Search

07 Sept 2025

Triple killer Valdo Calocane is most evil person on the planet – victim’s son

Triple killer Valdo Calocane is most evil person on the planet – victim’s son

A man who “brutally massacred” three people in Nottingham is the “most evil person on the planet”, one of the victim’s sons has said ahead of the killer’s sentencing.

Valdo Calocane, 32, was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia when he stabbed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, to death with a dagger in Nottingham in the early hours of last June 13.

The killer, a graduate of the University of Nottingham, is expected to be sentenced on Thursday at the city’s Crown Court after admitting the manslaughter of the three victims by reason of diminished responsibility.

He also admitted three counts of attempted murder relating to pedestrians he deliberately targeted with a van he had stolen from Mr Coates.

Speaking to the BBC ahead of his sentencing, Mr Coates’s son James said he feels “hatred” towards his father’s killer.

He said: “He is, to me, the most evil person on this planet. He went out and brutally massacred three people and then attempted to kill another three, but luckily he was caught.”

Lee Coates, another of the school caretaker’s sons, said he was “super angry” but trying to stay composed as Calocane’s sentencing continues for a third day.

He described his actions as “calculated and premeditated”, adding: “He has to spend his life behind bars, otherwise we have been let down once again by this country and this judicial system.”

Judge Mr Justice Turner, who will sentence Calocane, will decide between imposing a “hybrid” life sentence with a hospital direction or a hospital order under the Mental Health Act.

On Wednesday, Calocane’s barrister Peter Joyce KC urged the judge not to consider a whole-life order, saying paranoid schizophrenia is an “unwanted visitor” which “stalked down” a man of previously impeccable character and behaviour.

To continue reading this article,
please subscribe and support local journalism!


Subscribing will allow you access to all of our premium content and archived articles.

Subscribe

To continue reading this article for FREE,
please kindly register and/or log in.


Registration is absolutely 100% FREE and will help us personalise your experience on our sites. You can also sign up to our carefully curated newsletter(s) to keep up to date with your latest local news!

Register / Login

Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.

Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.