A sadistic couple have been found guilty of subjecting their supposed friend to a sickening attack in shocking scenes reminiscent of a horror movie.
Jon Hamblin and Jessica Whinham turned on Paul Binks in an "inhuman" and gruesome attack as he slept, leaving him with horrific injuries in an apparent attempt to cut his heart out. Mr Binks woke up in Whinham's flat in North Shields to find his intestines sticking out and says he was then throttled with a phone charger and put in the bath and told he would be drowned.
After pleading for his life, he was eventually allowed to leave and turned up bleeding heavily at a shocked couple's home in the early hours of the morning and nearly died on his way to hospital. The apparent motive for the attack was Mr Binks sharing a rumour with Hamblin that pornographic model Whinham was a "grass", which he said he did to warn him to be careful.
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Now Hamblin, of Stirling Drive, North Shields and Whinham, of Stanley Street West, North Shields have both been found guilty of attempted murder. Jurors needed just half an hour to convict them.
The pair, who tried to blame each other for the attack which was labelled "monstrous" by police, were remanded in custody and warned they face substantial prison sentences once pre-sentence reports are compiled.
Speaking after the hearing, Acting Detective Chief Inspector Jill Hall said: “Hamblin and Whinham’s treatment of their victim was inhuman – it was a monstrous attack against a man who believed he was safe and secure in the company of friends.
"I want to thank the victim for his bravery throughout. No prison sentences will ever take away the pain of what’s happened, but I hope this guilty verdict gives him some comfort knowing that his attackers have been brought to justice and will be made to pay for their vile actions.
“Thank you also to the couple who took in the victim in his hour of need and assisted him until paramedics arrived. The victim saw the very worst in humanity that day but also some of the very best when these strangers rushed to his aid."
Newcastle Crown Court heard the pair attacked Mr Binks in Whinham's flat on Stanley Street West, North Shields, last September. Hamblin, 41, had been staying with Whinham, 20, while Mr Binks, who is in his 30s, had been spending time with them for about two weeks before the attack, drinking and taking drugs.
Mr Binks told police he had left the flat on the night of September 10 to buy drugs and when he told his dealer he was staying at Whinham's home, the dealer told him she was "a bit dodgy" and that she "was a grass and had got lads in trouble in the past for things that were not substantiated". When he got back to Whinham's home, Mr Binks shared this information with Hamblin in an attempt to warn him to be careful but prosecutors said it caused "mortal offence and provoked a savage and cowardly response".
Hamblin and Whinham told Mr Binks they were going to bed and he thinks he dozed off on a sofa. He then remembers coming round and feeling confused and weak and didn't know why he was on the floor. Recalling what happened, he said: “I said ‘what’s going on, why am I on the floor’. Jon said ‘you’ve been f****** stabbed. I was confused. I said ‘who’s stabbed me like’ and he said ‘f****** me, I’ve cut your f****** heart out, you are going to die.’
“I looked down and pulled my top up and there was a tube, my intestine. I was trying to push it back in. I remember him trying to go for my throat and I put my hand up. He was standing over me with a knife, I couldn’t understand. I thought I was dreaming. I started thinking I’m badly injured here. I was bleeding profusely.
“Jess was mopping up the blood. There was a bit of flesh. I thought it was my liver. I was in a dream-like state. It was so surreal.
“Jess took the bit of flesh off me and put it in the bucket. Jess said ‘we’ve got your heart out, it’s in the bucket.'”
He continued: “I had no strength at all, my guts were hanging out. I think I went into survival mode. I remember thinking ‘I’m not dying here, I need to survive’.” Mr Binks said Whinham said: “It’s done, it’s done, you’re dead, it’s over, you’re dead.” He added: “I honestly thought he was going to kill me. I could see a different man there, it was not the Jon I had known.”
He said Hamblin tried to slash him again and he said “no,no, no, howay.” He added: “I remember thinking ‘He is going to kill me” and “I’m dying.” Mr Binks said Whinham “didn’t seem bothered at all” and was cleaning up. At one point, he said she said: “Aye that’s what you get for calling me a grass.”
He also said she was “trying to wind me up” and put music on saying they were the last songs he was going to hear. He said Whinham told him: “You’re a goner, no one is going to see you again.” Mr Binks added: “My family started going through my head. I started thinking ‘you are dying, this is it, this is how it happens.’" He went on: “I can’t get my head round the level of violence.”
He said Hamblin then put a phone charger around his neck and tightened it with his foot on his back, to the point he heard it creaking. He said they then put him in the bath. He added: “Jon put the hot water on and said he was going to drown me. I said ‘no, no, don’t drown me,’ it’s one of my worst fears. I said just stab me. He said ‘it’s dead peaceful man, you will be alright, you are going to die anyway, you might as well have a peaceful death.'”
Mr Binks said Whinham complained her gas was being “wasted on you” by using hot water so swapped it to running the cold tap. He said he pulled the plug out and was begging for his life and telling them he didn’t want to die. He said Hamblin told him he was “basically already dead” and said he was going to “chop me up and put me all over North Tyneside.” After promising not to tell anyone what they had done, he was eventually told he could leave.
Mr Binks said: “I was gurgling, spitting out blood. I asked him to help me up. He said I couldn’t go unless I got myself out of the bath.” He said a surge of adrenaline helped him get out but he “remembered it ripping more” as he did so. He added: “I was keeping hold of my guts so I was keeping them in.”
Recalling being in the ambulance, he said: “I was in so much pain, I just didn’t want to die, I was absolutely terrified. I thought I was going to die."
Mr Binks suffered seven separate knife wounds, including to his ear, chest, back and arm and one of them had gone into his liver. He also had a compression injury to his neck consistent with the charging cable being used as a ligature. The air ambulance arrived and he had no pulse on the way to hospital.
