OUTRAGE OVER KNIFE KILLER'S BENEFITS

• Valdo Calocane killed Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar with a knife
• He also stabbed to death Ian Coates during the Nottingham rampage

Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane is one of nearly 80 violent criminals at a high-security hospital who can claim state benefits, it was revealed last night.

The 32-year-old paranoid schizophrenic was given an indefinite hospital order earlier this year after he killed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar and caretaker Ian Coates in a rampage in Nottingham city centre.

Now it has emerged Calocane is among dozens of convicted killers, rapists and other criminals at Ashworth secure hospital, in Merseyside, who are eligible for thousands of pounds in Universal Credit, employment and support allowance.

In response to a Freedom of Information request from The Daily Telegraph, the hospital admitted it is ‘standard practice’ for such offenders to get benefits since they are treated as patients with mental disorders as opposed to being handed prison sentences.

While jailed offenders are banned from claiming benefits, those in secure hospitals can amass thousands of pounds through £390-a-month Universal Credit payments.

This could build up to £93,000 over 20 years since their hospital bed and board are covered by taxpayers.

Speaking on behalf of the three families affected by the Nottingham killings, Emma Webber – the mother of Barnaby – said it was ‘absolutely disgraceful’ that Calocane could ‘stockpile benefit money into his bank account whilst all of us fight on a daily basis to try and begin to rebuild our lives’. She added: ‘The criminal justice system in this country is broken, and support offered to victims and their families is woefully inadequate at best.’

Labour has pledged to review the policy if it enters government.

A party spokesman told The Telegraph: ‘If we are privileged to come into power, Labour would urgently look at this case, including talking to the victims’ families.’

Mrs Webber said she would ‘support any incoming government’ to address the issue.

It is understood Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, had ordered a review of the case which he described as ‘very concerning’.

In a similar case Nicola Edgington, who killed her mother in 2005, received £8,000 in benefits back payments on her release from a secure hospital after three years, and went on to kill another woman with a butcher’s knife in 2011.

Len Hodkin, whose mother was killed by Edgington, said it ‘cannot be right’ that criminals are able to receive benefits while already ‘housed, fed and looked after’ at the taxpayers’ expense.

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2024-06-30T22:13:37Z dg43tfdfdgfd