January 2015

Teenage sexual sadist Lewis Daynes had been arrested years before he killed schoolboy

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The mother of 14-year-old boy groomed, tricked and murdered by a teenage sexual sadist he met online accused the authorities of incompetence tonight after it emerged that his killer had been arrested in a rape inquiry three years earlier.

Lorin LaFave called police about the increasingly sinister behaviour of 19-year-old Lewis Daynes two months before he enticed her son Breck Bednar to an Essex flat, slashed his throat and sent pictures of the body to friends. Two forces are now being investigated over their handling of the case,

Daynes, who was jailed for a life on Monday with a minimum jail term of 25 years, had befriended Breck Bednar after the pair met as part of a group playing online video games. Breck – who had only met Daynes in person that day – agreed to go to back to his flat on the promise of making money through a fictional software business.

Daynes had bought condoms and a tape to tie up his victim a month before the killing.

“Following the infliction of the fatal injury to Breck Bednar, Lewis Daynes disseminated images of his body to at least two people as well as making contact with a member of his online community to tell them that he was dead,” said Richard Whitham QC, outlining the prosecution’s case.  He said  there was evidence of sexual activity between the two before the killing

Breck’s triplet siblings, then aged 12, learned of his death when they were texted photos of the body by others.

Daynes then called 999 and told police that Breck came at him with a knife during an altercation. He also submerged his computer in water to destroy evidence.

It was finally allowed to be reported yesterday Daynes had been accused of rape in 2011 against another boy when they were both aged 15. The investigation ended with a decision by Essex police not to go ahead with the case.

The allegations were re-investigated after the murder and Daynes was charged with five offences including rape, attempted rape and possessing indecent images. Daynes had denied the charges and they were subsequently dropped after the alleged victim declined to give evidence.

Both Essex police, which investigated the rape investigation, and the force in Surrey, who received the call from Ms LaFave outlining her concerns of Daynes’ behaviour, are under investigation by the police watchdog.

“I believed that the police would help me,” said Ms LaFave outside the court following the jailing of Daynes. “I had given them enough information to check their systems to see that in fact Daynes was known to the police. We all make mistakes but incompetence in child protection is unacceptable.”

She called on Government to properly fund police investigations for offences involving children, and to share information between agencies.

Daynes, a computer engineer, had previously pleaded guilty to the murder of Breck at his home in Grays, Essex, in February last year.

Daynes had groomed Breck through the online community dedicated to war games, including Call Of Duty and Battlefield, and had sought to separate him from his family through a series of e-mails, Chelmsford Crown Court was told. Daynes had behaved in a similar way to other boys including sending one a video of a man being beheaded.

Mrs Justice Cox told Daynes that his contact with Breck increased in a sinister way. “The precise details of what happened in your flat are unclear and may never be known,” the judge said. “I’m sure that this murder was driven by sadistic or sexual motivation.”

The police watchdog said yesterday that the member of staff who took the call from Ms LaFave resigned from the force in August 2014. Another member of staff faces a misconduct probe. The watchdog said yesterday it was trying to find out if Surrey police properly trained its staff on child protection. It is also investigating the response by Essex police to the rape allegation and whether their decisions were in line with national guidance

November 2014

‘Sexual, sadistic motivation’ for murder of 14 year old boy

The grieving mother of a 14-year-old boy who was murdered by a baby-faced online predator has warned parents that more needs to be done to protect children on the internet.

Breck Bednar was stabbed to death after travelling from his home in Caterham, Surrey to Grays, Essex to meet up with a fellow computer gamer, Lewis Daynes, 19 pictured above

Daynes, who was described as computer genius, had groomed Breck – the son of a millionaire oil trader – online through a gaming community he ran.

Once he was in his flat he murdered the fellow teenager in what the prosecution claim was a “sadistic and sexually motivated” attack.

The computer engineer, who looks much younger than his 19-years, had initially denied murder, but dramatically changed his plea as he was about to stand trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.

He will be sentenced in January, but speaking outside court, Breck’s mother Lorin Lafave, warned that online predators posed a very real danger to youngsters everywhere.

Fighting back tears, the American, whose son was killed on her birthday, said: “I want Breck’s tragedy to help open the eyes of everyone to recognise the dangers of online predators.

It is a very real danger today. We all need to look after each other.“We have set the Breck Bednar Memorial Foundation to help raise money and awareness to help protect all of our children from danger.

I’ll never stop missing my Breck.”She added: “I am heartbroken and lost without my Breck and I will never be the same.

He was murdered on my birthday this year and so much of me died as well.“My poor triplets lost not only their adored big brother but also their mother. Breck was my amazing, clever, beautiful boy.“

A beautiful son, who we will miss forever. He had so much potential he will never now reach – he had so much to give to this world.”

Richard Whittam QC, prosecuting, told the court the murder had been “sexually or sadistically motivated”.

He went on: “The prosecution case was that at the time of his murder Breck was aged 14. The law makes specific provision for the murder of a child involving sexual or sadistic motivation.“

The prosecution have advanced the case on that basis and anticipate doing that again on the date of sentence.”Breck’s American father, Barry Bednar, a wealthy oil trader was also in court for the hearing.

There was a stunned silence in court as Daynes, who was wearing a grey suit and blue tie, pleaded guilty to one charge of murder of a child.

Simon Mayo QC, mitigating, said: “For our part we would not be in the position to provide my lady with the assistance she needs [to sentence] for a few weeks.”

Police were called to a flat in Grays, Essex, on February 17 this year following reports that a man had been stabbed.

When they arrived they found Breck with stab wounds to his neck. Despite the efforts of the police and paramedics he died at the scene.

After the brutal killing Ms LaFave spoke of her fears that a “predator” had preyed on her son via a secretive gaming forum.

Miss LaFave, a US-born teaching assistant said: “Breck was a clever, good and helpful boy. Like most teenagers, socialising, computers and games were what he enjoyed.“

The problem was a predator who was trying to control his ideology about religion, government, family, education.

Breck looked up to him because of his interesting manner and computer skills.“

Breck couldn’t see the bad and when I pointed out his obvious lies, they were overlooked by Breck, his friends, and unfortunately the police.“

Breck may have been shy when we saw cousins over three years ago, however he is actually very calm, clever and confident young man.“Unfortunately too confident and independent to believe my warnings.”