Watch more of our videos on Shots!
and live on Freeview channel 276

Prosecutors have accepted the guilty manslaughter plea of Nottingham triple-killer Valdo Calocane on the ground of diminished responsibility due to mental illness.

Calocane killed 19-year-old Nottingham University students Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber and 65-year-old former Bulwell Academy caretaker Ian Coates early on the morning of June 13 last year.

Calocane also entered a not guilty plea towards murder charges, which were also accepted by prosecutor when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court today (Tuesday).

The triple-killer fatally stabbed Ms O'Malley-Kumar and Mr Webber on Ilkeston Road in the city at around 4am on the day of the attacks.

Valdo Calocane has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Ian Coates (left), Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar in Nottingham last year. Photo: Other

Mr Coates was found dead on Magdala Road around one hour later, also suffering from knife wounds.

Mr Coates was a grandfather who was a big Nottingham Forest and football fan and a keen fisherman.

He had previously worked at Bulwell Academy and its predecesor school River Leen School, for 20 years.

Calocane had previously admitted to the attempted murder of three people he hit with a van he stole from Mr Coates in the incident.

All three people survived the collision.

Ashfield Council confirms The Range is coming to Hucknall

At a previous hearing, his barrister Peter Joyce KC told the court that while the defendant ‘does not dispute the physical facts of the prosecution’s case’, adding he was suffering from ‘extreme’ mental illness at the time of the attacks.

The prosecutions acceptance of his pleas mean that Calocane will not face a murder trial and will face a sentencing hearing at a later date.

The families of Miss O'Malley-Kumar, Mr Webber and Mr Coates were all consulted over the decision to accept his pleas.

Karim Khalil KC told the court: “We considered carefully representations made in the course of those consultations.

"We also considered the particular gravity and complexity of this case, including that which we submit are the grossly aggravating factors of the multiplicity of fatal and intended fatal offending.

“In these circumstances, the Crown concluded that it was appropriate to accept the pleas to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility.

"For the avoidance of any possible doubt, it is the Crown’s position that the appalling facts of this case render it to be one of the utmost seriousness.”

Man who stabbed former Bulwell Academy caretaker in Nottingham attacks pleads guilty to manslaughter