John McGrath was killed by his grandson William Barnard
The mum of a man who stabbed his own grandad to death says the NHS trust which was supposed to look after him has once again failed.
Calocane was under the care of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust when he raged through Nottingham and killed Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, and Ian Coates last June.
Now Kathleen Barnard, mum of William who killed her dad John McGrath in 2009, says that trust, which had responsibility for her son, had not learned lessons from her tragedy.
Kathleen says her son, now in his 40s, stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication for paranoid schizophrenia after being told it was voluntary, and she wasn’t informed of the change.
‘That’s not the right attitude, because then nine months later my dad lost his life,’ she explained.
The trust apologised for its failings at the time.
John McGrath was killed by his grandson
William Barnard now lives with his mum
She’s speaking out following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into the trust, which criticised failures in Calocane’s case.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Kathleen said mistakes made in mental health care are to blame for her dad’s death, and not her son, saying ‘it’s the same again really to what happened to us, there were failings and missed opportunities again’.
When asked if she believes the trust when it says it takes the report’s recommendations on board, she simply said: ‘No.
‘To me they’re just words without substance.
‘It makes you angry. And it is scary because you just don’t know who is walking about who should be under some care.
‘I can really empathise and sympathise with the family of Calocane, I can put myself in how they must be feeling, but I can also put myself in the position of the people who’ve lost family members.
‘I lost my father, who I loved, and this was my son that did that. So it was a unique situation to be in. It is the stuff of nightmares.
‘I was on my way to Italy at the time, and my parents were joining us the week after, and we got the call when we were in Switzerland so we had to turn back.
‘I said to my sister “I can’t go back, everyone’s gonna hate me because of what Will’s done”. It was a tough time.’
Despite the horrific circumstances, Kathleen says she never blamed her son for killing her father, saying: ‘That wasn’t the Will that I know and that isn’t the Will I know now.’
He now lives with her and ‘religiously’ takes his medication daily. His mental health team ‘keep a close eye on things’ and she says she feels ‘completely safe’ around him.
(L-R) Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar were killed by Calocane (Picture: Nottinghamshire Police/PA Wire)
Valdo Calocane has been sentenced to an indefinite hospital order (Picture: Nottinghamshire Police/PA Wire)
Calocane was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia – the same diagnosis as William – in 2020 and he was sectioned four times in under two years.
A doctor had warned three years before the Nottingham attacks that his illness was so severe he could ‘end up killing someone’ – and Calocane’s family say this was one of a series of missed opportunities that could have prevented the killings.
After the CQC report into Calocane’s care was released, the families of his victims said those responsible have ‘blood on their hands’.
But in response to their frustration that he was given an indefinite hospital order rather than a prison sentence, Kathleen said: ‘If someone is truly mentally unwell, then a prison is not the right place for them. Because at least in hospital there will be an attempt at trying to treat him.
‘Hospital is not the easier option and high security hospitals can be more severe than prison.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust for comment
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