🔴 FEAR OF MARIJUANA TESTING PREVENTED RECALL: NOTTINGHAM ATTACK INQUIRY

A judge-led public inquiry has begun examining the circumstances that allowed the Nottingham attacks of 13 June 2023 to occur, with evidence expected from more than 100 witnesses across health services, police and other public bodies.

The proceedings will scrutinise a sequence of decisions taken in the years before the killings carried out by Valdo Calocane, who later admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility and attempted murder and was made subject to an indefinite hospital order.

Before turning to the significant developments of the enquiry so far, it is necessary to highlight a critical angle that UK Courts Live believe warrants detailed examination.

Sources have revealed that Valdo Calocane was explicitly warned to abstain from cannabis after being diagnosed with schizophrenia, due to the identified link between the drug and his violent psychotic relapses.

Following his final hospital discharge in February 2022, however, there was no mandatory drug-testing regime in place to monitor whether he was using cannabis, despite the known risk it posed.

Monitoring of his substance use was later described as superficial, “and and he was never subjected to compulsory testing even as concerns about relapse persisted.

Further, he was managed under a voluntary care plan rather than a legally enforceable Community Treatment Order, leaving clinicians without any statutory mechanism to enforce abstinence.

This created a clear blind spot: compliance with a key safety measure — avoiding cannabis — was never objectively verified. A subsequent independent investigation has recommended that, for high-risk patients, refusing a drug test should trigger immediate hospital recall. Yet there is a critical blind spot, as there is no statutory requirement for mandatory testing, meaning the central gap identified in this case remains unresolved.
Amid concerns that stricter enforcement of abstinence could potentially have altered the course of events, UK Courts Live will monitor closely what the enquiry concludes regarding the absence of compulsory cannabis monitoring.

So far, the inquiry has heard that, before his escalating outbursts led to later detention, mental health professionals decided not to detain Valdo Calocane in 2020 after considering research on the over-representation of young black men in detention. This decision is now under examination as part of a review into the “events, acts and omissions” preceding the attacks.
Counsel to the inquiry Rachel Langdale KC said clinicians had initially been “leaning towards” sectioning him following a violent incident at student accommodation in May 2020, when he repeatedly kicked and punched a neighbour’s door before being restrained.

A subsequent assessment identified a first episode of psychosis, but a crisis team intervention was judged to be a “safe and reasonable alternative” to detention after staff considered research evidence on racial disparities in compulsory admissions.

Calocane was prescribed medication and placed under home treatment with twice-daily visits from the crisis team following his release.

Within weeks, the inquiry heard, he was arrested again after repeatedly kicking another neighbour’s door, causing the occupant to jump from a first-floor window and sustain serious spinal injuries.
He was then detained under the Mental Health Act for approximately three weeks, the first of four hospital admissions before the attacks.

Evidence presented to the hearings indicates that he repeatedly disengaged from treatment and stopped taking prescribed medication shortly after discharge on multiple occasions.

A report by the Care Quality Commission identified a “series of errors, omissions and misjudgments” in his care between May 2020 and September 2022, warning that unresolved issues posed an “inherent risk to patient and public safety”.

The inquiry was also told that he attended the headquarters of MI5 in May 2021 claiming to have information about a case and requesting arrest, two days after his mother contacted crisis services expressing concern he was not taking medication. On another occasion he forced entry into a property and assaulted an occupant shortly after discharge from hospital.

Family members had raised concerns about the timing of his release from care, including warnings that discharge in June 2020 was premature. He was re-detained less than a month later following further violent behaviour.

The hearings, expected to run for several weeks, will examine the roles of health services, police and other agencies in the period before, during and after the attacks, and consider whether systemic failures contributed to Calocane remaining in the community despite repeated contact with authorities.

In a joint statement issued ahead of proceedings, the families of the three deceased victims said the process was intended to expose “systemic neglect” and examine missed opportunities by mental health services, law enforcement and judicial bodies.

A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said supporting the inquiry was an “absolute priority” and that the organisation was committed to learning from its findings to prevent similar incidents in future.

The inquiry continues….