Valdo Calocane has been sentenced to to a indefinite hospital order after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility and attempted murder.

The 32 year old fatally stabbed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, on the streets of Nottingham on the morning of June 13.

Sentencing Valdo Calocane at Nottingham Crown Court Justice Turner told Valdo Calocane: "None of your victims were known to you. But for the voices inside your head … you had no reason to harm any of them. You still labour under the strong impression that the voices are real. You were and remain dangerous."

Saying he was required to consider the appropriateness of a mental health "disposal" of the case, the judge noted that Calocane still believed he was controlled by some form of “advanced technology”.

Barnaby Webber, Grace Kumar and Ian Coates were stabbed in the street and killed in the early hours of June 13Composite: PA; Huntingdon Academy

Justice Turner said the killer would be detained in a high-security hospital "very probably for the rest of your life".

He said: "There was never any doubt that it was you who had committed these appalling crimes. It soon became clear, however, that the central issue in this case would relate to whether at the time of committing these offences you were suffering from symptoms of severe mental disorder.

"You committed a series of atrocities in this city which ended the lives of three people in this city...Your sickening crimes both shocked the nation and wrecked the lives of your surviving victims and the families of them all."

He said the "harrowing" details of the attacks have been “fully recounted and explored” in court over the past couple of days.

Valdo Calocane at Nottingham Crown Court

Offering mitigation on behalf of Valdo Calocane, defence barrister Peter Joyce urged the judge not to consider a whole-life order.

Joyce said: "There are very few whole-life orders and they have all, without exception, been for offences of murder. This man is not before you for murder, he is before you for manslaughter. Schizophrenia is a well-established, long-established mental disease that can strike anyone and will strike one per cent of the population through no fault of their own.

"The clearest evidence in this case is available… it [the mental illness] started in late 2019 and he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic in May 2020. No fabrication, no exaggeration, no concoction – this unwanted visitor to his life hit him. That’s the fact.

"Of course he destroyed these lives. It [mental illness] destroyed their lives and his life is destroyed too. He deserves treating. He can be treated. It is very unlikely that for very, very many years he will see other than the inside of a secure mental hospital."

As he was sentenced, Valdo Calocane stood with his hands at his side and showed no emotion as he looked towards the sentencing judge.

After being told that he could be led away to the cells, Calocane briefly attempted to sit back down in his seat before one of five people thought to be psychiatric hospital staff motioned for him to stand up and leave.