Nottingham attack suspect Valdo Calocane, 31, ‘comes from lovely church-going family’, neighbours reveal
THE Nottingham suspect comes from a “lovely church-going family”, neighbours have revealed.
Valdo Calocane, 31, was arrested on suspicion of murder after 19-year-old students Barney Webber and Grace Kumar and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, were knifed to death in the street in Nottingham.
Calocane, understood to be from Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Nottingham last summer.
He was said to be “very bright” but suffering with his mental health.
Calocane went to Sir Thomas Picton High School and his parents are members of Calvary Church in his hometown of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire.
They are “an amazing couple”, according to Hazel Vaughan, wife of the pastor of the church Adrian.
Calocane was Tasered and cuffed after allegedly running at cops with a knife on Maples Street in Nottingham at 5.30am on Tuesday.
It came moments after a van stolen from victim Mr Coates was used to ram into three pedestrians – leaving one, factory worker Wayne Birkett, fighting for his life.
Some 90 minutes before the arrest Grace and Barney’s bodies were found in the street just 300 yards from their halls of residence on Ilkeston Road.
Mr Coates’ body was found two miles away from the students, on Magdala Road, at 5am.
And a man matching the description of the suspect was captured on CCTV trying to break into a homeless shelter through an open window in Mapperley at 4.08am.
The force was granted an extension to keep the suspect in custody for another 36 hours at around 3.15pm on Wednesday.
And neighbours have now told how Calocane’s family are “lovely” and regularly attend church.
Marlene Raymond, who lives next to suspect Calocane’s family in Wales, said his parents had been “lovely neighbours for over 15 years”.
She told the MailOnline: “I can’t quite believe it. He came to the church in his early years when he was very young but he has been gone for many years. All I know is that he left home.”
Calocane and his brother were “well educated and well brought up children”, she added.
His mum is an NHS nurse and dad is a carer, she claimed.
Their 1960s mid-terrace house stands on a former military families’ housing estate.
There was no answer yesterday at his supposed family home in the town.
While studying at university Calocane lived close to where Grace and Barney were killed.
He studied at the same university as victims Grace and Barney, but Nottinghamshire Police has said this is not thought to be connected to the killings.
A former housemate, who lived with him for a year in 2020, told the Daily Mail Calocane had told her about his deteriorating mental health.
She said he “saw and heard things that weren’t there”, adding: “He seemed like a normal guy, I didn’t know him too well but he didn’t so drugs or drink much.
“He came from Guinea originally but had been in the UK for some time.
“What he did tell me was that he struggled with his mental health.”