Boyan Antonov launched the ferocious attack on Victor Maroukian at the Remar Christian charity furniture shop in Liverpool
A charity shop worker killed a colleague by smashing a claw hammer into his head at least ten times.
Boyan Antonov launched the ferocious attack on Victor Maroukian at the Remar Christian charity furniture shop on Aigburth Road, Merseyside.
The 28-year-old paranoid schizophrenic, begged a passer-by to call police, but stopped him going to see the body, saying, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
Shortly after the attack, on October 26, 2016, he said ‘I don’t want to go back inside’, and ‘I think I killed him.’
Liverpool Crown Court was told Antonov had blood spatter on the full length of each trouser leg, telling a police sergeant: ‘Me and my friend we fight I think he may be dead.’
Inside the Remar shop they found victim Mr Maroukian astride an exercise bike, but clearly dead.
Home Office pathologist Brian Rodgers noted there were no defensive injuries, and the victim had wounds from both the rounded head and the claw of the hammer.
Once arrested and in custody, Antonov read out a prepared statement, in which he said: ‘I have known Victor Maroukian for two to three weeks.
‘We worked in a charity shop together. Yesterday, Victor tried to attack me, I fought back, we were inside Remar UK Furniture Shop at the time…it was not my intention to kill Victor. This is all I want to say at this time.
‘I may comment further at a later stage when further evidence has been disclosed.’
Antonov, from Great Clowes Street, Salford, Manchester, admitted manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.
Antonov hit his friend ten times on the head with a hammer at this Liverpool charity shop
Antonov was handed an indefinite hospital order following his trial at Liverpool Crown Court
After his sentence, which will see him sent to Ashworth high security hospital under an indefinite hospital order, Detective Chief Inspector John Webster said: ‘This was a particularly disturbing assault which occurred in a charity shop, which is located on a busy street in Aigburth, in broad daylight.
‘Antonov and his victim were known to each, as they had both previously lived in Bulgaria and had been friends, which makes this even more tragic.
‘Nobody knows what led to Antonov to do what he did. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and will now spend a considerable amount of time detained in a high-security facility.
‘Although no sentence will bring Victor Maroukian back, I hope that that this will give his family some sense of closure and allows them to move on with their lives.’