Days from dying: The vulnerable young man who became a 'walking skeleton' after social workers sent him to carers who tortured him to death and pocketed his benefit payments

By ANDY DOLAN, GENERAL REPORTER Published: 22:00, 1 August 2026 | Updated: 22:00, 1 August 2026 Standing rigid in a bedroom doorway, his arms hanging like twigs beside him, this is the shocking sight of vulnerable Rubin Blount in the final weeks of his life. A court heard the desperate 28-year-old was beaten and starved to death by recovering drug addicts Kenneth Newton and Melanie James, after social workers agreed they could look after him. In the heartbreaking footage released by prosecutors after the pair were convicted of Mr Blount's murder on Thursday, James could be heard mocking and threatening their gaunt and painfully thin victim as she encourages Newton, 57, to continue filming. At one point, James, 63, accused an impassive Mr Blount of 'putting it on' after he complained of feeling faint, before taunting that she would not be taking him to the doctors. The video - filmed at the council house in Tamworth, Staffordshire, where Mr Blount lived with the couple – was one of a series of horrifying audio and video clips played to jurors during the defendants' seven-week trial. The couple forced him to stand and filmed themselves mocking and threatening Mr Blount during a campaign of abuse as they pocketed his benefit payments. Stafford Crown Court heard Mr Blount, who had a low IQ and learning difficulties, resembled a 'bag of bones' or a 'walking skeleton' in the days before he died and had been seen scavenging in bins. By the end he weighed just seven stones and had suffered multiple rib fractures, a fractured spine and cigarette burns.  Mr Blount weighed just seven stones when he died in November 2022  Rubin Blount had learning difficulties and a low IQ but volunteered in a local newsagents before Newton and James' abuse took its toll In another clip played in court James told Mr Blount: 'If you keep ignoring me, watch me jump up and spark you. I'll knock you out.' A third clip showed Newton telling him: 'I'm going to get up and bang you in a minute.' Prosecutor Jennifer Josephs KC told the court Newton was a 'sort of step-brother' to Mr Blount, having been brought up by the victim's father. But she said Newton and James 'treated their dog with more kindness and care' than the man they were supposed to be caring for. 'He was someone to be belittled, mocked, assaulted and kept for their own financial benefit', she said. James managed his finances and bank card, receiving benefits for all three of them into Mr Blount's account. Miss Josephs said: 'These two treated Rubin as a source of income, and showed him cruelty and violence, not care.' The walls of their 'disgusting' house, which had no heating, was covered in mould and stank of urine. Mr Blount's room was the worst of all, described in court as 'really horrible, damp and dingy, not much bigger than a cupboard'. He was a popular figure in the community and volunteered in a local newsagents, but neighbours noticed him deteriorating. 'A few weeks before he died, he looked like a walking skeleton,' said Miss Josephs. 'He was described as so thin he had difficulty walking and his bones could be seen.' Weeks before Mr Blount died, a neighbour saw him eating out of a bin in the street, jurors were told. The court was told Mr Blount spent the first 20 years of his life living with his parents Eric and Jeanette Blount. But Miss Josephs said in 2015 'following some concerns, the authorities decided that it wasn't appropriate for him to live at home any more'. Kenneth Newton was a 'sort of step-brother' to Mr Blount, having been brought up by the victim's father Melanie James, a recovering drug addict, controlled Mr Blount's finances, the court heard She added: 'It was agreed with all including social services that he would move in with the defendants. 'Although they are not blood relatives of the deceased, they were like family.' The court heard the extent of the victim's suffering became apparent when James turned up at Mr and Mrs Blount's home out of the blue on November 26, 2022, and told Jeanette her son was not well. The couple went to see him and were so shocked by what they saw, they drove him to hospital, jurors were told. Giving evidence behind a screen, Mr Blount told jurors: 'He was lying on his side. He didn't speak. He was unconscious. He looked like a bag of bones.' Mr Blount, who had a BMI of 16, suffered a cardiac arrest in the accident and emergency department of the hospital in Sutton Coldfield, where medics discovered he was suffering from pneumonia and had multiple rib fractures, kidney and liver dysfunction and heart damage. He died four days later, with the cause of death recorded as septic shock, due to pneumonia and damage to the lung. Newton and James, of Handsworth, Birmingham, denied murder but were convicted after jurors deliberated for nine and a half hours. The pair showed no reaction as the unanimous verdicts were read out. They will be sentenced on September 25.