Mark Vaskouski was sentenced at Hull Crown Court on 7 November to life in prison with a minimum term of 20 years for murdering a man in his own flat. Vaskouski entered the victim’s home late at night, demanded drugs and then assaulted him, causing serious injuries and leaving the victim unconscious and unable to escape the fire which then consumed his flat. Vaskouski had no known connection to the victim and was only identified after police reviewed hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, tracing his movements back to his home in Bransholme. At the trial Vaskouski accepted being involved in an altercation with the victim but denied that he had caused him to lose consciousness, a defence rejected by the jury after a four week trial. The case was prosecuted by Tony Dunne of KBW Chambers, led by Stephen Wood KC of Broadway House. KBW’s David Brooke KC had conduct of the case when Vaskouski was first charged and Sam Ponniah also represented the prosecution during the trial
There is a report on the BBC website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdd0z1r9n63o