A killer who killed his partner during a heated sex chat argument and left him to die alone has been sentenced to life in prison.
In September, after seeing Grindr messages on his phone, 21-year-old Aaron Ray stabbed Jason Brockbanks, 24, with a knife while he was sleeping.
In the bathroom of the Mansion Tyne student residence in Newcastle, the murderer left Mr. Brockbanks to bleed to death after first slitting the throat of his family’s cockatiel.
It took three days for the Northumbria University student’s body to be discovered.
Newcastle Crown Court heard he could have survived if medical attention had been sought.
Ray, from Sunderland, denied the murder but was convicted by a jury after a trial.
Mr Justice Spencer sentenced Ray him to life behind bars and said he must serve a minimum of 22 years.
The judge said the evidence showed Ray had been ‘violent’ in previous relationships and said he was ‘deceitful, dishonest and when drunk highly dangerous’.
The two men had enjoyed a night out together in Newcastle’s Pink Triangle before Ray saw the Grindr messages on Mr Brockbanks phone.
The judge said it is likely Mr Brockbanks had fallen asleep, at which point Ray recorded a video of himself scrawling through the phone, got a knife from the communal kitchen and launched the deadly attack.
Mr Brockbanks was slashed across the back before being stabbed in the side as he lay in bed under his duvet.
Justice Spencer told Ray: ‘I find, when he was attacked, Jason was asleep under his duvet, defenceless and in no position to defend himself against your attack.
‘You have shown no remorse for your actions. You didn’t call the emergency services to help Jason.
‘He was bleeding profusely from the wounds, blood soaked through his duvet and sheet. He fell to the floor beside his bed, the duvet fell onto the floor and covered his phone. That’s why, I find, he didn’t call for help himself.
‘He attempted to stand up, find his way to the bathroom, collapsed in the shower cubicle and bled to death.’
After the stabbing, Ray took the knife he had used in the killing back into the communal kitchen then left the accommodation.
Three days later, on September 27, the university student accommodation manager received an email asking if she could check on Mr Brockbanks’ welfare, as his parents had become concerned.
She entered his room and found him ‘very obviously dead’.
Mr Brockbanks’ dad Chris said his son ‘hated violence’ and had a ‘huge passion for life’.
He said: ‘To know Jason died slowly and alone will haunt us for the rest of our lives.
‘To hear his death was possibly avoidable if assistance had been sought is truly heartbreaking for us.
‘We believe Jason spent his last moments looking for his mobile phone to call for help but he was unable to find the phone due to the defendant having been the last person to use it.
‘I will never comprehend how a human being could walk away from Jason, lying injured in his room in such a cruel and callous manner.’
Prosecutor David Lamb KC had told the court the Grindr messages on Mr Brockbanks’ phone were the ‘trigger and motivating factor’ for the murder.
A post mortem examination showed Mr Brockbanks had a stab wound to his right abdomen, which was fatal, and two knife injuries to his back.