Nottingham attack: Valdo Calocane charged with murder after Barnaby Webber, Grace Kumar, both 19, & caretaker killed
A SUSPECT has today been charged with murder after two 19-year-old students were stabbed to death and a caretaker was killed in a van rampage.
Valdo Calocane, 31, was arrested by cops in Nottingham on Tuesday after the horrific 90-minute knife and van rampage that claimed the lives of Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates.
Nottingham Police today confirmed Valdo Calocane, aged 31, has been charged with three counts of murder.
He has also been charged with three counts of attempted murder after three people were struck by a van.
He will appear at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Saturday.
Chief Constable Kate Meynell, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “These charges are a significant development and arise as a result of our thorough investigation into these horrific incidents that occurred in our city.
“Our thoughts remain with the families and friends of all those affected by these attacks, and we will continue to provide support and reassurance.”
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.
The horror attack first unfolded at 4am Tuesday morning, when students Barney and Grace were brutally stabbed on Ilkeston Road, 300 yards from their halls, while walking home from a nightclub.
Terrified bystanders dialled 999 at 4.04am.
Meanwhile, at 4.08am a man clad all in black was captured on CCTV trying to break into a homeless shelter four miles away on Mapperley Road.
He failed after a resident punched him as he tried to climb through an open window on the ground floor.
Cops said the man matched the description of their suspect.
Mr Coates’ body was found just yards away at 5.30am, after his van was used to ram into three pedestrians on Milton Street – leaving one, factory worker Wayne Birkett, fighting for his life.
Calocane was Tasered and cuffed after allegedly running at cops with a knife on Maples Street in Nottingham at 5.36am.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has said the driver of a marked police car had sight of a van for “less than a minute” before it collided with pedestrians during the Nottingham attacks.
In a statement, a spokesman for the IOPC said: “We have viewed dashcam footage from the police car and can confirm the officer, in a single-crewed vehicle en route to a linked incident, had sight of the van for less than a minute before the collision in the South Sherwood Street area. The officer immediately stopped to provide first aid.”
It added that “our investigation will consider whether the actions of the van driver were influenced by the police car’s presence”.
What we know:
- “Major incident” declared in Nottingham and six roads closed
- Police confirm two people found dead on Ilkeston Road just after 4am
- Three others injured – Wayne Birkett critically – after van tried to mow them down on Milton Street
- Valdo Calocane, 31, was charged with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder
- Terror cops with assault rifles raid home on Ilkeston Road
- Cops reveal they’re not looking for anyone else in connection to tragedy
- It was revealed the Nottingham suspect is a foreign national with “mental health issues”
- The lone-wolf attacker was a former University of Nottingham student with a “lovely church-going family”
- Police say they believe Calocane stole the van before mowing people down
- Grace Kumar and Barnaby Webster, both 19, were named as victims of the attack
- School caretaker Ian Coates, 65, was named as the third victim
- Timeline reveals how horror unfolded
- The suspect tried to get inside the open window of a bail hostel minutes after the attack
HOW THE HORROR ATTACK HAPPENED
A KNIFEMAN went on an horror rampage in Nottingham on Tuesday morning, killing three people:
4.04am
Police were called to Ilkeston Road after two people were attacked by a man with a knife.
The two students, Barnaby Webber and Grace Kumar, both 19, were unresponsive when police arrived.
A witness told the BBC he saw a young man and young woman being stabbed.
The man, who did not give his name, said he heard “awful, blood-curdling screams” and looked out of his window to see a “black guy dressed all in black with a hood and rucksack grappling with some people”.
He told the broadcaster: “She was screaming, ‘Help!’ I just wish I’d shouted something out of the window to unnerve the assailant.
“I saw him stab the lad first and then the woman. It was repeated stabbing – four or five times. The lad collapsed in the middle of the road.
“The girl stumbled towards a house and didn’t move. The next minute she had disappeared down the side of a house and that’s where they found her.
“I’d say it all happened within five or six minutes. The attacker then just walked off up Ilkeston Road towards town, as calm as anything.”
4.08am
A man “matching the description of the suspect” tried to gain access to supported living complex in Mapperley Road.
CCTV footage showed he was hit in the face walking away.
5am
Police officers knock on doors in Ilkeston Road asking for CCTV footage, according to residents.
Police believe the suspect then attacked Ian Coates and stole his van.
A passerby dialled 999 and police arrived to find the school caretaker dead on Magdela Road with knife injuries.
5.30am
The stolen van was then used to drive at three people waiting at a bus stop on Milton Street.
Lynn Haggitt said: “He looked in his mirror, saw a police car behind him. He then quickened up. There were two people, two in the corner, he went straight into these two people.
“The woman went on the kerb, the man went up in the air. There was such a bang. I wish I never saw it. It’s really shaken me up.
“I went over. Perhaps I shouldn’t have gone over but I wanted to see if I could help.
“He (the van driver) backed up after he hit… and drove up Parliament Street.
“The woman was sitting up on the kerb. She looked OK. The man was laying down but then he got up, sat on the side waiting for an ambulance,” Ms Haggitt said.
She added: “I can’t believe he was able to get up after the head wound.”
Wayne Birkett was taken to hospital in a critical condition while two others suffered minor injuries.
Just after 5.30am
Police Tasered a man after he abandoned the van and was said to have run at cops with a knife on Bentinck Road.
He was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Barnaby’s family and friends visited the scene of the attack on Friday.
In a statement his family said: “We chose to come to this dreadful space because we owe it to both Barnaby and Grace to let them know we are here.
“As has been expressed by so many already, heartbreak cannot begin to describe our loss.
“As painful as this tribute today has been, it is yet another step forward on the very long dark journey we have been forced to take.
“We would like to thank all at Nottingham University and the police for their professionalism, diligence, respect and care they have shown during this time.”
Crowds gathered in Market Square in the city centre on Thursday for a vigil where Barnaby’s heartbroken mum Emma said the “monstrous individual” responsible “will not define us”.
Grace’s dad Dr Sanjoy Kumar, mum and brother stood together as they told how their family had “become three”.
Her mum Sinead said: “My beautiful baby girl, she wasn’t just beautiful on the outside, you must have seen her pictures, she was so beautiful on the inside. She was a treasure, an adored child.”
Barnaby and Grace’s dads fought back tears at a vigil on Wednesday as they told devastated pupils to “look after each other”.
Barnaby’s devastated family previously described their “complete devastation” at the “senseless murder of our son”.
His parents David and Emma Webber added that he was a “beautiful, brilliant, bright young man, with everything in life to look forward to”.
They said: “At 19 he was just at the start of his journey into adulthood and was developing into a wonderful young man.
“As parents we are enormously proud of everything he achieved and all the plans he had made.
“His brother is bereft beyond belief.”
Barney, who has a younger brother Charles, was a talented hockey player and celebrated winning the under-14 county championship with schoolmates in 2018.
Grace played hockey for Southgate in London and had made it into the England squad for her age group.
Grace’s dad Dr Sanjoy Kumar saved victims of a gang stabbing in Chingford, Essex, in 2009.
He helped move three knifed teens, aged 15, 16 and 17 to a makeshift trauma room in his surgery before 999 crews arrived.
It is understood Barney and Grace met through their shared love of hockey.
On Monday, hundreds of students went to Pryzm for its Quids In! Imma Student Get Me Out Of Here night until 4am.