NOTTINGHAM — Elias Calocane gave evidence for the first time on Wednesday to the Nottingham inquiry examining the killings carried out by his brother, Valdo Calocane. He told the inquiry he had felt powerless over his brother's mental ill health and believed violent messages his brother sent in 2020 reflected suicidal thoughts.

On June 13, 2023, Valdo Calocane stabbed to death Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both aged 19, and caretaker Ian Coates, 65, and seriously injured three others. Valdo Calocane had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2020, a diagnosis his brother said he only discovered in October 2023, four months after the attacks.

Elias Calocane was questioned about messages sent by his brother in 2020 that contained references to violence and paranoia about technology. In one message, Valdo Calocane said he was "thinking about red rum." In another, he told his brother he wanted to "hurt permanently." The inquiry was also shown messages in which Valdo Calocane described "immense anguish, paranoia, anger, hatred" and said he had the darkest thoughts.

Elias Calocane told the inquiry he had interpreted an "I love you" message received from his brother in January 2020 as a goodbye message. "At this point, Valdo had never been violent at all to anyone. He was a very calm and peaceful person as far as I can remember," he said.

Between January 2020 and June 2023, Elias Calocane saw his brother twice, once in 2020 and once in 2022, partly due to Covid-19 restrictions. He told the inquiry he had struggled with the relationship and did not fully understand his brother's mental health issues. "I felt powerless," he said, adding: "Unless something happens, nothing changes."

The day before the Nottingham attacks, Valdo Calocane called his brother and spoke for 44 minutes. On the morning after the killings, he called again, told his brother the killings had been done, and asked him to take their parents out of the country. Sophie Cartwright KC said Elias Calocane should have called 999 at that point and that there was an opportunity to do so before Ian Coates was attacked.

"I say this over and over again, that I had this long view of him wanting to commit suicide and me thinking that's what's happened," Elias Calocane said. At the inquiry, the families of the bereaved shook their heads in disagreement.