Newcastle student murdered by lover in Grindr row, jury told

Jason Brockbanks was found dead at the student flats in Newcastle's Howard Street on 27 September

A university student was stabbed to death by his boyfriend when he saw messages on his phone from other men, a trial has heard.

Jason Brockbanks was found three days after he was killed by Aaron Ray in Newcastle last September, Newcastle Crown Court was told.

Mr Brockbanks, 24, from Whitehaven, Cumbria, was a third-year student at Northumbria University.

Mr Ray, 21, of Mayfield Road, Sunderland, denies murder.

Prosecutors claim the attack happened after the defendant took a video of himself scrolling through Mr Brockbank's phone, which appeared to show a series of messages.

'Handprint in blood'

The men had been on a night out and returned to Mr Brockbanks' student flat in Howard Street in the early hours of 24 September.

"We suggest it was that scrolling and the realisation that Jason was sexually interested in other males that was the trigger and motivating factor for the stabbing," prosecutor David Lamb KC said.

The court heard that after the stabbing, Mr Ray took the knife into the communal kitchen then walked to Newcastle Central Station and got a taxi to Sunderland.

Three days later the university student accommodation manger received an email asking if she could check on Mr Brockbanks.

"She went inside and she saw that the television was turned on, the bed appeared unmade and there was staining to the bedclothes and the floor carpet," Mr Lamb said.

"She saw a handprint in blood on the doorframe to the en suite bathroom and on opening that en suite bathroom door she saw Jason Brockbanks slumped in the shower cubicle.

"He was very obviously dead."

'Absolutely mortal drunk'

A post-mortem examination showed Mr Brockbanks had a fatal stab wound to his abdomen and two knife injuries to his back.

A forensic investigation concluded that Mr Brockbanks may have been on his bed at the time he was attacked.

Mr Lamb said the victim may have been alive for some time after the attack and his life might have been saved.

"That fatal injury would not have led to Jason Brockbanks' immediate incapacitation," he said. "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.

"This defendant did not summon the emergency services. As you know, he [Mr Brockbanks] was not found dead until three days after the murder."

Mr Ray was arrested on 29 September and admitted the men had been in a violent struggle but told police he did not realise his partner had died.

He told investigators Mr Brockbanks was "absolutely mortal drunk", could become violent after drinking and said on the night "he came at me, like worse than I've every seen in my whole life" so he picked up the knife to fend him off.

Mr Ray said he and Mr Brockbanks had been together for around three months and had met on dating app Grindr.

He told police an argument had started when he saw an explicit Grindr notification on Mr Brockbanks' phone.

The trial continues.