Valdo Calocane brother tells inquiry he felt powerless over killer’s mental ill health | Nottingham

The younger brother of Valdo Calocane, who killed three people in an attack in Nottingham, said he felt “powerless” over his brother’s deteriorating mental health and believed the violent messages his brother was sending were related to suicidal thoughts.

Valdo Cacocane, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2020, stabbed Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar (19) and caregiver Ian Coates (65) to death on June 13, 2023, and seriously injured three other people.

Calocane’s younger brother Elias gave evidence for the first time on Wednesday to the Nottingham inquiry into the events leading up to the attacks.

During his testimony, Elias was asked about several messages he received from Calocane before his first hospitalization in 2020, which included violence and paranoia about technology.

Calocane said in one message that he was “thinking of red rum,” which is murder spelled backwards. In another, Calocane said he wanted to “permanently harm” his brother.

Elias repeatedly told the inquest that from 2020 until the 2023 attacks in Nottingham he “believed” Calocane would take his own life.

The investigation revealed messages Calocane sent to Elias, describing “tremendous anguish, paranoia, anger, hatred” and having the “darkest thoughts”.

Elias told the inquest he believed the “I love you” text he received from his brother in January 2020 was a “farewell message”.

Inquiry barrister Rachel Langdale KC argued that the messages sent to Elias by Calocane did not make it clear that he would harm her. He replied: “If you consider the messages, there is no other topic other than Valdo, right?

“He talks about the situation, the viewing, that he felt great pain and that it was overwhelming.”

He added: “I think it might be hard for people to read these [text] There are now messages out there that don’t have the context of what happened on June 13th, and I completely understand that.

“At this point, Valdo had never been violent towards anyone. From what I remember, he was a very calm and peaceful person.”

Sophie Cartwright KC, representing survivors of the attacks, later suggested Elias was “fully aware” that the messages in 2020 referred to “violence and aggression” and “tried to downplay” them.

The inquest heard Elias saw Calocane twice between January 2020 and June 2023 (once in 2020, the other in 2022). Elias said this was partly due to Covid-19 restrictions, but also admitted he was “struggling” with his relationship with his brother and did not fully understand his mental health issues.

Pausing to collect his emotions, Elias said: “Part of it was a defense mechanism on my part, to deal with the loss in advance… every time my mother called me during that period, I thought this was going to happen… I found it really difficult.”

He stated that he experienced a “feeling of hopelessness” and that the feeling he gained from the services was that “if nothing happens, nothing will change” and said, “I felt powerless.”

The inquest also heard that Calocane called Elias and spoke to him for 44 minutes the day before the Nottingham attacks and the morning after he murdered students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar.

In the last phone call, Calocane told Elias that the job was “done” and asked his brother to take his parents out of the country.

Cartwright said Elias should have called 999 at this point and that “there was an opportunity” as Ian Coates had not been attacked at this point.

Elias said: “I think I say this over and over again; I had the long view that he wanted to commit suicide, and I think that’s what happened.”

Elias also said he discovered Calocane had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in October 2023, four months after the Nottingham attacks.

The bereaved families shook their heads in disagreement in response.

The investigation continues.

Additional reporting by PA Media