article: Eric Ruddy, 64, and his wife Carol, 54, were found dying in their home in December. He had been stabbed and beaten, she had been strangled. Martin Ruddy, 29, stood to benefit from their savings of more than Â£80,000 as he was the sole beneficiary of their will, Newcastle Crown Court heard. He had claimed the pair were attacked by intruders who also injured him. Judge Paul Sloan QC is due to set the minimum term for Ruddy's mandatory life sentence on Friday. A jury heard that in the lead-up to the murders, Ruddy's life was running out of control and that his marriage was at breaking point. He had also got himself into Â£5,000 of debt and had fallen behind on a scheme to pay the money back. John Elvidge QC, prosecuting, said: "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." The court heard 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 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.
summary: A man with mounting debts has been found guilty of murdering his parents in their Newcastle home.