The suspect has been remanded in custody after being accused of killing two children and a school caretaker in a string of attacks in Nottingham.
The 31-year-old Valdo Calocane is accused of killing Barnaby Weller and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, all 19 years old, with a knife before killing Ian Coates, 65, early on Tuesday morning.
He is also accused of hitting three other people with Mr. Coates’s stolen van, resulting in their attempted homicide.
Calocane will next appear at the city’s crown court on Tuesday, June 20.
The former University of Nottingham student spoke only to confirm his name as ‘Adam Mendes’, his date of birth and that he was of no fixed abode, and was not required to enter any pleas.
Medical student Ms O’Malley-Kumar, from Woodford in London, and history student Mr Webber, from Taunton in Somerset, were found fatally knifed on Ilkeston Road at around 4am.
Mr Coates, 65, was then found stabbed to death in Magdala Road after his van was allegedly stolen.
Calocane is alleged to have used the van to drive at a pedestrian in Milton Street and a further two people in South Sherwood Street.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said two patients are stable and one has been discharged following the van incidents.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the driver of a marked police car had sight of the vehicle for ‘less than a minute’ before it collided with the pedestrians in South Sherwood Street.
The family of Mr Webber described their ‘complete devastation’ at the ‘senseless murder of our son’, saying he was a ‘beautiful, brilliant, bright young man, with everything in life to look forward to’.
Ms O’Malley-Kumar’s family described her as a ‘truly wonderful and beautiful young lady’ and that she would be ‘so dearly missed’.
Two of Mr Coates’ sons said his death had ‘rocked everyone’s world’, adding: ‘Nobody deserves this but he definitely didn’t.’
Police revealed the suspect is a former University of Nottingham student, but said ‘this is not believed to be connected with the attack’.