Boy, 17, admits drilling into lecturer’s head before killing him

A 17-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to killing a university lecturer using electric drills, knives and a hammer in a “vicious” attack.

Dr Barry Hounsome, 54, died while trying to escape the teenager at his home on Southcroft Road in Gosport, Hampshire, on 29 October.

The academic, who researched dementia and Parkinson’s disease, suffered “catastrophic” head injuries and 35 stab and slash wounds, Winchester Crown Court heard.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and will be sentenced later.

Kerry Maylin, prosecuting, described the killing as a “sustained and prolonged attack”.

She said the teenager carried out the attack after following orders from voices in his head.

“He said voices in his head had been telling him to kill,” Ms Maylin said.

“The night before the incident the voice was telling him to kill someone and that morning, it was Barry.”

After Mr Hounsome’s death, the boy left a note and made a video apologising for his actions.

He later told police he first hit Mr Hounsome with a hammer before stabbing him with knives, spraying him with ammonia and drilling into his head while he was still alive, Ms Maylin said.

During the attack, the lecturer tried to escape but the boy “pulled him back and forced him to the floor”.

He told police that Mr Hounsome asked him “Why?”, to which the boy replied “I’m sorry”.

After the attack, the voice told him “you are done” before he tried to destroy two hard drives and a tablet in the microwave.

Sentencing him to a hospital order under the Mental Health Act, Mr Justice Neil Garnham said: “You killed him in the course of a vicious and ferocious attack.

“The evidence suggests you are riven with remorse for what you have done.

“I have no doubt that you were at the time of the attack, and that you remain, highly dangerous.

“Without medication there’s a real risk of a similar event in the future.”

The judge added that the boy may pose a “significant risk of serious harm to the public”.

Ms Maylin said the boy started hearing voices around 18 months before but never told anyone about it, and over time it developed the accent of an Eastern European man which told him to kill animals and carry out attacks on random people.

She told the court the boy said: “Something in my head kept telling me to do it. I didn’t want to do it.

“I tried to push myself away but I ended up doing it. I’m so sorry.”

The boy, who has been detained in a psychiatric hospital, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and is said to have experienced a psychotic episode just before the attack, the court heard.

(c) Sky News 2019: Boy, 17, admits drilling into lecturer’s head before killing him