Nottingham inquiry prosecutor ‘does not recall knowing Calocane had students’ names in weapons bag’

The Nottingham attack prosecutor has said he does not recall knowing that triple killer Valdo Calocane had carried the names of three students in his weapons bag, but the information would not have affected his decisions on the case.

Calocane is detained indefinitely in a high-security hospital after prosecutors accepted his not guilty pleas to murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility in January 2024.

The former University of Nottingham mechanical engineering student fatally stabbed undergraduates at the same university, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, on Ilkeston Road, Nottingham, in the early hours of June 13 2023.

He went on to kill grandfather Ian Coates, 65, in the Mapperley Park area around an hour later, stealing his van and using it to run over pedestrians at two locations in Nottingham city centre.

At the Nottingham Inquiry in London, Karim Khalil KC, the prosecutor in the case, said Calocane’s victims were not “pre-selected”.

However, Rachel Langdale KC, for the inquiry, put to him on Monday that the first two people Calocane killed were students walking home from a night out in a student area, and he had the names of three other students on a piece of a paper in his bag.

She also questioned Mr Khalil on Calocane allegedly assaulting and fixating on his former student flatmate.

Mr Khalil, who prosecuted Soham murderer Ian Huntley, said: “I was not aware that he had any knowledge of either of his first two victims or that they were, in fact, students.”

Counsel responded: “Well they were in a student area, it wouldn’t have been difficult to deduce they were students… you’ve seen the footage, would that have been difficult to assess that there were likely students walking back from a night out?”

Mr Khalil said: “They may have been but his third victim plainly wasn’t a student and nor were his fourth, fifth and sixth victims students.

“So I didn’t consider that a targeting of students provided an appropriate explanation for his conduct that night because four of his six victims plainly were not.”

Counsel asked him: “Were you aware in that bag of weapons there was a piece of paper with three students names on it, three former flatmates names on it?”

The prosecutor said: “I don’t now recall that, I’ve become aware of it certainly with time.”

Ms Langdale asked: “Would you like to have been aware of that? With this stash of weapons that had been prepared and collected on a particular basis, would you like to have seen names on a piece of paper?”

Mr Khalil said: “I don’t see how it would have affected my decisions in this case.”

This came after the tribunal was shown photographs of two knives and a dagger that Calocane had at the time of the attack.

Ms Langdale also asked the prosecutor about allegations of Calocane fixating on and assaulting his former flatmate, a student named only as Sebastian.

Sebastian previously told the tribunal that Calocane grabbed his shirt and pushed him against the wall, and days later he heard someone in the flat try to open his bedroom door while he was sleeping.

The inquiry has heard that Calocane then followed Sebastian home on two occasions, which he reported to the police.

In his witness statement, Mr Khalil said the police’s decision to take no further action on Sebastian’s allegations was “carefully considered and sensible”, the tribunal heard.

Ms Langdale put to him: “It speaks for itself that you relied on what the officers had recorded at the time to understand those events, and, in effect, what may have been the coincidences, and didn’t amount to very much from your perspective as the prosecutor at this time – is that a fair summary?”

Mr Khalil replied: “No, it’s not that it didn’t amount to very much, it’s that, as described, I didn’t see how it would alter my judgment as to the proper conclusions to reach in this case.”

He was asked if Calocane’s assault on Sebastian and his “persistent interest trying to initiate contact with him through the telephone” would have been relevant to his views on Calocane’s ability “to plan and consider” what he was doing.

Mr Khalil said: “When I prepared the opening in this case I made it absolutely clear that the Crown’s case was that – although the individuals hadn’t been pre-selected – his conduct that night, early morning, involved extensive, comprehensive planning.”

This included acquiring weapons, changing clothing and Sim cards and hiding in the shadows.

“All of this was indicative of planning and so to find that he has had an obsession with a particular person previously adds to that aspect but it doesn’t actually – in the context of what he did in this case – alter any of the decisions that would have flowed from it”, Mr Khalil said.

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