Killer 'should have been arrested before attacks'

The former chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police has admitted triple killer Valdo Calocane should have been arrested before he carried out his deadly attacks.

Valdo Calocane stabbed to death Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates, and tried to kill three others in a spate of attacks in Nottingham on 13 June 2023.

A warrant for Calocane's arrest was issued in September 2022 after he failed to appear in court for assaulting a police officer in 2021, but it was never executed and remained outstanding at the time of the attacks.

On Friday, Kate Meynell - who retired from the force three days ago - said she accepted there were "no excuses" for why Calocane was not arrested.

The inquiry, which is being overseen by retired senior judge Deborah Taylor KC, started hearing evidence on 23 February and will continue for a total of nine weeks at Mary Ward House in London.

Calocane - who is being referred to in the inquiry as VC - was expected to appear in court in September 2022, in connection with the assault of PC Barnaby Pritchard a year earlier while he was helping to detain Calocane under the Mental Health Act.

The inquiry has heard the warrant was never carried out by Nottinghamshire Police.

Leicestershire Police was called on that occasion and despite officers looking at a log, which showed the outstanding warrant, again it was not pursued.

Meynell told the inquiry: "I accept on behalf of Nottinghamshire Police that VC should have been arrested in relation to that."

Counsel to the inquiry, Rachel Langdale KC, said: "At this point there can be no excuses institutionally for that, can there, that this was identified and he could have been picked up?"

Meynell replied: "That's correct."

The inquiry also heard the warrant was issued on a police computer system, but it went to an inbox that was not being monitored regularly.

However, Meynell told the inquiry she did not agree that executing the warrant could have changed the course of events that took place months later.

She was challenged on that by Tim Moloney KC, who is representing the bereaved families.

When pressed, Meynell agreed that had Calocane appeared in court, the court would have wanted to know more about Calocane's history of previous incidents and admissions to hospital.

She also accepted that if Calocane was bailed, he would have been bailed with conditions.

Moloney KC said: "So to be clear are you, as the former chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police, saying to the chair that it would have made no difference?"

Meynell said: "I couldn't be sure what difference it would have made."

Moloney KC replied: "Precisely."

Meynell added since the killings, the force had "completely changed" the way warrants were managed and added they were reviewed on a daily basis.

Meynell previously said she would continue to undertake duties in relation to the inquiry and give evidence, if asked to.