Newcastle student murder: Aaron Ray found guilty of killing Jason Brockbanks

Aaron Ray claimed self defence but was unanimously found guilty

A man has been found guilty of murdering his boyfriend after seeing sex chat with other men on his phone.

Aaron Ray, 21, from Sunderland, stabbed Northumbria University student Jason Brockbanks to death in September.

The 24-year-old was found dead in his shower cubicle at his student flat in Newcastle three days later, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

As a teenager Ray stabbed the family parrot, showing "no regard" for its "catastrophic" injuries, police said.

Ray told the court he had been attacked by Mr Brockbanks and acted in self-defence but, after deliberating for just over an hour, jurors unanimously found him guilty.

After the seven-day trial Mr Brockbanks' family thanked the jury for "making the correct decision".

In a statement they said: "We miss our beloved son dearly and we are thankful we have justice for Jason."

CCTV footage of Jason Brockbanks, left, and Aaron Ray was shown to the jury

The jury was shown CCTV footage of the pair visiting a number of bars on a night out in the city, returning to the third-year student's flat at about 03:45 BST.

The court heard Ray attacked Mr Brockbanks after filming himself scrolling through his victim's phone, which showed a series of sexualised messages between Mr Brockbanks and other people on the dating app Grindr.

Prosecutor David Lamb KC told jurors it was "the realisation that Jason was sexually interested in other males that was the trigger and motivating factor for the stabbing and ultimately this murder".

After stabbing Mr Brockbanks in his abdomen and back, Ray took the knife into the communal kitchen then walked to Newcastle Central Station and got a taxi to Sunderland, the court was told.

Student Jason Brockbanks was found dead at his flat in Newcastle's Howard Street on 27 September

His victim's body was found by a university student accommodation manger at the property in Howard Street, after an email from his concerned parents.

Receiving no response from knocking, she used a master key to enter and found Mr Brockbanks in the shower cubicle, "very obviously dead", said Mr Lamb.

The court heard he may have survived if he had received medical attention.

After he was arrested, Ray said the pair had had a violent struggle but he had not realised he had killed Mr Brockbanks.

He said he and Mr Brockbanks, from Whitehaven, Cumbria, had met on Grindr about three months previously and the argument started because he had thought they were "exclusive".

Aaron Ray, left, and Jason Brockbanks went back to the latter's student halls of residence

Ray, of Mayfield Road, killed his family's pet parrot when he was 18, showing a "total disregard" for the bird's welfare, police said.

When questioned, he insisted: "It's just a bird, it's not a crime."

At the time, PC Peter Baker said: "This kind of behaviour is not only reckless and upsetting, but a criminal offence and that's the lesson that Ray now must learn."

Ray is due to be sentenced on Thursday for murdering his boyfriend and was warned by the judge he faced life imprisonment.

Senior investigating officer DI Tomasz Fowler said Ray "showed no regard for Jason's life".

He said: "On the night he killed Jason, he disposed of the murder weapon and fled the scene, failing to notify the emergency services that Jason had been seriously injured.

"If he had raised the alarm and called 999, Jason could still be alive today."