Who is Valdo Calocane? All about ex-University of Nottingham student who went on violent knife rampage, killing 3

Valdo Calocane, a graduate of the University of Nottingham, went on a violent killing spree during the early hours of June 13, 2023, fatally stabbing three people in Nottingham.

Disclaimer: The following article talks about brutal murders and violent behavior that may be triggering to some. Readers' discretion is advised.

Calocane pled guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and, on January 23, 2024, the prosecutors accepted his plea deal. This means he will not stand trial for murder.

Valdo Calocane, aged 32, migrated to the UK when he was 16 years old. He has a documented history of mental illnesses, and was in and out of hospitals multiple times. According to the BBC, he allegedly assaulted two fellow employees just five weeks before he went on his murder rampage.

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Valdo Calocane "actively concealed" his psychosis from his parents

According to MailOnline, Valdo Calocane was brought up in a hard-working Christian family. He is a dual Guinea-Bissau/Portuguese national who migrated to the UK through his Portuguese citizenship.

His father moved to Pembrokeshire for construction work on an oil refinery in Milford Haven. Calcoane was the eldest of his siblings and was described as "quiet and withdrawn." He moved out of the family house when he was 17.

As per the BBC, he did not sit for his A-level exams as he believed he would not qualify and found menial labour to occupy his time. However, he later enrolled at the University of Nottingham in their mechanical engineering program and graduated in 2022.

While in university, Valdo Calocane was assessed under the Mental Health Act in 2020 after an incident in which he tried to break down doors in his student accommodation. He was found to be psychotic, but "posing a low risk to others." In the years leading up to his killings, Calocane hid his debilitating mental illness from his parents and was on and off anti-psychotic medication.

He was sectioned and reported to the authorities four separate times. This included an incident in which he followed a woman home during the lockdown and terrorized her to the extent that she had to jump out her window to escape.

According to The Sun, he even earned the bone-chilling nickname "serial killer" from his former flatmates after he put one of them in a headlock after being asked to clean up after himself in 2021.

"Everyone in the flat knew Valdo was not right. They nicknamed him "serial killer,"" a former flatmate said.

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A look into the ruthless stabbings that left three dead

Tragedy struck at 4 am on June 13, 2023, when 19-year-old university students Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber were stabbed to death by Valdo Calocane on their way back home from a nightclub. Their bodies were found barely five minutes away from their student accommodations.

According to the BBC, Valdo Calocane then made his way over to Milton Street, where he fatally stabbed 65-year-old Ian Coates, a school caretaker, and stole his van. He used it to mow down three people - leaving one man in critical condition and two others with mild injuries.

Valdo Calocane was arrested just hours after the killings at around 5:30 am, after being tasered by the police. During the hearing at Nottingham Crown Court, the court was told that Calocane was suffering from "extreme" mental illness at the time of the murders, including paranoid schizophrenia. Prosecutor Karim Khalil KC told the court:

"The plea to each offence of manslaughter is on the basis of diminished responsibility resulting from the medical condition of paranoid schizophrenia."

As per The Sun, Valdo Calocane admitted to three counts of manslaughter and three of attempted murder. He will reportedly be sentenced on January 24, 2024.