Psychiatrist 'unable to section Nottingham killer'

Factors such as police deciding not to arrest Calocane after the assault on his flatmate, the incident still being under investigation, and Calocane's "composure" all formed part of the decision, Skelton said.

"I went into that assessment expecting that I would be detaining that chap. Based on what we saw he was not detainable under the Mental Health Act," he told the inquiry.

Skelton said the decision to release Calocane to the crisis team and return him to his accommodation was not a "gamble" or influenced by Calocane trying to "dissuade" him from sectioning him.

"We all agreed that this chap would be better off in hospital. But we did not have the legal powers at the time to enforce it based upon the assessment we saw," he said.

"He was able to, and it's very unusual, to push back and you could tell he wished to take control. And I thought it was very unusual, it did stay with me.

"A MHA [Mental Health Act] assessment is based on 'are the criteria met?' And there are not individual elements. Crucially at the time I was not able to elicit acute psychotic symptoms.

"When we concluded the assessment and I concluded he wasn't detainable, the crisis team had to look after him.

"That wasn't comfortable for us. To suggest that we were not aware of the risk, it's not true."

As Calocane was not detained, the university removed the other tenants from the property he was in for their safety, the inquiry heard.

The crisis team monitored Calocane daily on a community plan while gathering evidence about him, and eight days later a further MHA assessment was ordered.

Skelton said: "We saw the chap had been lying to us. We had genuine hard facts we could use."

The inquiry also heard evidence from crisis care practitioner nurse and, from February 2022, team leader Josephine Baker, who visited Calocane on 23 June 2020, between his two spells at Highbury Hospital that year.

In a phone call in the days before the visit, the inquiry was told Calocane said he was not experiencing hallucinations or abnormal thoughts.

But Baker said: "It took him a little bit of time to open up and say that he was hearing voices. He was quite open with the fact but he felt able to manage them now since being discharged.

"It could have potentially have been [an early warning sign of relapse] but I wasn't concerned about him. He was quite open and honest. He was calm and settled."

Calocane was re-admitted to Highbury Hospital in July 2020 under the Mental Health Act.

Baker was also involved in monitoring Calocane over the eight days after Skelton did not detain him and put him under the care of the crisis team in January 2022.

She said: "VC [as Calocane is being referred to at the inquiry] didn't engage well so it was hard to be able to assess the risk that was posed at that time. I couldn't be sure he was taking his medication."

Baker recorded in her notes that Calocane had become "intimidating" and was no longer safe to be treated in the community.

Following the killings, Calocane was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January 2024, after pleading guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, and to three counts of attempted murder.

The inquiry continues.

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