Student Jason Brockbanks died in Newcastle flat from knife wound

Northumbria University student Jason Brockbanks, 24, from Whitehaven, in Cumbria, was found dead in his fourth-floor bedroom at the Mansion Tyne accommodation block, in Howard Street, Newcastle, on the afternoon of September 27 last year.

A member of staff at the complex discovered his blood-stained body in the shower cubicle of his en-suite bathroom, on checking the flat after Mr Brockbanks’ parents raised concern, having not heard from their son for a few days.

The prosecution in the trial at Newcastle Crown Court say that Mr Brockbanks was stabbed by boyfriend Aaron Ray, who was angry at finding messages from other men on his phone, at some stage after 4.14am on Saturday September 24.

Read more: Accused in Newcastle student murder was making plans to go to Russia

It is said he then replaced the knife used in the stabbing, leaving it in the communal kitchen area next to Mr Brockbanks’ flat, before leaving the building.

He took a taxi to his family home, in South Hylton, Sunderland, where he was arrested in the early hours of September 28, several hours after Mr Brockbanks’ body was found.

Pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton, who conducted a post-mortem examination on Mr Brockbanks on September 28, the day after his body was found in his flat, confirmed he died as a result of a stab wound to the abdomen, an injury inflicted upon his right “flank” or side, just above the hip.

She said it would have severed small vessels within the small intestines and caused blood loss, but Mr Brockbanks may have remained alive for between a few minutes to more than an hour after the wound was inflicted.

Dr Bolton confirmed he would have been able to get off the bed and go to the floor, and then crawl to the en-suite bathroom, where his body was found in the shower cubicle more than three days later.

Questioned by prosecution counsel David Lamb KC, she said the wound penetrated Mr Brockbanks’ body by about 10cm and it would have required the knife to have been held with a firm grip before piercing the skin at a perpendicular angle, thrust “straight on”.

But, cross-examined by defence counsel Toby Hedworth, she said it was “theoretically” possible that it could have been caused by Mr Ray falling onto Mr Brockbanks backwards, while still holding the knife, but that the knife would have had to have been held firmly and straight on for it to have pierced the skin.

Mr Ray’s account of the incident is that after he confronted Mr Brockbanks with the messages found in his phone, he was struck by him and so reached for the knife, which was on a desk.

He said he used it in a slashing motion and was then pulled backwards by Mr Brockbanks while still holding the knife, falling onto him, on the bed.

Mr Ray said he then gathered his possessions and left the flat, unaware Mr Brockbanks had suffered stab wounds.

Read more: Sunderland man on trial for murder of Jason Brockbanks in Newcastle

Dr Bolton told the hearing that there was a lack of defence injuries on Mr Brockbanks’ hands or arms, which is often a feature of someone trying to fend off a knife attack.

She said a cut found to the duvet suggested the victim may have been in the bed when the fatal injury was inflicted.

Forensic scientist John Newell told the court that the duvet contained heavy blood staining which had soaked through the cover and the duvet itself.

He said Mr Brockbanks would have had to have been in contact with the duvet for a “significant period” of time after sustaining the injury for such heavy blood-staining to have occurred.

But he said there were signs some of the blood was mixed with intestinal fluid, which may have come from the point of the blade as it was removed from the duvet.

He confirmed there was a cut which was consistent with a knife having entered and left the duvet.

Mr Newell said a green-handled knife, recovered from the communal kitchen area next to Mr Brockbanks’ room, was “in keeping” with the cut caused to the duvet.

In conclusion, he said he believed Mr Brockbanks was on the bed with the duvet over him when he sustained the stab injury above his hip, and that the duvet may have been folded at the time.

But he said the knife used to cause the injury could have been wiped of blood on the duvet after the injury was inflicted.

He said a bladed implement similar to the one which caused the fatal injury may have caused a cut to the mattress covering and the mattress, itself, which he said could have arisen from a slashing blow which missed Mr Brockbank.

He later conceded, under cross-examination by Mr Hedworth, that this theory was, “conjecture”.

Mr Newell said he believed Mr Brockbanks remained on the bed for some time after sustaining the stab wound before falling to the floor alongside the bed, due to contact blood staining, in keeping with him having crawled to the bathroom.

Read next:

               Sunderland student remains in custody pending March murder trial

               Jason Brockbanks murder: Sunderland man, 21, denies killing student

               Man in court charged with murder of Northumbria University student

Get more from The Northern Echo and read more stories like this by subscribing to a digital subscription from only £1.25 a week here. Click here

Blood found in the bathroom sink was consistent of it having been washed from a surface into the sink, possibly from someone’s blood-stained hand.

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

The trial continues tomorrow (Thursday March 16).