Leicestershire police have referred themselves to an independent watchdog over how they handled investigations into alleged assaults committed by Valdo Calocane weeks before he killed three people in Nottingham.
The force is being assessed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct to establish if any further action is required. The alleged incidents happened in May 2023, an IOPC spokesperson said.
It comes after it was revealed during Calocane’s sentencing hearing last week that in early May 2023, Calocane started working in a warehouse in Kegworth, Leicestershire, where he was accused of attacking two employees.
Five weeks later, he killed the students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar and a school caretaker, Ian Coates. Nottinghamshire police have also referred themselves to the IOPC.
In a statement, the watchdog said: “Following the sentencing of Valdo Calocane several incidents involving previous police contact with him have been brought to our attention which we were unaware of.
“As a result, we asked Nottinghamshire police and Leicestershire police to provide us with information promptly about those incidents to establish whether there are any matters that should be referred to us.
“We have this afternoon received a referral from Leicestershire police about its investigation into assaults Valdo Calocane was alleged to have committed on 5 May 2023, which we are assessing to determine what further action may be required from us.”
It added: “In relation to a warrant being issued for Mr Calocane’s arrest in 2022, Nottinghamshire police provided us with information about that shortly after the tragic events of 13 June 2023. We decided it did not meet our referral criteria because the contact had not been recent and no conduct issues were identified for any individual officer.
“Nottinghamshire police subsequently carried out an internal review of matters linked to the warrant and we have now also requested details of that learning exercise, in case there are any issues that would require our involvement.”
The victims’ families met Rishi Sunak; James Cleverly, the home secretary; Alex Chalk, the justice secretary; and Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, at Downing Street on Monday.
Speaking outside No 10, David Webber, the father of 19-year-old Barnaby, said: “We did get an assurance from the prime minister himself that if it’s required, they’re not ruling out a public inquiry [into the attack], and they will do a public inquiry.”
Following the meeting, the family members confirmed there would be a review into Nottinghamshire’s mental health services.
