Smiling savages partied with family and friends as a man they beat so badly he was not recognised by his own friends lay dying, a telling photograph has revealed.
Killers Sean Histon and George Dixon partied into New Year’s Day in Newcastle carefree, while miles away Ashley Cochrane, 29, was pronounced dead.
The pair had broken almost every one of Mr Cochrane’s ribs, stabbed him with a pen and a knife, smashed his head into a wall and left him for dead in a hostel – simply because he would not hand over his pin number.
Histon, 33 and Dixon, 39, left Mr Cochrane’s body on a bed, but when his friend’s found him in the ransacked hostel, Catherine House in Byker, they assumed he was a stranger. Only later were they told the bleeding, battered man was their friend.
Now Histon has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years for murder while Dixon was sentenced to 17 years for manslaughter.
The pair were stealing money to buy crack cocaine, the court was told.
Without a care in the world: Sean Histon and George Dixon pose for a selfie as their victim was pronounced dead on New Year’s Day
Ashley Cochrane so badly injured he was unrecognisable to his friends. He was killed for refusing to hand over his pin number
During the hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, Ashley’s mum, Gill Evans, told in a statement of her devastation at her loss.
She said: ‘I will never forget the moment the police arrived and told me my son had been murdered.
‘That was the beginning of a nightmare, a nightmare I’ve never woken up from.’
Mrs Evans referred to her ‘beautiful boy’ and spoke of his enthusiasm during his early life.
She added that it’s been devastating watching her son’s killers ‘squirm like worms on the hook’ trying to get away with it.
Mrs Evans went on to say: ‘No mother should ever have to go through what I’ve had to. It’s had a profound effect on my health.
‘To hear how he lost his life is something that will live with me forever.
‘I can’t fully describe my feelings towards those that have done this to Ashley.’
Robert Martin, Ashley’s close friend had arranged to meet Mr Cochrane at the hostel.
Mr Cochrane was waiting for Mr Martin to come back when the killers struck.
His voice shaking with emotion, he told the court: ‘I’m haunted by what happened that night and his death.
‘I’ve never seen a person so badly injured like that before.
‘I had no idea it was Ashley at the time when I found him dying. It was not until the following day I realised it was Ashley. When I was told I broke down in tears.
‘I’ve still not come to terms with the fact I didn’t recognise him and the horrific state his face was in.
‘I hope I never have to see anything like that again.
‘I have recurring nightmares about him, about the fact I found him on a pillow covered in blood and seeing his face in the terrible state it was in.
‘When I think about what happened to Ashley, and I think about it all the time, I can’t believe any human being would inflict so much damage on another person.’
Mr Martin added: ‘When I heard it was for his pin number, I found it even harder because he had nothing.
‘It was pointless.’
Ashley, of Jesmond, Newcastle, had been at the Lord Clyde pub, in Byker, on New Year’s Eve but was asked to leave about 9.30pm after falling asleep due to being very drunk.
He arranged to go to Catherine House, on Shields Road, Byker, to wait for Mr Martin, who lived there.
When Mr Martin returned, he found his home had been ransacked, as had others.
Mr Martin and his friend then heard groaning coming from one of the rooms and they found Ashley lying on a blood-soaked pillow.
Failed attempts had been made to use Ashley’s bank card to withdraw cash by Histon and Dixon.
Sentencing the killers, Mr Justice Nicklin said: ‘You barely knew him, he had done nothing to you, he offered no threat.
‘He was drunk, possibly asleep, and you took advantage of that vulnerability.
‘He represented little more than an opportunity to get money.
‘He was tortured, stabbed, beaten and subjected to the most horrific violence to try to get the pin number.’
The judge said an experienced pathologist who carried out a post mortem on Ashley said the violent nature of the attack was ‘at the top end of nastiness’.
Almost every rib was broken, his cheekbone was fractured in multiple places, he had extensive and severe bruising to his head and bruising to his brain consistent with having his head smashed through a wall.
He also had puncture wounds consistent with being stabbed with a pen and knife.
The judge said: ‘Quite callously, he was abandoned.
‘He couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak, he was left alone to die.’
Afterwards, Histon and Dixon went to Dixon’s mother’s home.
Justice Nicklin said: ‘There, you celebrated New Year apparently without a thought for Mr Cochrane and there you set about destroying evidence.’
The judge said while the jury weren’t sure Dixon had ‘meted out the grotesque violence’, he did nothing to help Ashley and ‘the truth is you wanted his money just as much as the others did’.
The thugs from Newcastle were jailed after the attacked a man in Byker for his bank details
Catherine House, in Byker, where Mr Cochrane was killed as he waited for friends to come home
He added: ‘One of the saddest and must difficult parts of sentencing for murder and manslaughter is hearing statements from loved ones.
‘Suddenly, without warning, a son, a brother, a partner, a friend is taken away from them by the criminal acts of others.
‘A death changes lives forever and no sentence I can pass will ever take away the pain.’
Histon, 33, of Mitford Gardens, Wallsend, was convicted of murder and doing acts intending to pervert the course of justice by washing clothing and footwear afterwards.
Dixon, 39, of Shields Road, Byker, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter. He had previously admitted the perverting justice charge.