They killed poor Ash

FRIEND SAYS VICTIM WAS MURDERED FOR HIS BENEFITS

MURDERED Ashley Cochrane was killed for his modest Universal Credit payment, his friend has revealed.

Savage Sean Histon was, on Tuesday, found guilty of murdering the 29-year-old during the first moments of New Year’s Day, while accomplice George Dixon was convicted of manslaughter.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how the vile pair targeted defenceless Ashley when he was drunk from his New Year’s celebrations.

The vulnerable victim was beaten, stamped on, stabbed and had his head slammed through a plasterboard wall at Catherine House in Byker, Newcastle, as crack cocaine users Histon and Dixon tried to get his bank details off him.

When Ashley’s close friend Bobby Martin, who lived at the hostel, found him clinging to life, he was so badly injured his mate did not realise the injured man he was comforting was not a stranger, but his beloved pal.

And the vulnerable drunken man the pair preyed on with such violence barely had a penny to his name, it can be revealed.

Barman Bobby has told how Ashley, who lived on the breadline and used soup kitchens to survive, was killed for nothing more than his small Universal Credit payment, which was the only money that would have been in his bank.

And now, after seeing Histon and Dixon convicted, Bobby has described how he is still haunted by the image of injured Ashley.

The 53-year-old said: “It’s just so senseless. There was no need for it.

“Ashley didn’t have anything, poor kid, so they have done all that for nothing. He had only been given his Universal Credit earlier on that week. I still replay it in my head now and I still have sleepless nights and I still wake up and see that face that just wasn’t Ash.

“I have got two separate images of Ash in my head now. One the way I want to remember him, and one of the last time I saw him. He should have just been getting drunk at New Year like everyone else.”

Bobby, who works at the Lord Clyde pub on Shields Road, had lived in the Catherine House hostel next door for around 10 years.

He met Ashley soon after moving to Tyneside from Liverpool in 2003. The pair hit it off instantly. Bobby took his younger pal under his wing and would always look out for him.

Ashley had also lived in Catherine House for a short time in the room next to Bobby and would regularly struggle for money, his friend said.

“He wasn’t a bad lad. He liked his drink, and sometimes got a bit mouthy, but that’s it,” said Bobby. “What Ash would do is blow most of his money on booze.

“Which is why he would sometimes come over to mine to help finish any drink I had in the fridge and just watch movies.

“I know he frequented the People’s Kitchen on Bath Lane and sometimes their Outreach on a Sunday at Old Eldon Square.”

On New Year’s Eve, Bobby was running a karaoke, quiz and disco at the Lord Clyde and he invited Ashley to come along.

“I was working here on New Year’s Eve from around 5.30pm,” he explained. “I had texted Ash and asked if he wanted to come round and spend New Year’s Eve with us.”

But Ashley was already very drunk when he arrived at the pub, and was asked to leave when he fell asleep on a seat.

Bobby said he could go back to Catherine House and wait for him until he finished work.

“He was a bit mortal when he got here at around 9.30pm,” said Bobby. “He was asked to leave when he fell asleep. That was really the last time I saw him ... as he was.”

Exactly what happened in Catherine House shortly after midnight, only Histon and Dixon now know.

But after crossing paths with their worse-for-wear victim, the pair subjected him to a ferocious attack as they attempted to get his bank details of him.

Ashley was left severely injured on the floor, and was not found until Bobby returned home from work.

“I left the pub at around 1am. I went next door, and up the stairs, and that’s when I found my room had been ransacked,” he said.

“I phoned the police straight away. It was while I was on the phone that they came out of the other room.”

Bobby was attacked as he was on the phone. After the men left the building he heard groaning coming from another room. When Bobby went to investigate, he found what he believed to be a stranger lying on the ground, covered in blood.

“I saw someone lying on the floor covered in blood,” he said. “But it didn’t really look like a person at all. The side of his face was all swollen and he was choking on blood.”

Bobby attempted to comfort the man as he called for ambulance, all the time unaware that the injured person was in fact Ashley, who he