Son who heard voices ordering him to kill beats bed-bound mother to death with a hammer and is jailed for life

From the Newshound archive · first published 10 October 2026.

Michael Bowen, 35, beat his stroke-stricken mother Janet, 65, about the head and face with a hammer — landing more than 10 blows — at their Yateley home in the early hours of New Year's Eve. A jury at Winchester Crown Court rejected his diminished responsibility defence and convicted him of murder; he was sentenced to life with a minimum of 16 years. Judge Adam Feest KC described it as 'impossible to imagine the terror she experienced knowing it was her own son committing this act.'

Janet Bowen had been confined to bed by a stroke and depended entirely on her son for round-the-clock care, with Bowen serving as her full-time carer.

His family said he had been a 'caring, loving son' before heavy drug use changed him; doctors diagnosed him with substance-induced psychotic disorder, a condition further aggravated by alcohol withdrawal.

In a victim impact statement, sister Samantha Bowen told the court: 'The layer of betrayal this has brought into my life is an unimaginable weight to carry.'