PROSECUTORS have accepted the manslaughter pleas of a man with connections to Pembrokeshire who killed three people in Nottingham.
Prosecutor Karim Khalil KC told Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday that the families of university students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, had been consulted before deciding to accept the pleas entered by Valdo Calocane, 32.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder, instead pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to “serious” mental illness.
Calocane, who answered to the name Adam Mendes in court, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to the manslaughter of Mr Coates and that of university students Barnaby and Grace.
He also admitted attempting to murder three pedestrians who were hit by a van he had stolen from Mr Coates on June 13 last year.
Calocane’s barrister Peter Joyce KC told a previous hearing the defendant “does not dispute the physical facts of the prosecution’s case” but was suffering from “extreme” mental illness at the time of the incident.
Barnaby Webber was studying history at the University of Nottingham (Nottinghamshire Police/PA)
Calocane fatally knifed Miss O’Malley-Kumar and Mr Webber, who were studying medicine and history at the University of Nottingham respectively, on Ilkeston Road at around 4am on June 13.
Mr Coates was then found dead in Magdala Road around an hour later, having also been stabbed “repeatedly”.
The defendant then used Mr Coates’ van to drive at three pedestrians, Wayne Birkett, Marcin Gawronski and Sharon Miller, in Milton Street and South Sherwood Street.
Grace O’Malley-Kumar was studying medicine (Nottinghamshire Police/PA)
They all survived the attack.
The prosecution’s decision to accept the pleas entered by Calocane in November means he will not face trial for murder.
Calocane, who appeared in the dock wearing a dark suit and light blue shirt, now faces a sentencing hearing expected to last for around two days.
He is believed to have lived in Haverfordwest and attended Sir Thomas Picton School, before graduating from the University of Nottingham.
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