Valdo Calocane ‘fell off radar’ of mental health services

Campaigners have said that more lives would be lost unless mental health services were reformed. Figures show 120 people each year are killed by people with mental illnesses.

Julian Hendy, whose father was killed by a psychotic man with a long history of mental ill health 17 years ago, said health professionals must be “more assertive” and work better with other agencies such as the police.

Valdo Calocane, who was sentenced on Thursday to an indefinite hospital order after being convicted of manslaughter of three people in Nottingham, had fallen off the radar of mental health services, which allowed him to avoid taking his medicine.

Hendy accused Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which was responsible for Calocane’s care, of “washing their hands” of him.

He said: “It’s not responsible and it’s not safe. It doesn’t look after people properly … That hasn’t helped him at all, or protected his rights at all, because he has now committed this terrible offence.”

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Source: The Times, 26 January 2024