2023 Nottingham attacks

In the early morning of 13 June 2023, three people were killed and three others injured in a series of connected attacks in Nottingham, in the East Midlands of the United Kingdom. At around 04:00 BST, Valdo Calocane fatally stabbed two 19-year-old University of Nottingham students, Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, on Ilkeston Road, Radford. He then fatally stabbed 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates on Magdala Road in Mapperley Park and stole his van. Calocane subsequently drove the van into people waiting at a bus stop near the Theatre Royal in the city centre, injuring three people, one critically, before attempting to run over two further pedestrians in the Sherwood Street area. He was arrested after approaching police with a knife and being tasered outside a convenience store in Bentinck Road.

An eyewitness described seeing the two students being attacked and the male victim collapse in the road. CCTV footage also appeared to show the suspect attempting to break into a hostel bedroom less than an hour after the initial stabbings. Police worked with counter-terrorism officers while keeping an "open mind" on motive, and said they believed the perpetrator had acted alone.

Calocane, a dual Guinea-Bissau/Portuguese national who was 31 at the time and had settled UK status, had come to the UK in 2007 and grew up in Haverfordwest, Wales. He graduated in mechanical engineering from the University of Nottingham in 2022 and had no prior criminal record but a documented history of mental health issues. He was charged on 16 June 2023 with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder, and remanded in custody on 17 June. In November 2023, he denied the murder charges but admitted three counts of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility and three counts of attempted murder; these pleas were accepted by the prosecution. On 25 January 2024, he was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court to indefinite detention at a high-security hospital.

Following the sentencing, the Attorney General's office referred the sentence for review as potentially "unduly lenient." A Court of Appeal hearing in May 2024 concluded that the sentencing judge had not erred and that the sentence was not unduly lenient. NHS England also launched an investigation into Calocane's contact with mental health services dating back to 2020, and Leicestershire Police referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over an earlier, unactioned report that Calocane had assaulted two colleagues six weeks before the Nottingham attacks.

The attacks prompted vigils across Nottingham, tributes from national and church leaders, and gestures of remembrance in cricket and other sporting events. In 2024, Nottinghamshire Police referred itself to police oversight bodies over both its handling of a police pursuit of the stolen van and over demeaning WhatsApp messages some officers exchanged about the case, which prompted an open letter of protest from Barnaby Webber's mother. In October 2025, Grace O'Malley-Kumar was posthumously awarded the George Medal for bravery in defending Webber during the attack.