who were studying medicine and history at the University of Nottingham respectively, on Ilkeston Road at around 4am on June 13.

Mr Coates was then found dead in Magdala Road around an hour later, having also been stabbed “repeatedly”.

The defendant then used Mr Coates’ van to drive at three pedestrians, Wayne Birkett, Marcin Gawronski and Sharon Miller, in Milton Street and South Sherwood Street, who all survived the attack.

The prosecution’s decision to accept the pleas entered by Calocane in November means he will not face trial for murder.

Calocane, who appeared in the dock wearing a dark suit and light blue shirt, now faces a sentencing hearing expected to last for around two days.

Mr Webber, from Taunton in Somerset, was a keen cricketer and “an extraordinary ‘ordinary’ person”, his family said.

Hundreds gathered at the Taunton Minister on July 14 to pay their respects at his funeral.

In a joint statement, Barnaby and Grace's families said: “We will leave no stone unturned in ensuring justice is properly served for Barnaby and Grace, and for all those affected by the devastating events of that evening."

Ms O’Malley-Kumar, a hockey player from Woodford in London, was described by her family as being “loved endlessly by all” and “resilient and wise beyond her years”.

Two of Mr Coates’ sons said his death had “rocked everyone’s world”, adding: “Nobody deserves this but he definitely didn’t.”