A man who killed his stepfather in a brutal attack using a knife, drills and a hammer has been cleared of murder.
Vladimir Ivashikin was found not guilty of murder after an almost three-week trial at Southampton Crown Court.
The trial had been told how the 22-year-old had killed his stepfather Dr Barry Hounsome in a surprise attack at the family home in Southcroft Road, Gosport.
The then 16-year-old reported the killing to police and once arrested, claimed that voices in his head had ordered him to do it.
Before the start of the trial, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility and is now due to be sentenced at 10am tomorrow (Friday, July 19).
READ MORE: Boy Googled about drilling skulls before stepdad's death
The scene of the incident in Southcroft Road, Gosport. (Image: Solent News & Photo Agency)
The jury returned a unanimous verdict yesterday afternoon, just a short time after they had begun deliberating earlier that same day.
'Something in my head told me to do it'
Dr Hounsome's body was found lying behind the front door of the home covered in seven bin bags and a sheet of paper with the words "I am so so so sorry" written on it.
During a phone call to police, the college student who had previously skinned animals, said he had hit his stepdad "around the head with a hammer a load of times" and "stabbed him a couple of times".
He went on to say: "I really feel completely terrible about this.
“He wasn’t attacking or anything. He didn’t do anything wrong.
“Something in my head told me to do it. It wasn’t self-defence or anything."
The scene of the incident in Southcroft Road, Gosport. (Image: Solent News & Photo Agency)
The jury was told how Dr Hounsome had been working at home that day and was at his desk when the attack began, sparking a struggle which continued downstairs to the front door.
Officers smashed through a rear patio door to get into the home on the evening of October 29, 2018.
They found a knife and hammer in the kitchen sink and two blood-stained drills as well as a number of electrical items that had been microwaved.
Ivashikin was held at Southcroft House in Ravenswood House Hospital in Fareham after initially being sentenced for manslaughter by diminished responsibility in 2019.
But in February 2022, he confessed to a nurse, Jacob Butcher, that he had initially "fabricated" symptoms to get transferred to a different ward.
He was then re-arrested and charged with murder in January 2023.
READ MORE: Gosport teen who killed stepdad was 'psychotic' doctor tells jury
The scene of the incident in Southcroft Road, Gosport. (Image: Solent News & Photo Agency)
While in hospital, multiple psychiatrists assessed him and deemed that he was "psychotic" and suffering with paranoid schizophrenia in the form of auditory hallucinations.
Dr Simon Hill, a consultant psychiatrist who worked at Bluebird House Hospital in Calmore where Ivashikin was held before he turned 18, said the young killer experienced a male voice in his head.
He told the jury: "He described waking up every morning after the killing as being like a nightmare that he didn’t wake from.
"I am sure that he was psychotic at the time of the index offence. He felt controlled by an external force to kill his stepfather."
But Prosecutor John Price KC said Ivashikin had "forfeited his claim to consistency" when he lied about psychotic symptoms.
"“The jury is dealing with someone who has clearly demonstrated that ability over a period of time to deceive a team of clinicians."
The trial was previously told Ivashikin claimed to be receiving information by an organisation called 'The Makers' which hopes to create a world run by machinery.
It was heard Ivashikin had been cutting off bits of flesh from his body in 'geometric' patterns, boiling them in the kettle, and eating them in order to attract the attention of 'The Makers'.
Ivashikin has been remanded whilst he awaits sentence.
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