Helicopter pilot Aaron Rainbow, 50, originally from Surrey became convinced he was being filmed during a chemsex session with a man in Vallgorguina, near Barcelona
A British man is facing up to 20 years in jail after he was found guilty of the drug-crazed murder of a man he met up with for a weekend of passion.
Helicopter pilot Aaron Rainbow, 50, originally from Surrey, “violently and intentionally” killed Oscar Tornero, 38, a jury found, by stabbing him six times in different parts of his body after they binged on crystal meth and GHB.
Before the start of his trial on October 8 Rainbow had claimed he acted in self-defence and “fight or flight” kicked in when he became confused and paranoid with the cocktail of chemsex drugs he had taken at his victim’s house in Vallgorguina 30 minutes north of the Catalan capital.
“I have the feeling I have not been responsible for this” he said, taking the stand on the second day of his trial. He went on to say he had become frightened and fixated on the idea that Oscar was recording and live-streaming their drug-fuelled sex session and he believed strangers were waiting outside to rape him.
The jury heard how he went to the kitchen to look for a knife for protection before locking the door. Claiming he didn’t remember how many times he had stabbed his victim he insisted: “My instinct told me I was in serious trouble.”
Oscar, who had a job in a fashion store as well as working as an escort, was spotted by a neighbour as he tried to flee his home critically injured following the October 17 2023 attack. The neighbour called police after hearing the Brit shout: “I’ll f##king kill you.”
The court also heard testimony from a man who had a drug-fuelled sex session with Aaron in London three days before the fatal stabbing.
He told the pilot in a WhatsApp message after he confused him with someone else and also turned violent following the consumption of identical drugs during their sex session: “I thought you would grab a knife to kill me.”
Oscar’s family lawyer told the trial: “It was a macabre prelude.”
In a pre-trial summary of the allegations that went before Barcelona’s Provincial Court, officials said: “A person accused of premeditated murder is on trial. The events took place in 2023.
“According to the prosecutor, the accused and the victim had arranged to meet for sex and to consume narcotic substances for sexual purposes.
“Once at the accused’s home and after consuming narcotics, the defendant took a knife and stabbed the victim several times.
“In order to escape, the victim jumped from a height onto the street and fled on foot until he finally collapsed and died. The prosecutor is seeking a 19-year prison sentence for the accused.”
State prosecutor Felix Martin increased his prison demand from 19 to 20 years after the jury verdict, in line with a private prosecutor acting on behalf of the victim’s family.
Rainbow’s defence lawyer Pedro Javier Gomez Martinez had requested his client’s acquittal at the start of the trial, claiming that at the time of the murder he was suffering from temporary insanity, drug intoxication and insurmountable fear and he had acted in self-defence.
The convicted killer’s family had compared the case to a “ Netflix thriller” before it got to trial, alleging Spanish police had botched the investigation and failed to look into electronic devices they claimed could back up his fears he was “being watched by others and set up.”
Rainbow’s brother Dan, from Weybridge, Surrey had said: “’After his arrest, Aaron said that he had been drugged, and he was aware of people watching online via cameras and he feared for his life.
“He wanted to get out of there because he had an uneasy feeling. He grabbed the knife in self-defence and that’s when he fatally stabbed the guy he was in the house with.
“It really is like something out of a Netflix show, but this is real life here.
“Aaron said what made him think people were watching is that Oscar started making hand signals to the camera and he thought “s*** – someone is watching, I need to get out of here sharpish”.
“The guy made a dash for the door, my brother thought he was letting people into the house, so he grabbed a knife, the fight has started and he’s then fatally stabbed him but we say he was put into a position of fear, and the fight or flight response just kicked in.”
He added: “The main focus is that they are not looking at some serious evidence and the standout is the router that was removed from the crime scene the day after the incident by a friend of the deceased.
“We believe people were connected to that router at the time, but it’s been professionally sabotaged, and the data cannot be extracted but the prosecution just don’t seem to be concerned.”
The jury found Rainbow guilty in an 8-1 verdict. As is normal in Spain, Rainbow’s eventual sentence will be determined at a later date, with the trial judge communicating it to the prosecution and defence lawyers in writing instead of summoning them to court for a new session.
The two years the pilot has been held in prison on remand since his arrest will be taken into account in determining his eventual release date.