A man who “brutally massacred” three people in Nottingham is the “most evil person on the planet”, one of the victim’s sons has said ahead of the killer’s sentencing.

Valdo Calocane, 32, was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia when he stabbed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, to death with a dagger in Nottingham in the early hours of last June 13.

The killer, a graduate of the University of Nottingham, is expected to be sentenced on Thursday at the city’s Crown Court after admitting the manslaughter of the three victims by reason of diminished responsibility.

He also admitted three counts of attempted murder relating to pedestrians he deliberately targeted with a van he had stolen from Mr Coates.

Court artist sketch of Valdo Calocane (second right), appearing in the dock at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court
Court artist sketch of Valdo Calocane (second right), appearing in the dock at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

Speaking to the BBC ahead of his sentencing, Mr Coates’s son James said he feels “hatred” towards his father’s killer.

He said: “He is, to me, the most evil person on this planet. He went out and brutally massacred three people and then attempted to kill another three, but luckily he was caught.”

Lee Coates, another of the school caretaker’s sons, said he was “super angry” but trying to stay composed as Calocane’s sentencing continues for a third day.

He described his actions as “calculated and premeditated”, adding: “He has to spend his life behind bars, otherwise we have been let down once again by this country and this judicial system.”

Judge Mr Justice Turner, who will sentence Calocane, will decide between imposing a “hybrid” life sentence with a hospital direction or a hospital order under the Mental Health Act.

On Wednesday, Calocane’s barrister Peter Joyce KC urged the judge not to consider a whole-life order, saying paranoid schizophrenia is an “unwanted visitor” which “stalked down” a man of previously impeccable character and behaviour.