Calocane killed University of Nottingham students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar and grandfather Ian Coates in June 2023
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Video footage of triple killer Valdo Calocane headbutting and throwing punches at a police officer who was helping doctors to detain him has been shown to the Nottingham attacks public inquiry.
Calocane, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, had refused to take his medication before launching an attack on Police Constable Barnaby Pritchard on September 3 2021, causing swelling to his face.
Over two years later, former student killed University of Nottingham students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and grandfather Ian Coates, 65, and attempted to kill three more people in the early hours of June 13 2023.
On Wednesday, the inquiry heard from Pc Pritchard, who said that he received a call to attend Calocane’s address in Nottingham where he was refusing to be detained by doctors under mental health laws.
Calocane was "very calm" when they arrived and "was very unemotional with any response," Pc Pritchard said.
The officer added: "At the time, he wasn’t demonstrating any warning signs that he could begin assaulting me.
"As soon as I stepped in the room, he began just swinging completely out of the blue. He began punching me repeatedly.
"As a collective, we managed to restrain him against an item of furniture inside the room.
"He tried headbutting me, and did headbutt me, while I was trying to restrain him."
The inquiry heard that Calocane swung handcuffs at Pc Pritchard “as a weapon”, but reportedly missed.
The officer was left with swelling on his forehead and bruising on his left cheek, with the witness adding: “I had pain and discomfort, they were quite sore.”
A Taser was deployed twice and an irritant spray was used to restrain Calocane, the inquiry heard.
In body-worn camera footage, Calocane can be heard saying when Pc Pritchard and three female officers arrived: “I don’t have a history of mistreating women”, before saying: “Gentlemen, if you want to take me out, I prefer you do it.”
After his attack on Pc Pritchard, Calocane said: “You didn’t go down”, the inquiry heard.
Asked what his interpretation of this comment was, Pc Pritchard said: “It was possibly some male bravado – he expected the force of his blows to put me to the floor.”
Reacting to the footage, Mr Webber’s mother Emma Webber said in a statement: “This violent monster is the last face my beautiful son ever saw, and that will haunt me forever. They didn’t stand a chance, did they.”
Calocane was transported to hospital in a marked police van because he had been tasered, the inquiry heard, before he was taken to Highbury Hospital, a mental health facility.
He was later charged with assaulting an emergency worker and was summonsed to attend Nottingham Magistrates’ Court in September 2022, but failed to appear.
There was a warrant for his arrest when he committed the attacks in June 2023.
The inquiry was previously told that two months before this incident, Calocane pushed his flatmate against the wall, tried to get into his locked bedroom during the night, and then stalked him by following him home on two occasions.
These incidents were reported to the police but no further action was taken against Calocane, the inquiry heard.
The hearing continues on Thursday.