Vladimir Ivanov jailed for stabbing Glyn Rouse in Crawley

Vladimir Ivanov attacked Glyn Rouse with a kitchen knife close to a playground in Cherry Lane in Crawley in broad daylight.

Mr Rouse, 61, suffered fatal wounds to his neck, head, chest and arm, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ivanov, a 23-year-old Bulgarian warehouse worker, was covered in blood when he was arrested nearby.

He had put the knife in his pocket before going jogging, and told police “something in my head told me to do this”.

Experts initially thought he was fit to stand trial for murder, but later said he was suffering from mental illness at the time of the attack, giving him a defence of diminished responsibility.

Ivanov admitted manslaughter and was jailed for life at Brighton Crown Court, where he was also made the subject of a Section 45a hospital order under the Mental Health Act.

Following the case Detective Chief Inspector Mike Ashcroft said: “Mr Rouse had been out walking and minding his own business that morning when he was subjected to an unbelievable, highly unusual, unprovoked attack.

“Tragically, the wounds he sustained proved to be fatal and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

“Ivanov fled the scene of his crime and was witnessed making attempts to flag down a number of passing motorists in the area before he was arrested shortly afterwards.

“His motive for killing an innocent man remains unknown. It appears to be borne from the mental state of Ivanov at that time.

“Ivanov only moved to the UK from Bulgaria a couple of months previously, and he appeared to be settled at an address in Crawley and was employed with a local delivery firm.”

Police said here were other people in the area who could also have been his victims, close to the playground in November 2017.

Mr Rouse, who lived in nearby Rushetts Place, was not known to Ivanov.

His family said he was an “extremely talented man who loved the arts” who “excelled at his guitar playing”.

He was a private person, but from his art they said “it was obvious that he was a very talented, precise and expressive person”, while his music “brightened a lot of people’s lives”.

They said they discovered he had lots of friends in the Crawley arts and music scene after news of his death.

“They all share our grief in the sudden and tragic loss of our beloved Glyn,” they said.

Ivanov, of Juniper Road, Crawley, was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of four years.

But the hospital direction under Section 45a of the Mental Health Act means he can only be released with agreement from the Secretary of State for Health and the parole board.