21 March 2023 , 21:55
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A man who stabbed his student boyfriend and left him to die had killed his family's pet bird just a few years prior.
Northumbria University student Jason Brockbanks, 24, had been dating Aaron Ray, 21, for three months before he was murdered after a night out in September last year.
CCTV showed the pair walking about back to Jason's flat on the outskirts of Newcastle city centre before Ray was seen kicking Jason in the leg.
The pair then went into Jason's flat and that was the last time he was seen alive.
Ray took his phone and recorded himself scrolling through messages between Jason and other men on the dating app Grindr. He then stabbed Jason before leaving him to die. Jason wasn't found for three days.
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Ray, of Sunderland, tried to claim Jason had attacked him and he picked a knife up to defend himself but jurors at Newcastle Crown Court unanimously convicted him of murder.
Jason Brockbanks was found dead three days after he had been stabbed (Handout)
Jason Brockbanks was murdered in September last year (Handout)Ray had previously been convicted of killing the family's cockatiel after plunging a knife into the back of its neck when he was 18.
Police found the dead bird after being called to a disturbance at the home and when Ray was asked he told them "it’s just a bird, it’s not a crime".
Ray was handed a 12-week prison sentence suspended for a year and banned from keeping animals for 15 years.
CCTV showed the pair out in the Newcastle city centre on September 23 involved in "playful banter" before heading home., ChronicleLive reports.
They are seen on ring doorbell footage holding hands at about 3.30am. At 3.43am CCTV shows they pair outside Jason's flat where he was kicked in the leg.
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 were the trigger for the stabbing and ultimately this murder. The prosecution says 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 killing Jason, Ray moved the knife he used to the communal kitchen.
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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, and there was staining to the bed covers and carpet. She saw a handprint 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.
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'".
Mr Lamb said the evidence suggests Jason was stabbed while in bed with the duvet over him then crawled to the bathroom and dropped 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.