A debt-ridden former doorman has been convicted of murdering his parents and then staging a violent break-in to cover his tracks.
Martin Ruddy, 29, bludgeoned his father Eric, 64, and strangled his mother Carol, 54, at their home in Elswick, Newcastle, before running next door and telling their neighbours they had been attacked.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that in the lead-up to the incident, Ruddy’s life was running out of control and that his marriage was at breaking point.
He had also got himself into £5,000 of debt and had fallen behind on a scheme to pay the money back.
John Elvidge QC, prosecuting, told the jury Ruddy was the sole beneficiary of his parents’ will and would have inherited almost £90,000 from his father in the event of both parents dying.
“Martin Ruddy killed his parents and then set to cover his tracks by staging a burglary and inflicting injuries on himself with a brick and scissors,” he said.
The jury heard that Eric Ruddy had received a number of blunt-force traumas to the back of his head and Carol Ruddy had bruising around her neck after being strangled with a length of HDMI cable.
Andrea Hardy, who lived next door with her three daughters, said the walls of her terraced house were very thin and they would often hear doors closing and people walking up the stairs.
But on that night in December last year, she said she heard no noises at all until Mr Ruddy knocked on her door and said his parents had been killed by a group of attackers.
Along with her partner, she followed him back to his parents’ house where they tried to resuscitate the couple.
But Mr Elvidge said no CCTV or scientific evidence supported the claim that the killings had been carried out by a gang of intruders.
Following the attack the couple were taken to the city’s Royal Victoria Infirmary but were later pronounced dead.