Triple killer Valdo Calocane discharged - because healthcare workers couldn't find him

Schizophrenic Valdo Calocane was released from mental health services back to his GP just months before he murdered three people, because healthcare workers were unable to locate him, an inquiry has been told . Former mechanical engineering student Calocane had been under the care of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust for two years, during which time a consultant psychiatrist cautioned that he would ultimately kill somebody. In September 2022, Calocane was discharged by the trust's Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) service after failing to attend appointments or make any contact with the team. Months later, he stabbed to death students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, in Ilkeston Road, Nottingham, and caretaker Ian Coates, 65, in the early hours of June 13 2023, before attempting to murder three further victims using a stolen van in the city centre. Emma Robinson, a former team leader at the trust, told the inquiry - which is examining the events leading up to the attacks - on Tuesday that Calocane's care co-ordinator Gary Carter had visited his address, telephoned him and dispatched a letter, all of which went unanswered. Tim Moloney KC, representing the families of Mr Webber, Ms O'Malley-Kumar and Mr Coates, challenged her: "When you discharged, did you think about the risk to the public from this man, who EIP would not visit alone, would not visit at home unless absolutely necessary? "Did you consider the risks to the public from that man?" She replied: "We did consider that, but we felt that within the time of decision we had no holding powers, we couldn't work with him, we couldn't find him at this point. We just couldn't find him to work with him." The inquiry heard that Calocane's last engagement with the EIP team had been by phone on July 16, when he lied about being abroad. Mr Moloney asked "Had you lost him?", to which Ms Robinson replied: "Yes." The lawyer asked: "Is that primarily why you discharged him?" Ms Robinson said: "Yes, because we couldn't find him to treat him or engage him." Mr Moloney said that by discharging Calocane to his GP, the trust "left him to the general public to deal with". Ms Robinson said: "I wouldn't say the general public to deal with. It's not uncommon for us to discharge non-engaging patients, unfortunately, at that time. I think things are very different now." I n a statement written by Ms Robinson outlining her reasoning for discharging Calocane, she said: "It's dire for me to think this now, but I used to think sometimes is it worse to have somebody open on caseloads that you're not engaging with? Should we be discharging them instead? "What does it look like if something happens and we've got this person open to us and we haven't seen him for months and months and months?" When asked to clarify this statement by counsel to the inquiry Craig Carr, Ms Robinson said: "I suppose, from previous experience, I'm worried about how that's looked - that we've got somebody that's open to us, and perhaps we've not been able to treat them for nine months, or find them. So sometimes the decision's better to discharge back to the GP." Mr Carr suggested this could be understood as Ms Robinson indicating it's preferable to remove someone "off the books" if they cannot be located. The witness responded: "It feels safer to have somebody discharged back to the queue of the GP, than open to a secondary service when we can't engage them, or we can't do anything for them." Chairwoman Deborah Taylor noted that Calocane's GP was "effectively sent very little information" following his discharge. Ms Robinson acknowledged: "I accept that." The witness also informed the inquiry that the trust failed to notify Nottinghamshire Police that Calocane had been discharged from its care. The inquiry continues.