Boy killed stepfather before falsely claiming voices drove him to it, jury told

A teenager used a knife, hammer and electric drill to murder his stepfather before falsely claiming to have been driven to violence by voices in his head, a jury has heard.

Vladimir Ivashikin, who was 16 when he attacked university lecturer Barry Hounsome in 2018, was sent to a secure hospital in 2019 after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and pleading guilty to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.

However, in 2022 Ivashikin allegedly admitted to a nurse that he had fabricated symptoms, and that he had killed Hounsome at their home in Gosport because he wondered what it would be like. In January 2023, he was re-arrested and charged with murder.

John Price KC, prosecuting, said Ivashikin called 999 after the attack saying he had attacked his stepfather and claiming “the voices” had made him do it.

When police arrived, he allegedly told them that “someone” had told him to carry out the attack. Hounsome’s body was covered with black bin liners and a sheet of paper with the words: “I am so, so, so, so, sorry” written on it.

After he was arrested, Ivashikin told doctors he had been “unable to resist” the voices which had commanded him to kill his stepfather, jurors were told.

In May 2019, after admitting manslaughter, he was formally found not guilty of murder and sent by a judge to a Hampshire hospital.

Southampton crown court heard that in February 2022, Ivashikin told a nurse at the hospital that he had “fabricated” symptoms to get transferred to a different ward.

Price said: “It became clear … that Ivashikin was talking about having fabricated psychotic symptoms entirely rather than just the incident which led to his ward change.”

The barrister said the nurse asked him why he had killed. He allegedly spoke of “wondering what it would be like”, and “how powerful it would feel”.

Ivashikin said his stepfather was “not a bad guy” and that during the attack he regretted it but compared Hounsome to an “animal in pain” that you had to “put out of his misery”, jurors were told.

The court heard that following this conversation and further interviews with doctors, it was decided Ivashikin was not mentally unwell.

Price said Hounsome was taken by surprise by his stepson as he sat behind his desk.

He said: “The level of violence used upon Barry Hounsome was sustained and extreme. Death was caused by the infliction of multiple wounds and injuries, predominantly to the head and torso. There were approximately 35 stab/slash wounds to the body and multiple blunt force injuries to the head.”

Ivashikin claims what he told hospital staff in 2022 is false and denies murder. The trial continues.