A jealous murderer has been found guilty of stabbing his student boyfriend to death after seeing sex chats with other men on his phone.
Aaron Ray had enjoyed a night out with victim, Northumbria University student Jason Brockbanks, in the hours before the fatal attack and there was no sign of trouble until they were on their way back to Jason's flat at Mansion Tyne, on Howard Street, on the outskirts of Newcastle city centre.
Footage outside the student accommodation shows Ray kick Jason, 24, in the leg as he sits on a low wall before the pair enter the building. Once inside, Ray took Jason's phone into the bathroom and recorded himself scrolling through messages between Jason and other men on the dating app Grindr. Moments later, he stabbed Jason before callously leaving him to die and he wasn't found for three days.
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Ray, 21, of Mayfield Road, Sunderland, claimed Jason had attacked him and he picked a knife up to defend himself but jurors at Newcastle Crown Court unanimously convicted him of murder. He will be jailed for life and will find out on Thursday how long he must serve behind bars before he has any hope of parole.
The pair had gone out in Newcastle city centre on Friday September 23 last year. CCTV shows them involved in “playful banter” before leaving Mansion Tyne and footage of them out in town shows there was no trouble between them while they were out.
Around 3.30am, they headed back to the student accommodation and are captured on camera walking along the street holding hands. They are then seen on Ring doorbell footage on Howard Street. Mr Lamb where the dynamic appears to change and an argument seems to begin.
By 3.43am CCTV shows they were outside Mansion Tyne and Ray is seen to kick Jason hard in the leg. The pair then went into Jason’s flat and that is the last time Jason is seen on CCTV.
During the trial, prosecutor David Lamb KC said: “The prosecution case is while they were inside Jason’s flat, this defendant videoed himself using his own mobile phone in the en suite bathroom, scrolling through Jason’s phone and recording messages Jason had exchanged with other men.
“We suggest it was that scrolling and the realisation Jason was sexually interested in other males that was the trigger for the stabbing and ultimately this murder. The prosecution say this murder was committed after the scrolling stopped at 4.14am.”
Mr Lamb added: “The prosecution say after finishing the scrolling of the text messages or electronic communications between Jason and other males, this defendant lost his temper, went into the bedroom where Jason was and committed the murder.”
After leaving Jason’s flat and before leaving the building, Ray moved the knife he had used to stab him with into the communal kitchen and it had Jason's blood on it.
The court heard that three days later, a manager at the student accommodation received an email asking if she could check on Jason’s welfare and she went to do so. Having received no response from knocking on his door, she used a master key to go in.
Mr Lamb said: “She saw the TV was turned on, the bed appeared unmade, there was staining to the bed covers and carpet. She saw a hand print in blood on a door frame to the en suite bathroom.
“On opening the en suite bathroom door, she saw Jason Brockbanks slumped in the shower cubicle with his legs protruding outside. He was very obviously dead.
“He was wearing only a pair of bloodstained underpants. He was, I’m afraid to say, in the early stages of decomposition.”
There was a “considerable amount of blood” in the shower tray and there was a large amount of blood in and around the bed. Mr Lamb said the evidence suggests Jason was stabbed while in bed with the duvet over him then crawled to the bathroom and dropping down into the shower cubicle.
Mr Lamb told jurors a pathologist found three “sharp force injuries”, including one to his right flank, which was almost horizontal. That wound led to bleeding into his abdomen and caused his death due to blood loss.
Mr Lamb said: “That fatal injury would not have led to Jason Brockbanks’ immediate incapacitation. It’s likely he would have been capable of purposeful movement around the flat for a significant period of time. Furthermore, it remains a possibility that Jason may indeed have survived if medical attention had been sought.
“Of course this defendant did not summon the emergency services. As you know he was not found dead until three days after the murder.”
The pathologist said the injury to his flank was caused by a stabbing motion. He also had a superficial incised wound to his back from a slashing motion. There was a third slash wound to the left side of his back which had just broken the skin.
Ray told police he and Jason met around three months earlier on Grindr. Mr Lamb said: “He agreed he found out Jason had cheated on him after seeing Grindr notifications which popped up on Jason’s phone saying “we should f*** again”.
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