Emma Robinson Explains Discharge in The Nottingham Inquiry

The Nottingham inquiry heard that Valdo Calocane was discharged from mental health services in September 2022 after NHS staff could not find him. Emma Robinson told the inquiry the trust could not work with him because it could not find him, and that he was no longer in the Early Intervention in Psychosis service.

Robinson said the discharge followed failed attempts to reach him after he did not turn up for appointments or make contact. The case sits at the center of the inquiry into the killings of Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates, which took place on 13 June 2023.

Emma Robinson's evidence

Robinson, a team leader at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said staff had tried to keep contact with Calocane before the discharge. His care co-ordinator, Gary Carter, attended his address, made calls to him and sent a letter that went unanswered.

Calocane's last contact with the Early Intervention in Psychosis team was by phone on 16 July. During that call, Robinson said, he lied about being abroad. By September 2022, the team discharged him because, as she put it, “Yes, because we couldn't find him to treat him or engage him.”

Risk and holding powers

Tim Moloney KC, representing the bereaved families, asked Robinson whether the trust had considered the risk to the public when it discharged Calocane. She replied, “We did consider that, but we felt that within the time of decision we had no holding powers, we couldn't work with him, we couldn't find him at this point. We just couldn't find him to work with him.”

Moloney also put to her the question, “Did you consider the risks to the public from that man?” and asked, “Had you lost him?” He later said the trust had “left him to the general public to deal with” by discharging him to his GP.

Care before September 2022

Robinson said Calocane had been under the care of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust for two years and had been sectioned four times while in that care. She said he was “a very difficult person to engage with” and added, “I think in hindsight he needed a team that could do more of that follow-up.”

The inquiry is examining what happened in Calocane's care before the killings and why he was no longer under specialist mental health treatment months before three people died. Robinson said he needed “a more robust service than early intervention could offer,” putting the discharge decision under scrutiny because the service ended when the team could no longer keep contact with him.