On the 17th February 2014 police received a very disturbing phone call. An 18-year-old boy named Lewis Daynes was claiming that he had just killed his friend, 14-year-old Breck Bednar in self defence.. But as police turn up to his flat in Grays Essex UK, they realise very quickly that in actual fact this was not self-defence. It was cold-blooded murder.. So how did 18 year old Lewis come to meet his young victim? How did he lure him over to his flat & ultimately to his death ? As they investigate police realise Breck’s mum Lorin had voiced her very real concerns about Daynes to them just two months before. She had been so worried about this controlling person her son was talking to via an online gaming community. A boy who for months was fabricating who he really was, feeding Breck all sorts of lies & fake stories about himself to impress & manipulate him. The detrimental effect & sudden changes it was having on her teenage son was so worrying & her mother’s instinct told her that her son was being groomed online . Had police listened to her concerns, & looked at Daynes record when Lorin had asked for help, they would have seen he had been arrested in the past for alleged sexual offences including rape against another young boy. He was a sexual predator . Which leaves us asking the question, how safe are teenagers & children when they interact with others online? Just who are they talking to that’s lurking comfortably & anonymously behind that computer screen? The internet which is such an important, huge part of most of our daily lives also has a very dark side. It offers a cloak of anonymity, that when in the wrong hands can allow someone to pretend to be whoever they want to be & to create a false reality . It gives predators daily access to children in their bedrooms, & access to them where their guard is down. In places they feel the most comfortable & protected like in the safety of their own homes . Today’s utterly tragic case shows just how common online grooming has become, & in some circumstances just how deadly it can be. Sadly for one young boy who had his whole life ahead of him he realised this when it was already too late …..

This is episode 51: ‘The Murder of Breck Bednar’.

Crime talk timestamp: 13:40 mins

Sources: Surrey Live, Wikipedia , Murder games the life and death of Breck Bednar BBC, Sky News ,

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