Three police officers are under investigation over alleged assaults by Valdo Calocane before he killed three people in Nottingham, the police watchdog said.
Leicestershire police officers could face charges of possible misconduct as a result of how they investigated allegations against the triple killer a month before the deaths of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said. ).
Two police officers and a sergeant have been informed that they are being investigated regarding the progress of the investigation, the IOPC said.
It is alleged that Calocane assaulted two colleagues in an industrial estate in Kegworth, Leicester, in May last year.
The following month he killed students Mr Webber and Mrs O’Malley-Kumar, along with caretaker Mr Coates, in a knife attack in Nottingham.
Leicestershire Police turned to the watchdog in February this year. A spokesperson said: “The force is actively co-operating with the IOPC investigation.”
Separately, the watchdog is also examining a number of complaints made by families of Nottingham victims.
Investigators are analyzing what information was available to police about Calocane before the June 13, 2023 murders.
Nottingham attack victims remembered
They are also examining:
• Nottinghamshire Police decisions and actions relating to Calocane between September 2021 and June 13 last year;
• How the force informed families about the death of their loved ones and the support it provided them;
• Whether senior officers followed relevant policies and procedures in their supervision of officers investigating the events of June 13 and subsequent events – including communications with the family and public about the treatment of inappropriate WhatsApp messages and potential sharing of information about the case.
The IOPC said all Nottinghamshire Police officers are currently being treated as witnesses, meaning there is no indication of any wrongdoing at this stage.
‘Killer treated as a patient and not as a criminal’
Calocane, 32 years old, was delivered a hospital order for an indefinite period for the manslaughter by diminishing responsibility of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates, and for the attempted murder of three other people last June.
The attacker’s guilty pleas were accepted after medical evidence showed he has paranoid schizophrenia.
The judge at sentencing said he would be detained in a maximum security hospital “very likely” for the rest of his life.
Attorney General Victoria Prentis referred to the sentence to the Court of Appeal in February, arguing that it was “unduly lenient”.
At a hearing in May, lawyers said Calocane should receive a “hybrid” life sentence, where he would first be treated for his paranoid schizophrenia before serving the rest of his prison sentence.
But senior judges at the Royal Courts of Justice in London later ruled that the sentence was not unduly lenient.
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