U.K. man found guilty of killing boyfriend over Grindr messages gets life sentence

A U.K. man received a life sentence Thursday after being found guilty of killing his boyfriend over Grindr messages from other men.

Aaron Ray, 21, showed “no remorse” for stabbing 24-year-old Jason Brockbanks in his dorm room at Northumbria University in Newcastle last year, the judge said, according to the BBC.

He’s required to serve at least 22 years behind bars, the judge ruled.

“You didn’t call the emergency services to help Jason,” Justice Martin Spencer told Ray.

“He attempted to stand up, find his way to the bathroom, collapsed in the shower cubicle and bled to death,” the judge added. “The situation was retrievable, had you sought help, but you didn’t.”

Prosecutors say Ray became enraged when he learned Brockbanks was receiving messages on Grindr, a popular gay hookup app, while the two were on a date.

Brockbanks was found dead three days later by a dorm staffer who had been asked by the victims’ parents to check on him.

Ray claims he acted in self-defense. He told police Brockbanks became enraged after being confronted with evidence of infidelity and attacked him, according to local newspaper The Northern Echo.

Ray said he grabbed a knife to protect himself and slashed Brockbanks across the stomach. He also told police he didn’t realize the extent of his boyfriend’s injuries and left the scene.

The two had met on Grindr three months earlier.

“I find, when he was attacked, Jason was asleep under his duvet ... and in no position to defend himself against your attack,” the judge told Ray on Thursday.

Following a seven-day trial, a jury in Newcastle found Ray guilty Tuesday after just over an hour of deliberation.