The 31-year-old West African migrant who is accused of murdering three and driving a van into three other people on Tuesday has been named as Valdo Amissão Mendes Calocane.
Three people died on Tuesday and three more injured in an attack in the early hours. Calocane, who is understood to have had settled status in the UK, was arrested on suspicion of murder at around 05:30 BST on Tuesday.
‘Settled status’ means a person can freely reside, work and study in the UK with few restrictions, but this does not defer citizenship. Calocane is understood to be a Guinea-Bissau national who also holds Portuguese citizenship, and acquired settled status in the UK through his Portuguese citizenship.
Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19-year-old University of Nottingham students, were stabbed on Ilkeston Road at about 04:00. Ian Coates, 65, was then stabbed before his van was apparently stolen and used in a van attack on Milton Street.
Yesterday at a vigil held in memory of the victims, the mother of Ms O’Malley-Kumar made a speech in which she appeared to focus on how people may react rather than on the cause of the attack. As is standard in these situations, the government and media have focused their efforts on managing the reaction of the people rather than preventing future atrocities.
Social media users have been reacting to comments made by Ms O’Malley-Kumar’s mother, with many pointing out that this attack, and many past and future attacks like it, are the direct result of current government migration policy.
Replies and comments have been turned off on posts about the attack, due to the significant amount of people discussing migration policy and its role in the attack. Until this policy is changed, it is unfortunately inevitable that further attacks such as this will continue.
We’ll update you as we learn more about Calocane.
