THE killer of student and cricketer Barnaby Webber has been sentenced to be detained in one of Britain’s most secure mental hospitals.

Barnaby, aged 19, of Taunton, was one of three people stabbed to death by 32-year-old Valdo Calocane in Nottingham, where he was attending university, in the early hours of June 13 last year.

Passing sentence in Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday (January 25), Mr Justice Turner told Calocane he remained a danger to the public and would be held in Ashworth Hospital, on Merseyside, ‘probably for the rest of your life’.

Calocane’s plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility had been accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after consulting the families of Barnaby and fellow student Grace O’Malley Kumar and school caretaker Ian Coates, whom he also killed.

He admitted three other counts of attempted murder where he had driven a stolen van at pedestrians shortly after his stabbing rampage.

Judge Turner told Calocane: “You committed a series of atrocities in this city, which ended the lives of three innocent people.

“Your sickening crimes both shocked the nation and wrecked the lives of your surviving victims and the families of them all.”

He said a central issue in the case was whether Calocane at the time of committing his offences was suffering from symptoms of severe mental disorder.

But he said the psychiatric evidence did not detract from the ‘horror’ and ‘disastrous’ impact of the offences.

Judge Turner said he accepted Calocane's abnormality of mind ‘significantly contributed’ to his carrying out the attacks.

Calocane had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia before the attacks and it emerged that nine months earlier in September, 2022, an arrest warrant was issued for him because he failed to attend court in connection with an alleged assault on a police officer.

However, Nottinghamshire Police never executed the arrest warrant.

After Thursday’s sentencing, Barnaby’s mother Emma Webber and the families of the other victims gave media statements expressing their anger at Calocane’s hospital order.

Mrs Webber said: “True justice has not been served today.”

She also said police and the CPS had ‘let down’ the families and Nottinghamshire Constabulary Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin had ‘blood on his hands’ for his force's failure to arrest Calocane after the earlier aborted court case.

Mrs Webber said the CPS effectively presented her family with a ‘fait accompli’ that the manslaughter charges were going to be accepted.

She said: “At no point during the previous five-and-a-half months were we given any indication that this could conclude in anything other than murder.

“We trusted in our system, foolishly, as it turns out.

“We do not dispute that the murderer is mentally unwell and has been for a number of years.

“However, the pre-mediated planning, the collection of lethal weapons, hiding in the shadows, and brutality of the attacks are that of an individual who knew exactly what he was doing.

“He knew entirely that it was wrong, but he did it anyway.”

A CPS spokesperson said representatives had met with Barnaby’s family initially online, and then in person last month, and further meetings had been offered.

The spokesperson said: “Engagement with those who have been left bereaved is one of our highest priorities and in all cases we continue to liaise with victims' families throughout the legal process.”

The Independent Office for Police Conduct, which is responsible for maintaining public confidence in policing, said it had reviewed the constabulary’s performance in the case but had not identified any conduct or performance issues relating to the tragedy.

Barnaby, known to his friends as Barney, was a former pupil of Taunton School and played cricket for Bishops Hull.

His family has set up the Barnaby Webber Foundation in his memory to support youngsters under 18 years who were facing life challenges and to help provide essential equipment for boys and girls to be able to play cricket.

A Gofundme appeal to kick-start the foundation has so far raised more than £44,000 and can be found here.