Valdo Calocane stabbed to death two 19-year-old students and a 65-year-old school caretaker during the attacks in June last year that resulted in police locking down the entire city.

Prosecutors earlier this week accepted Calocane’s plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Judge Mark Turner, handing down the sentence, said Calocane would “very probably” be detained in a high-security hospital for the rest of his life.

“Your sickening crimes both shocked the nation and wrecked the lives of your surviving victims and the families of them all,” he told the killer.

Nottingham University students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar were stabbed near the city centre just after 4am local time on June 13.

Ian Coates, the caretaker, was found stabbed nearby shortly afterwards.

Calocane also ran over three other people, leaving one with critical injuries, after stealing a van belonging to Coates.

The attacks shocked the UK, and thousands of people attended vigils and memorial services for the victims in Nottingham.

Calocane, who has paranoid schizophrenia, had previously been detained in hospital four times under mental health laws. He was arrested in September 2021 for assaulting a police officer.

The court heard that he had not been taking his prescribed medication for his mental illness during the time he committed his crimes.

Nottingham Police said this week that it “should have done more” to arrest Calocane before the attacks in the wake of the alleged police officer assault.