Barry Hounsome murder: Teenager brutally killed stepfather and then falsely blamed 'voices' in his head, court told

Vladimir Ivashikin was 16 when he attacked Dr Barry Hounsome in his Gosport home with a hammer and knife while telling him 'Sorry, Dad', jurors were told. After being arrested, the 'loner' - who was studying for his A Levels at the time - blamed 'insistent and aggressive' 'voices' for ordering him to carry out the 54 year old's 'gruesome' killing despite having no medical history of mental illness, the court heard.

He was diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, pleaded guilty in 2019 to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility and was sent by a judge to a secure hospital.

However, in 2022 prosecutors say Ivashikin admitted to a nurse that he had 'fabricated' his symptoms, and that he had killed his stepfather because he had wondered 'what it would be like' and 'how powerful it would feel'.

He allegedly said: 'The truth is out now……. the game is finally up,' jurors were told. Five years after the original hearing, the now 22 year old is now facing a murder trial.

Southampton Crown Court was told Dr Barry Hounsome - who was married to Ivashikin's mother Natalia - was murdered by his stepson at his Southcroft Road home in October 2018.

The Honourable Mr Justice Saini told jurors the case was 'gruesome' 'shocking' and 'upsetting'. John Price KC, prosecuting, said Ivashikin had called 999 after the attack saying he had hit him over the head with a hammer 'many times' and stabbed him with a knife.

In the call - which was played to the jury - he said 'the voices' had made him do it. The court heard he then said to police officers who dashed to the house: 'I’ve killed my stepfather; it wasn’t in self-defence… someone talking to me [told me] to attack and kill him… he’s right there behind the door'.

Inside, one officer was confronted by a 'horrific scene', jurors were told. "As he entered the lounge, he could see a lot of blood on the floor," Mr Price said. "In the hallway, he found the body of Mr Hounsome. It was covered using seven black bin liners. On top was a sheet of paper. There was writing upon it which began with the words, 'I am so, so, so, so, sorry'.

The court heard Dr Hounsome had sustained massive head and brain injuries in the attack. After being arrested, Ivashikin told doctors he had been 'unable to resist' the voices which had commanded him to kill his stepfather, jurors were told.

However, the court heard he had never mentioned hearing voices before and that the three doctors who diagnosed him as suffering from mental illness relied on him honestly telling them what was going on 'inside his head'.

In May 2019, after admitting manslaughter, he was formally found not guilty of murder - and was sent by a judge at Winchester Crown Court to Ravenswood House Hospital, in Fareham for treatment.

Three years later 'things started happening' which 'changed everything', Mr Price said. "And so, for reasons which will be explained, almost six years after the killing of Barry Hounsome by Ivashikin and five years after [his] plea to manslaughter was accepted and he was formally acquitted of murder, the case is back before the court," he told jurors.

The court heard that in February 2022 Ivishikin told a nurse at the hospital, Jacob Butcher, that he had recently 'fabricated' symptoms to get transferred to a different ward.

"Mr Butcher then came to realise that [he] had started to admit to something much more serious than this," Mr Price said. “It then became clear...that Ivashikin was talking about having fabricated psychotic symptoms entirely rather than just the incident which led to his ward change."

Mr Price said that according to the nurse: “I asked Ivashikin, if he was not mentally unwell, why had he committed [the killing], to which he spoke about becoming 'focused' on killing. Ivashikin spoke of 'wondering what it would be like' and 'how powerful it would feel' and 'if he could actually bring (himself) to do it'," the court heard.

"I then asked Ivashikin if the victim had deserved this, attempting to explore for an unknown ulterior motive of family dynamic that we were not aware of. Ivashikin quickly became very upset at this, becoming tearful and removing his sunglasses for the remainder of the conversation. "[He] said that his stepfather was 'not a bad guy' and that the i[killing] was simply a matter of 'wrong time, wrong place'. [He] became considerably more distressed at the memories of, unprompted, appearing to relive the experience. "Ivashikin said that 'once I started hitting him, I knew that I'd made a mistake', that he 'regretted it' and that he 'just had to carry on and get it over with'. Ivashikin compared this situation to 'when an animal is in pain, you have to put it out of his misery’.

"[He said] had been keeping it in for a long time. He appeared to be relieved having spoken about it.  He seemed aware there would be a need for further discussion, not only with his psychiatric and psychological teams and that the police could become involved. He said: the truth is out now……. the game is finally up.”

The court heard that following this conversation and further interviews with doctors, specialists decided Ivashikin was not mentally unwell. In January 2023 he was re-arrested and then charged with murder. Ivashikin - who says that what he told hospital staff in 2022 is false - denies murder but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.

Health science expert Dr Hounsome previously worked at the University of Southampton and at Bangor University, Wales, conducting studies into diseases including Parkinson's and dementia. His wife Natalia, a mother of one who is Russian, is a health economics lecturer who has worked at several universities in the UK having completed her PhD in Moscow, Russia, in 1996.

The trial continues.