Army veteran suffered horrific two-hour ordeal when his gay lover “flipped” and attacked him with knife
Dylan Upton. (Facebook)
An army veteran had a knife held to his throat and suffered a two-hour attack after his male lover “flipped” over fears their secret relationship would be revealed.
Dylan Upton, 21, has been jailed for more than 11 years after admitting robbery.
Upton had a long-term girlfriend from whom who he hid his relationship with the older army veteran.
The two men met on Grindr and had a “drug fuelled” six-month relationship, which ended with Upton attacking the other man after finding pictures of the two of them together on his phone and fearing his double life would be exposed.
The attack happened last summer after Upton went to the man’s flat late in the evening after Parklife festival in Manchester.
The pair had consensual sex, took drugs and drank alcohol together.
The next day, June 10, Upton asked his lover to go out and buy poppers, lube and more alcohol.
When the man returned, he was consensually tied up by the hands and ankles on the bed. It was about an hour later that Upton “flipped” and became violent.
Manchester Crown Court heard that the horrific incident began after Upton found pictures of the two of them together on the other man’s phone, which he thought had been deleted.
“It was then that he changed and became very violent,” prosecutor Justin Hayhoe said.
Upton began punching the man in the head and strangling him, accusing him of lying about the photographs.
Threats then followed, with Upton saying he would get his friends round to “sort him out” and threatening to put “petrol through his letterbox”.
He also demanded money, putting a knife to the man’s throat and threatening to kill him unless he handed over cash.
Upton then robbed the man’s private safe, taking a Falklands War medal, a laptop, foreign money and family photos.
Finally, he ordered the man to crawl down the stairs on his hands and knees saying “I am a pervert”, which Upton recorded on his mobile phone before barricading him into a bathroom.
Upton ransacked the flat, cutting phone lines, damaging the burglar alarm and leaving the place “devastated” before stealing the man’s car and leaving.
The court heard that the man was reluctant to report the attack but was eventually convinced into it by a friend.
Upton initially denied any knowledge of the man, saying he had a girlfriend and was not homosexual, but was thwarted when his DNA was found on a toothbrush in the flat.
The court heard that Upton had been before judges twice before, once for robbery as a 12-year-old and a second time for a racially aggravated incident at a shop when he told a man “you don’t belong in this country Pa** ba*****, go home”.
The army veteran suffered cuts, bruises and 20 “sites of external injury” from the knife attack. He is also suffering from PTSD and is on medication.
In a statement read out to the court, the victim said: “It’s the last thing I think of at night.”
“When I eventually get to sleep it’s the first thing I think of in the morning.”
He described Upton as “wicked” and said he lives in fear and is planning to leave Manchester. He also pleaded with the younger man to reveal the location of his “priceless” war medal.
Upton pleaded guilty to robbery and last Friday was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison.
A restraining order has also been imposed preventing Upton from having contact with the man indefinitely.
