Murder accused Eugen Coman quoted Gerard Butler film 300 to one of the police officers involved in his arrest, a jury heard.

The 34-year-old, who had driven to Witney after fatally stabbing housemate Leonid Laboshin in Botley in October 2021, told the police officer: “Spartans, what’s your profession? Ha-ooh!”

Referring to the Hollywood blockbuster, based on a graphic novel about the Greek kingdom’s last stand against the Persians, the officer was said to have told Coman: “You watch 300 too much.”

“Nah, that’s reality mate. Reality check,” Coman replied.

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The exchange was read to the jury by Coman’s barrister, Tana Adkin KC, as she cross-examined the officer in the case.

The defendant had been standing at the roadside with the officer as they waited for a custody van to take him to the police station.

Jurors heard that, during their conversation, Coman had ‘whispered’ the name of John Wick – a fictional assassin played by Keanu Reeves in a quartet of films.

Oxford Mail: Eugen Coman mid-haircut and, right, on the night of the killing of Leonid Laboshin Picture: Thames Valley PoliceEugen Coman mid-haircut and, right, on the night of the killing of Leonid Laboshin Picture: Thames Valley Police (Image: Thames Valley Police)

To the officer’s apparent surprise he had also told him: “I really want to work for you guys.” He used the phonetic alphabet to spell out his name, albeit he confused the word given for the letter ‘M’.

Coman, then working in a fairly solitary job at the Mini plant, called himself the ‘maintenance man’ and told the police officer that he had work at ‘six’ the following morning.

He suggested to the police officer guarding him that he ‘could just let me go’.

“That’s not going to happen,” the officer was said to have replied.

Cross-examining the detective sergeant responsible for getting the case ready for trial, Ms Adkin established that Coman had – in fact – been called ‘Agent 001’ when he worked for NHS Track and Trace in 2020.

He was ‘dismissed’ from that job in September 2020 and went to work at the BMW Mini plant in Cowley.

His National Insurance number contained the numbers 47; significant because Coman is alleged to have had an obsession with Agent 47, the main character in the ‘Hitman’ series of video games and films.

The officer confirmed that the defendant, who in his police interviews complained of being the victim of car crashes and hinted that Mr Laboshin was responsible, had indeed been in a crash. Police took no further action in relation to the accident, which took place in November 2020 in Banbury, as the other driver was said to have been suffering an - unnamed - medical condition.

Similarly, Coman told detectives of his concerns about a young ‘Ukrainian’ man who he claimed had been in his shared house. The officer in the case confirmed that the live-in landlady’s daughter, who periodically visited the property, was thought to have had a Ukrainian boyfriend.

Jurors were told that the senior investigating officer had been so concerned about Coman’s behaviour following his arrest she had asked a psychiatrist to speak to him.

That doctor, from whom jurors have heard earlier in the trial, spent no more than 29 minutes with the suspect – rather than the 45 minutes he had told the court when he was in the witness box, Ms Adkin established from the custody record.

Coman, of Pinnocks Way, Botley, has admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He denies murder and the trial continues.