Police have told the public inquiry into the Nottingham attacks that the killings were not “reasonably foreseeable or preventable”, despite the force having encountered Valdo Calocane on 10 or 11 occasions between 2020 and 2022.
John Beggs KC, acting for the force, urged inquiry chairwoman Deborah Taylor KC to reject the notion that police errors amounted to missed chances to avert the tragedy.
He told the hearing during closing submissions: “The police cannot manage dangerous paranoid schizophrenics.”
The families of the victims have fiercely contested this stance.
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Their barrister, Tim Moloney KC, previously branded any suggestion that arresting Calocane would have changed nothing as “cowardly and insulting”.
Some bereaved relatives walked out of the hearing room as Mr Beggs continued his submissions.
The inquiry has heard that between 2020 and 2023, Calocane was involved in repeated violent episodes, including breaking into neighbours’ homes, attacking housemates and assaulting a police officer.
In one incident in May 2020, a woman known as Feven fell from a first-floor window while fleeing Calocane’s break-in, suffering a fractured spine requiring surgery.
An arrest warrant for Calocane remained unexecuted at the time of the June 2023 attacks.
Mr Beggs accepted that “the criticism of our failure to execute that warrant is entirely justified” but insisted it did not represent a missed opportunity to prevent the killings.
The inquiry also learned that documents listing explosives, including references to TNT and nitrate fertiliser, were discovered in a bin at Calocane’s address but were not disclosed to the CPS or psychiatric experts until June this year.
Further violent assaults on warehouse colleagues in Eastwood and Normanton were similarly withheld from the inquiry team until after public hearings had concluded.
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Mr Beggs described the police response on June 13, 2023, as well managed, but MS Taylor challenged him directly over the treatment of Ian Coates’s body, which lay at the scene for between 12 and 15 hours.
A forensic tent took more than two hours to arrive.
Mr Beggs conceded the response was “not saying it was perfect” but maintained the delay did not compromise any evidence.
The force incident manager initially classified the stabbings of Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar as a “robbery”.
Families endured hours without confirmation their loved ones had died.
Ms Taylor also pressed Beggs on the absence of any apology in his submissions.
He responded: “If an apology had not been proffered which I had not appreciated then I proffer it on behalf of my client.”
Two officers were disciplined for sharing insensitive WhatsApp messages, and the force admitted failing to communicate with families in a “consistent, clear and timely manner”.
Leicestershire Police acknowledged that three of its officers committed a “series of errors” when dealing with reports that Calocane had attacked two warehouse workers at Arvarto in Kegworth in May 2023.
James Berry KC, representing the force, accepted their failure to spot the outstanding warrant was a “missed opportunity” but questioned whether Nottinghamshire Police would have acted on it regardless.
The CPS defended its acceptance of Calocane’s manslaughter pleas, with Jacqueline Carey KC calling it the “correct legal decision” and describing it as “such a clear diminished responsibility case.”
Both forces argued that any inquiry recommendations would require new government funding to be effective.
Ms Taylor indicated she would deliver her final report by May 2027.
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