Man, 35, jailed for life for murdering his bed-bound mother with a hammer in ‘brutal and senseless’ attack

A man has been jailed for life for the ‘brutal and senseless’ murder of his ‘vulnerable’ bed-bound mother who he hit over the head with a hammer more than 10 times.

Michael Bowen attacked his 65-year-old mother, Janet Bowen, who had recently suffered a stroke, at their home in Hampshire in the early hours of New Year’s Eve last year.

His family said that Bowen, 35, who was a carer for his mother, had been a ‘caring, loving son’ who had been changed by his ‘heavy’ drug use.  

Bowen was diagnosed as suffering from substance-induced psychotic disorder contributed to by alcohol withdrawal and the court heard that he had heard voices telling him to kill his mother.

However, the jury at Winchester Crown Court rejected a defence of diminished responsibility by finding him guilty of murder.

Sentencing Bowen to a minimum of 16 years, Judge Adam Feest KC said it had been a ‘ferocious and sustained attack’.

He added: ‘It is impossible to imagine the terror that she experienced in the final moments of her life or the emotional distress she was under knowing that it was her own son committing this act of serious violence against her.’  

Tina Adkin KC, defending, said that the defendant had recently taken a decision to stop drinking and taking drugs following the death of his grandmother.

She added that he had shown ‘real remorse for his actions’.

Samantha Bowen, Ms Bowen’s daughter and sister of the defendant, said in a victim impact statement read to the court: ‘My mum was a gentle and kind person, she had a heart of gold.

‘She was a much-loved member of our family, always putting others before herself, When we were growing up she selflessly sacrificed her own dreams just to raise us and make sure we had everything we needed.’

She added: ‘She was my biggest cheerleader and my heart is broken.’

Ms Bowen continued: ‘The fact that it was my own brother who took her life has fractured our family in a way that feels completely impossible to heal, brutal and senseless.’

She said her mother was ‘completely vulnerable and unable to defend herself’ having recently suffered a stroke.

She added: ‘I am forced to grieve the horrific loss of my mother under such cruel circumstances.

‘The layer of betrayal and confusion this has brought into my life is an unimaginable weight to carry.’

Bowen was also sentenced for possessing cannabis and causing criminal damage to a nearby property.

Benjamin May, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘Janet Bowen was a vulnerable woman, left seriously unwell by a stroke and entirely reliant on others, including the defendant, for her care.

‘Her own son violated that trust in the most brutal way, launching a sustained and fatal attack on her in the place she should have been safest.

‘While Bowen accepted he had unlawfully killed his mother, we did not accept that a plea to manslaughter reflected the true gravity of what he had done, and the jury agreed.’