Valdo Calocane's Nottingham attack conviction prompts sentencing overhaul for 'diminished responsibility' killers
6 December 2024, 13:36 | Updated: 6 December 2024, 13:47
The case of Valdo Calocane, who killed three people but avoided jail because of "diminished responsibility" has prompted a sentencing overhaul.
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Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said there had been calls to review how "diminished responsibility should be reflected in the classification of homicide offences" after schizophrenic Calocane was handed an indefinite hospital order for the attacks instead of a jail sentence.
Calocane stabbed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar as they returned from a night out in Nottingham in the early hours of June 13 last year, before killing 65-year-old Ian Coates.
He admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
The families branded his sentence a "gross miscarriage of justice".
Review to be ordered into Nottingham attacker’s manslaughter conviction
Ms Mahmood said in a written statement: "Following the Nottingham attacks last year, the families of the victims have also called for homicide law reform, particularly with regard to how diminished responsibility should be reflected in the classification of homicide offences.
"Our current sentencing framework for murder was first introduced over 20 years ago, and multiple, piecemeal amendments have been made to it since then.
"The Law Commission will review the law relating to homicide offences, including full and partial defences to those offences, and this time also the sentencing framework for murder."
The families of Calocane's victims welcomed the review announcement.
They said: "Because of our dogged pursuit for justice, answers, accountability and change it appears as though some progress is being made."
Meanwhile jealous ex-partners who kill or strangle their victims will receive tougher jail terms as part of what the government said is its continued crackdown on violence against women.
The changes to sentencing considerations will ensure the punishment fits the crime in the "most abhorrent" cases, a minister said.
After an independent review into domestic homicide sentencing by barrister Clare Wade, the Government said it is implementing two new statutory aggravating factors, meaning judges must consider stronger sentences for murders involving strangulation or when the killing is connected to the end of a relationship.
Candid interview with brother of Nottingham victim Grace O'Malley-Kumar
The changes for England and Wales are expected to come into force next year.
Co-founders Diana Parkes and Hetti Barkworth-Nanton said: "We welcome and accept the need for reform.
"However, these proposals set out today by the Secretary of State for Justice fail to go far enough. The Law Commission report that this review is based on is narrow focused and only looks at legal structures, not sentencing and procedures."
They said the Government is "squandering a massive opportunity to bring all of our archaic homicide laws, sentencing and procedures into the 21st century".
Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "I fully recognise the concerns raised around homicide law and sentencing, but these are incredibly complex issues and previous tinkering is what has led to the current disparities, so it is right that the Law Commission takes a comprehensive look at it."
Alex Davies-Jones, the minister for violence against women and girls, said: "The level of violence against women is a national crisis which this Government is determined to tackle, and that includes ensuring the punishment fits the crime for the most abhorrent crimes.
"I want to pay tribute to all those who campaigned for change in this area, including the Joanna Simpson Foundation, Killed Women, and the families of the victims of the Nottingham attacks."
