00:00:00
[audio logo] David McClelland:
Social media is a huge part of where
interactions
00:00:14
take place for young people. However, a lot of these
technologies, I feel, are the double-edged sword.
00:00:21
Danny Shaw: I think this case
was a wake-up call for everyone about the dangers
of the online world,
00:00:27
online contact, online
communication, and gaming in particular. Alysia Judge:
The majority of people
00:00:34
have really healthy and happy
relationships with gaming. But on the fringes
of video games,
00:00:41
there are these
malicious individuals who will take people outside of
gaming to more private spaces.
00:00:48
Lorin LaFave: I'm worried
that Breck and the boys are being groomed by someone
they're gaming with online.
00:00:53
And everyone's response,
oh, don't worry. They're all online
with strangers now.
00:00:57
That's the norm. David McClelland:
The warning signs are changes in your child's behavior.
00:01:02
Baroness Beeban Kidron:
Are they being secretive? Are they spending loads of time
in their room by themselves?
00:01:07
- They communicated through
the channel called TeamSpeak. Lorin LaFave: He was being
inundated by this predator.
00:01:15
Steve Keogh: So she
took away his means of communicating with him. Lorin LaFave:
Unfortunately, it made
00:01:21
it more dangerous because it
all went underground. I didn't recognize even how
evil some people can be myself.
00:01:31
[theme music] 999 operator: [on phone]
Essex police emergency. Lewis Daynes: [on
phone] Hi, there.
00:01:56
I need police and a forensics
team to my address, please. 999 operator: [on
phone] What do you mean?
00:02:02
Lewis Daynes: [on
phone] My friend and I got into an altercation,
and I'm the only one
00:02:09
who came out alive. Lorin LaFave: I
grew up in Michigan and then had the opportunity
to move to London in 1997.
00:02:20
When I decided
with my ex-husband now we wanted to try
to have a family, it took us four years to have
Breck, my first child.
00:02:29
Finally, my dream came true
and he was a dream baby. We took him everywhere,
and we just really enjoyed it.
00:02:35
And two years later, we
actually had triplets. We hit the bonus. And Breck was
a great big brother.
00:02:41
He was helpful and he
taught them things. And he was always sort
of my right hand man.
00:02:47
He was clever, and probably
all moms think that. But he was sort of labeled
boy wonder from an early age
00:02:55
because he could just
put things together. And he almost looked
at puzzles and how things worked
in a different way
00:03:01
than I did and then
I saw other people. He would just imagine
how they worked. He loved all the sciences
because that just
00:03:09
fit right into it,
and computing and technology. We were living in Surrey,
and it was nice because we
00:03:19
could walk to school together. I even started working
at the children's school. Breck just started
getting more and
00:03:25
more interested into computing
and programming, and that was where the friends
he made at school, the ones who
00:03:31
were the more science guys. And they actually did have a
great sense of humor together.
00:03:35
And they invited him
into a new gaming group when he was 13 years old. Alysia Judge:
The majority of people
00:03:43
have really healthy and happy
relationships with gaming. It's likely that your friends,
your colleagues, your family,
00:03:51
out of all of them,
someone within there will play video games. In an online game,
the developers create a world.
00:03:59
And that world is yours
to explore with your friends. These online gaming
spaces are the new malls,
00:04:06
they're the new play parks. The majority of people
come to video games, and they have really
great experiences.
00:04:15
But on the fringes
of video games, there are these
malicious individuals attracted to it precisely
because it is popular.
00:04:25
And these malicious
individuals will take people outside of gaming
to more private spaces.
00:04:32
And in those cases,
it's not video games that are the problem. It's the individuals
that will predate
00:04:42
upon people within that
space and try to remove them. Danny Shaw: Breck Bednar
began gaming online.
00:04:51
A number of friends
of Breck's were also playing these games online. They communicated through
the channel called TeamSpeak.
00:05:01
Lorin LaFave: To me,
that felt safe because it was with
friends from school who I had known since
they were young.
00:05:07
You know, I never
imagined that it would be anything other than
those friends playing together.
00:05:13
[video game sounds] At home, I would listen
to what was happening on the computer, which was
mostly in sort of shared areas,
00:05:26
and doors were open. And I literally, when
he was 13 years old, noticed that there
was an older sounding
00:05:33
voice within the gaming group. And immediately, it
didn't feel natural, and I was worried as a mom.
00:05:40
And when I questioned Breck,
he said, oh, that's-- you know, that's just Lewis. He runs the server.
00:05:47
He's the best gamer. He's so clever. He's teaching us everything. And I was like, oh, well,
how do you know him?
00:05:53
And, oh, the boys have been
gaming with him for years. Richard Whittam KC: They became
acquainted through gaming
00:05:59
online in the groups--
in a particular group that was all run by Lewis Daynes. He controlled all
the members of the group
00:06:06
and would take away
privileges and definitely control their contribution. - You could tell
who was the boss.
00:06:15
- The best way to think
of a gaming server is it's a space where you
go to play a video game.
00:06:21
And there can be
public spaces and there can be private spaces. When you play
on a public server,
00:06:27
you're playing lots
of people with set rules. The thing with
private servers is that if you're entering
that space of someone
00:06:35
who has bad intent,
then actually you're entering their domain. narrator: Breck Bednar
enters a private server owned
00:06:46
by fellow gamer Lewis Daynes. Lorin LaFave: Immediately
it went through my head,
00:06:52
is this really a 17-year-old,
as Breck claims, or could it be somebody
catfishing, pretending
00:06:58
to be something they're not? Even though I worked
part time at school, my full time job
was being a mom.
00:07:04
And so I did feel
like I knew what was happening with the children. And I could hear this
older-sounding voice
00:07:11
speaking with Breck right in my
own house, and it did worry me. I made the effort to try
to get to know all of the boys
00:07:18
within the gaming group. I'd say, hey, you
know, hey, guys. What's going on? And they weren't
really used to it,
00:07:24
so the ones that knew Breck
and the ones that knew me kind of clammed
up and went quiet.
00:07:28
But the person I didn't
know, Lewis, would be chatty. Hey, mom. How are you doing?
00:07:34
We'd talk about the weather,
what was going on. Breck had told me he
lived in New York City.
00:07:38
So, of course, growing
up in the United States, I was interested how
is that English boy
00:07:43
living at 17 years old,
already in another country? And so I would ask
questions, and it was all
00:07:48
very pleasant at that point. But what I noticed
is I never felt like Lewis had real
stories about what
00:07:56
was going on in New York City. He was always on our time
zone in England. I never felt like he was
on a different time zone.
00:08:02
When I would talk
to Breck about it, he'd say, oh, that's because he
works his own hours, Mom.
00:08:06
He's his own boss. He works for this
government agency. Breck wasn't stupid but,
obviously, didn't recognize
00:08:16
the evil in the world. So the stories
didn't add up to me, but the more that I tried
to convince Breck, the more
00:08:23
that Lewis tried to make
it feel as if I was a mean mom, that I was
judgmental, that I didn't
00:08:29
understand computing
and technology, that I didn't want
the best for Breck. Literally one
of the signs of grooming
00:08:36
was this turning a child
away from their parents, and he was trying to make
out as if I was the bad guy.
00:08:43
David McClelland: Online
manipulation and grooming can be a very slow
and subtle process,
00:08:49
but some of the warning
signs as a parent are changes
in your child's behavior, withdrawing from friends,
withdrawing from family.
00:08:59
Baroness Beeban
Kidron: Has your child had a big mood change? Are they being secretive?
00:09:04
Are they spending loads of time
in their room by themselves? Is there a certain
anxiety about it?
00:09:12
Do they talk about a particular
person who you've never met? There are things you
can say as clues,
00:09:18
and I have to say at this
point, Lorin saw all that. - Over a period of time through
the online gaming interactions,
00:09:29
Lewis groomed,
brainwashed Breck. Over a period
of months, Lewis began to isolate Breck from his
friends and his family,
00:09:40
and created
a situation where Lewis became the only person that
Breck felt that he could trust.
00:09:49
narrator: Lewis Daynes uses
the digital space to manipulate Breck and his online friends.
00:09:56
Danny Shaw: Lewis Daynes
spun a web of lies on that gaming
communication channel.
00:10:05
He promised the boys,
and Breck in particular, that they would
earn 100,000 pounds
00:10:11
once they left school through
this technology venture. And through that, he managed
to control access to the site,
00:10:20
who was allowed in. And in particular, he had
a huge influence over Breck. Lorin LaFave: None of them
had seen him at that point.
00:10:29
Lewis hid his identity. Eventually, to alleviate
the boys' concerns that I was bringing
up, he showed himself
00:10:37
in a very sort
of grainy, dark room to just Breck
and one other friend. And that way they
easily reported back,
00:10:44
yeah, we met him. He's a teenager like us. Yes, Breck's mom is paranoid. [video game sounds]
00:10:52
I think it was really
confusing because the boys didn't recognize that
predators can be any age.
00:11:00
David McClelland:
One of the ways in which Lewis isolated
Breck from his family was to undermine his parents,
his mom in particular,
00:11:09
criticizing her
style of parenting. In one incident,
Lewis wrote for Breck what his mom later
called a manifesto,
00:11:20
saying that if she didn't
comply with his demands, that Breck would leave
home at the age of 16
00:11:27
and go and get a job that
Lewis would provide for him. Lorin LaFave: I kept
trying to gather
00:11:33
information and monitor
what Breck was saying, what was happening. And when I would go
into the room, a "wicked witch"
00:11:40
would fly across the screen. One day, too, I went
in and said, oh, Breck, it's time for dinner,
and a picture of Hitler
00:11:47
marched across the stage. So I knew that what I was
trying to do as a parent, i.e. keep Breck
safe, wasn't helping.
00:11:54
narrator: Daynes
creates private channels on the server to communicate
solely with Breck.
00:12:00
David McClelland:
With Breck's friends, Lewis fabricated
an overheard conversation,
00:12:05
saying that he'd heard his
friends saying that they didn't really like Breck. In fact, they hated him.
00:12:12
This story, it was
untrue, but that also drew a wedge between
Breck and his friends,
00:12:18
again, reinforcing
that Lewis was the only person left in the
world for Breck to trust.
00:12:25
Lorin LaFave: I talked
to everyone I knew about it. I said, I'm worried
that Breck and the boys
00:12:30
are being groomed by someone
they're gaming with online. And everyone's response
at that point, oh, don't worry.
00:12:36
They're all online
with strangers now. That's the norm. Nobody said, whoa, go
to Child Exploitation and
00:12:43
Online Protection Command,
CEOP, or call NSPCC. I felt like I was
seeking help, but I
00:12:47
was going in the wrong places. So I tried to talk
to Breck himself. He couldn't see it.
00:12:53
He was happy. He was enjoying
the attention, the knowledge that he was gaining. There was a point where
it was difficult for me
00:12:59
to get him to do
any family activity. And that was hard because he
was being torn by the predator
00:13:06
and by me. It felt like radicalization. It felt like he was teaching
them extremist beliefs and
00:13:12
thoughts, and turning
them against family, turning them against school. Breck had joined Air
Cadets because he
00:13:17
wanted to be a pilot. Lewis literally got
in the middle of that and talked Breck
into quitting Air Cadets.
00:13:24
Everything that was
healthy and good and maybe the norm,
this predator was trying to pull
him away from.
00:13:30
I literally decided I had to do
the biggest, most important thing that I knew how to do.
00:13:36
And that's when I
phoned the police. [audio logo] narrator: Surrey, England,
the mother of 14-year-old Breck
00:14:01
Bednar is deeply concerned
that an online predator is actively grooming her son.
00:14:09
- On the 13th
of December, 2013, Breck's mother phoned police,
with giving them as much
00:14:16
information as she had
gleaned about Daynes, what she knew about his
age, where he lived,
00:14:21
et cetera with the purpose of
trying to understand from them, is there something that I
should be worried about my son?
00:14:29
The operator who spoke to his
mom handled it in a way that, when we look back
now, was completely wrong.
00:14:40
They didn't do anything in
terms of research into Daynes or trying to get
an understanding
00:14:49
of a relationship,
or was there anything of concern from the police's
perspective or anything
00:14:54
that they could
give to the mom. So, essentially, what she
set out to do and achieve,
00:14:59
she couldn't do
because of the way she was dealt with
by the police. Lorin LaFave: Three times I was
told that police intelligence
00:15:08
would be checked,
and I felt so relieved because I felt like I finally
am going to get the answers
00:15:13
and fix the issues. Sadly, I then waited
for the investigation outcome. They told me to take away
Breck's technology, so I did.
00:15:25
I got off the phone and I took
away all of his technology for a week. And I then organized
an intervention
00:15:30
meeting with other parents
and the boys, two days later. And we sat them down,
and it was civil.
00:15:36
I said, I'm worried that
Lewis is grooming you. And Breck said, oh, that's
a harsh term to say grooming.
00:15:42
And then his dad
said, well, that's why we're worried, Breck. We feel that's
what's happening.
00:15:48
Steve Keogh:
The ultimate sanction against Breck
from his mom would be to remove all the computer
and gaming equipment
00:15:59
that he had
to prevent him being able to communicate
with Daynes, and that's what she did.
00:16:04
So she took away his means
of communicating with him. Now, obviously, that would have
been the ultimate decision,
00:16:13
a tricky decision,
and one that Breck himself wouldn't have liked. Lorin LaFave:
Unbeknownst to us,
00:16:22
Lewis had told Breck to record
the meeting in a little MP3 player that I had missed when
I took away all the technology.
00:16:31
And so the meeting
was recorded. Then it was able to be played
to the other boys in the gaming
00:16:36
group, again, making
the parents look like we were so awful, and poor Breck. Look what he has to go through.
00:16:42
And in the meeting, we
tried to convince them, and eventually I
think they just gave in because they
just wanted the meeting
00:16:48
to end after an hour or so. And they said, OK, fine, we'll
game with some other friends.
00:16:54
We won't be friends
with Lewis anymore. Because I said, that's it. If he won't meet with
us, then that's it.
00:17:00
I'll meet up in a call
for a coffee. I'll meet in London,
I'll meet in his town.
00:17:03
I'll meet wherever, or the
dads, whatever would suit. And the boys
literally said, he'll
00:17:09
never meet up with any of you. He doesn't like parents. So we then collectively
said, if he won't meet up,
00:17:16
then that's it, no
friendship, no gaming, no interaction at all. And the boys
reluctantly agreed.
00:17:22
narrator: Breck's parents
give him back his computer equipment, but only after
he promises to ceasefire
00:17:28
all communication with Daynes. Steve Keogh: For Breck's
mom at this point, it would have been
a relief, I think,
00:17:36
that this would hopefully
be the end of the matter. Sadly, that wasn't what
Daynes had in mind.
00:17:48
He couriered a burner
phone to Breck's home so he could continue
the communications,
00:17:56
continue the manipulation
and the grooming. Lorin LaFave: I felt like
we had fixed the problem.
00:18:03
Breck went back to being
normal, the norm that he was, happy-go-lucky. If I asked him to do
chores, he'd do it again.
00:18:11
If I said come to the table
to eat, he'd come. And it just felt like
everything was fixed.
00:18:17
Unfortunately, when
I forbade Breck from speaking with
this predator, it made it more
dangerous because it
00:18:24
all went underground. narrator: In February
2014, everything appears to be back to normal.
00:18:33
Breck leaves for a school
trip to Spain. Lorin LaFave: This was
an opportunity for him
00:18:39
to really experience
a different culture and spend time with
his friends face to face, which I
felt so pleased for.
00:18:47
As we left, we
hugged and kissed and I told him I loved him. And I just never expected
that to be the last time
00:18:54
I would see him alive. He messages and he said, oh,
it's great, Mom, the food, the people.
00:19:09
I'm having a great time. Sounded like he was
really enjoying it. Unfortunately, I
did find out later
00:19:15
that he was being
inundated by this predator who didn't want to let
go just because he
00:19:20
was on a school trip. And even when Breck
had met a girl and he had posted his picture, leaning
his head in with this girl,
00:19:28
and Lewis couldn't stand it. Take that picture down. She looks horrible. - There was, obviously,
an element of jealousy there.
00:19:35
Messages were sent
firstly about why aren't you responding
as quickly as you should be to my messages?
00:19:41
That's why I sent
you the phone. And also, he then faked
an illness to get, A, some sympathy, and, B,
some response from Breck.
00:19:49
narrator: Breck stays at his
father's home in Surrey after his trip to Spain. Lewis Daynes
continues to contact
00:19:57
Breck via the burner
phone, pressuring the teen to meet with him in-person. Richard Whittam
KC: Lewis Daynes
00:20:03
put in in Breck's
mind the idea of, oh, tell your father
you're at a sleepover, and not with Lewis Daynes
but with one of his friends.
00:20:12
Unsurprisingly,
father said, yes, that's fine because he
knew the family that he said he would
be staying with,
00:20:16
but that was fictitious. But that was all set
up by Lewis Daynes to get Breck to come
and stay with him.
00:20:23
And it was, of course,
the first time they'd met physically. Steve Keogh: On the 16th of
February, 2014, a taxi arrived
00:20:38
at Breck father's home. And as far as his
dad was concerned, this was taking
him to his friend's
00:20:46
house for this sleepover. But in actual fact,
what we know now is that this taxi
was booked by Daynes,
00:20:52
and it took him all
the way to Grays in Essex, a trip
of about 30 miles, costing about 100 pounds.
00:21:02
As far as they were
concerned, at that stage, Daynes was now out of his life. This was just a normal,
innocent sleepover.
00:21:12
He told him that he was ill. And it was
because of this illness that he couldn't carry
on with his business,
00:21:21
his multi-million
pound IT business. And what he wanted
to do was hand over that business to Breck.
00:21:31
So if you just put yourself
in Breck's position here, he was being promised
that his future was made.
00:21:38
That he would have
everything that he wanted, everything that he
saw that Daynes had,
00:21:42
he was going to be given it. All he had to do was get
a taxi to Daynes's home, where they could discuss
the handover of the business.
00:21:51
[mysterious music] Lorin LaFave: I woke up
and it was my birthday, and I felt this sort
of impending doom.
00:22:09
I didn't know what was wrong. I then got a strange
message from his dad, and he said Breck didn't come
home from his friend's house.
00:22:16
And I need him to look
after the triplets. And you know, I don't
know where he is.
00:22:24
Immediately, I was worried
and started making phone calls. And I phoned up his friends
and tried to get answers,
00:22:31
and they all sounded funny. And they said, oh,
Breck's with this friend and then Breck's
with that friend.
00:22:37
Like they didn't
know what to say. The reason they didn't
know what to say is they knew something
was very wrong.
00:22:44
Unfortunately, his
dad called me back, and I did get
the absolute worst news any parent could ever get.
00:22:56
[audio logo] narrator: On February 16,
2014, believing he is about to inherit
a computing business,
00:23:18
14-year-old Breck
Bednar travels from Surrey to Essex
to meet his online friend,
00:23:24
Lewis Daynes. The trip takes a turn the next
morning when Daynes makes a shocking call to the police.
00:23:35
999 operator: [on phone]
Essex police emergency. Lewis Daynes: [on
phone] My friend and
00:23:38
I got into an altercation,
and I am the only one who came out alive. 999 operator: [on
phone] Are you telling
00:23:47
me you've killed somebody? Lewis Daynes: [on
phone] Yes, I am. 999 operator: [on phone] Right.
And who am I speaking to?
00:23:51
Lewis Daynes: [on phone]
My name is Lewis Daynes. I'm 18 years old.
And I live--
00:23:55
999 operator: [on phone]
You're telling me he is definitely dead? Lewis Daynes: [on phone] Yes.
00:23:59
I'm telling you he's
definitely dead. Steve Keogh: On this Monday
morning, around 11:06 AM,
00:24:06
Daynes made a 999 call. And in that call, he said
he needed the police and forensics to come to his home.
00:24:16
He then went on to describe, in
his words, what happened there. 999 operator: [on phone] Right.
00:24:23
OK, Lewis, I need
you to just take me back through that again. So what happened last night?
00:24:28
Lewis Daynes: [on phone] OK. I have a chest of drawers. I had a penknife
on there, folded.
00:24:33
He picked it up, opened
it, and then lost control. I-- 999 operator: [on
phone] Slow down,
00:24:39
let me just take
those details in. Penknife on the bedside
table, Breck grabbed this.
00:24:43
What?
In order to harm himself? Lewis Daynes: [on phone] No. In order to harm me.
00:24:48
Richard Whittam
KC: He portrayed it that he, Lewis, had been the
victim of an attack by Breck,
00:24:53
and Breck had used
a knife towards him. David McClelland: It
sounds premeditated.
00:24:59
It does sound pre-planned. The call handler
confirmed to say, are you saying that
you killed somebody?
00:25:07
To which Lewis coldly
says, yes, I have. Lewis Daynes: [on phone]
So I, in self-defense,
00:25:15
put my left arm up to block him
from stabbing me, effectively. We struggled. I got him to the ground.
00:25:23
He got up. I got the knife. And you-- can you not
interrupt me with this part? 999 operator: [on
phone] OK, go on.
00:25:37
Danny Shaw: He wasn't frenzied. He wasn't panicked. He was slow, deliberate,
telling this story and
00:25:46
this account, pausing
at various times, and then telling the operator
at the end of the line
00:25:53
to be quiet and let him finish. He was in control,
and he wanted to control the narrative.
00:26:00
Lewis Daynes: [on phone] This
is being recorded anyway, isn't it? 999 operator: [on phone] Yeah.
00:26:03
Lewis Daynes: [on phone]
I grabbed the knife, and I stabbed him once
in the back of the neck,
00:26:08
I believe, somewhere
near the brain stem. He turned around. He tried to carry
it on, and I--
00:26:17
I think I stumbled
on my chest of drawers. I fell over. I got back up, backed
away, and then I--
00:26:25
I don't remember
exactly what happened, but the fight ended with
me cutting his throat.
00:26:31
I believe I turned around
and I slashed his throat. He fell-- he fell
face first on my bed.
00:26:44
I tried to stop the bleeding. 999 operator: [on phone] Yeah. Lewis Daynes: [on phone]
I was trying to compress
00:26:51
the wound at that time.
And-- 999 operator: [on phone]
Lewis, are you still in the room where Breck is?
Lewis Daynes: [on phone] No.
00:26:56
999 operator: [on
phone] Where are you? Lewis Daynes: [on
phone] Just don't-- OK, don't interrupt me.
00:27:02
Just let me explain this.
This is being recorded. Are the police on their way?
I can hear sirens.
00:27:05
999 operator: [on
phone] They are. They are. Lewis Daynes: [on phone] I'm
going to go and do my part,
00:27:09
please.
Thank you for your help. 999 operator: [on phone]
All right, just listen.
00:27:13
- He's the one that
puts the phone down and says that he's now
going to tell the story
00:27:19
or help with the story
with the police. It's one of the most chilling
and extraordinary 999
00:27:26
calls that I've ever heard. David McClelland:
The full details of what happened
in Lewis's apartment
00:27:33
that night in February
2014, we may never know. But what the paramedics
and the police
00:27:40
found when they did
come to the apartment the following morning was Breck
lying dead in a pool of blood,
00:27:49
apparently having been
stabbed in the neck. Steve Keogh: The first people
to attend this call would
00:27:59
be local uniform officers. And they have
a number one priority, and that's
preservation of life.
00:28:05
So when they're entering
into Daynes's flat, even though on the phone
call, Daynes is saying,
00:28:11
I'm in no doubt myself
that Breck's dead, they can't take that as final. They have to go
in and check themselves
00:28:19
to make sure there's
no chance that they can save Breck's life. Sadly, when they
go into the flat,
00:28:25
it's quite clear
that Breck is dead and there's nothing
they can do. So this would now be
treated as a crime scene.
00:28:32
Breck's body itself will be
treated as a crime scene. And also, as somebody was
there at the time Breck died,
00:28:42
Daynes himself would be
treated as a crime scene. So it would be important
to gain control of him
00:28:46
to make sure any
forensic evidence can be retrieved from him later on. narrator: The scene is
secured and Lewis Daynes
00:28:55
is taken into custody. Crime scene investigators
begin the process of collecting evidence.
00:29:05
- When these officers went into
the flat, the investigators, and they walked down
a long corridor,
00:29:12
and one of the first
things they see is a knife on the floor. They go into the living
room, and
00:29:18
within there they see
a bag, a plastic bag containing cut up clothing. In the bedroom, on the bed
itself, they see a laptop.
00:29:29
The laptop is covered in blood. Within bins
in the flat, the police found duct tape, which appeared
as if it had been used to bind
00:29:39
somebody's hands and feet. - And in the bathroom,
in the sink which had been filled
with water, they
00:29:48
found various computer
devices belonging to Lewis Daynes, which
he had apparently
00:29:54
placed there to try
and erase any of the digital evidence,
any of the messages and communications, to try and
basically destroy the evidence.
00:30:07
Daynes himself, after killing
Breck, had had a shower. - He's saying this
was self-defense.
00:30:18
He's saying this
was an accident. I didn't mean to kill him. This isn't a murder.
00:30:22
If Daynes is telling the truth,
if this is an accident, why would this computer
equipment be in water?
00:30:32
And when we look
at what we know about the relationship, where
they met, it was all online.
00:30:38
This would immediately jump
out as an apparent attempt to destroy anything that was
on the computer, essentially,
00:30:47
which would mean their
communications between the two. - The most common thing when
somebody is saying self-defense
00:30:56
is to-- and a knife
has been involved, is to look for defense injuries. And although there's still
some blood on Lewis Daynes,
00:31:02
there were no defense injuries. One of the significant factors
was the air ambulance actually
00:31:09
was arriving as Lewis
Daynes has been taken out to the police car. And there was clearly a bit
of a panic that he thought,
00:31:16
what happens if Breck
Bednar is still alive? The police simply said,
we're going to do everything
00:31:21
to try and save him, but there
was clearly a concern that what he was
setting up to be
00:31:26
a complete fiction that might
be unraveled if somehow Breck had actually survived.
00:31:33
narrator: Investigators
were shocked to learn that Lewis Daynes had
posted photos of Breck's body
00:31:39
online. David McClelland: One
of the many disturbing things about what happened is that
photos of Breck's dead body
00:31:50
were posted online very
shortly after he died. And links to these posts were
shared with Breck's family,
00:32:00
in particular his
siblings, three triplets, who were younger. At the same time,
as they received messages
00:32:08
from Breck's friends saying,
is this true, it's so sad, his parents were
receiving a phone
00:32:14
call from the police
to say that their son had been murdered. Steve Keogh: The fact that
these images could get back
00:32:22
so quickly to Breck's
family really show the power and the impact
social media can have.
00:32:27
I can't even begin to put into
words how that would have felt for that family to see
their brother, their son
00:32:34
in those circumstances. That to me is
absolutely tragic. Lorin LaFave: I screamed
and screamed and screamed,
00:32:44
and that damaged
my vocal cords. I couldn't stop
until I was sedated. I felt like I tried so hard
and yet this happened.
00:32:53
My job was to protect
my children, and I tried. I just didn't get the right
help that I needed.
00:33:01
And I didn't know what I was
up against, to be honest. I didn't recognize even how
evil some people can be myself.
00:33:10
And so I don't know,
I'm not surprised Breck didn't recognize it
because this predator was
00:33:16
extremely manipulative
and controlling, and even tried to control me. - At the post
mortem, it was later
00:33:25
to be shown that there were
at least four movements of the knife to the fatal
wound to the neck, which again,
00:33:30
wouldn't have happened
in a sudden coming together of two people
in a fight with a knife.
00:33:35
It was quite clear when
the duct tape was recovered, there were circles
of duct tape which
00:33:41
was completely consistent with
restraints around the wrists and the arms. They'd been cut
off at some point.
00:33:49
And, equally, Breck's clothing,
boxer shorts and a t-shirt, had been cut off in a way
that was entirely consistent
00:33:56
with him being constrained. So, in other words, hands
tied behind the back, you can't take the t-shirt off.
00:34:03
Hairs on the inside of the tape
showed it was around Breck. There was also blood
on the restraints,
00:34:10
including some on the underside
of the adhesive bit, so again, some bleeding
from Breck at the time
00:34:17
that the restraints
were put on. There were some more
minor injuries as well, as the fatal injury.
00:34:22
So one can just imagine a knife
being used to threaten and then put constraints on somebody.
00:34:32
[audio logo] narrator: December 2014,
preparations are underway for the trial
of 19-year-old Lewis Daynes,
00:34:56
who has been charged
with the murder of 14-year-old Breck Bednar. Daynes has been grooming
Breck for the past year
00:35:03
via an online gaming
server, before luring the teen to his flat in Essex
where he stabbed him to death.
00:35:11
- He had tried to destroy
any evidence in terms of communications
or anything that could
00:35:19
be on computers or phones. But one thing he didn't know
is that in Breck's rucksack,
00:35:28
at the bottom of his
rucksack was his iPad. There was information
held on there that gave police
a real good indication
00:35:38
of the communications
between the two. - They were able to see
just the lengths that Daynes
00:35:45
had gone to manipulate Breck. Richard Whittam KC: Along
with the two young men that Lewis Daynes had
been in touch with,
00:35:53
and the timing of what
their message were and how and what he was saying
to them, started
00:35:59
to build up a picture that was
showing that initial account to be untrue. When he was interviewed
and he gave an account still
00:36:08
saying he was
acting in defense, but saying there
had actually been a sexual liaison between him
and Breck for the first time,
00:36:16
and pretended to be
in a consensual relationship, none of which was true. narrator: Investigators
dig deeper
00:36:25
into Daynes's
background, discovering troubling information. David McClelland: At the point
at which Breck Bednar was
00:36:35
killed, Lewis Daynes
was an 18-year-old man living on his own
in Grays in Essex,
00:36:42
just outside of London. He had experienced a disrupted,
difficult childhood. His parents had separated.
00:36:51
But from the age
of 16, it appears as though he'd been living
on his own in this flat.
00:36:59
- Essentially, his
whole life was online. He was at home playing these
games, hosting these games,
00:37:07
and spending hours
upon hours talking to people who
were all generally much younger than him.
00:37:14
Danny Shaw: In 2011,
there had been allegations that he
had sexually assaulted or raped another boy.
00:37:21
Police had investigated this. They looked into it,
but they decided not to take any action at the time.
00:37:27
But when Breck's mom made
the complaint to the police, the police should have looked
at the police national computer
00:37:36
where they would have seen
that record of the allegation against Daynes from 2011.
00:37:41
And they didn't even check
the computer to see that. If they had, the alarm
bell surely would have rung
00:37:50
and the police would
have taken action. narrator: The prosecution is
prepared for a lengthy and
00:37:57
complicated trial,
but on the first day at Chelmsford Crown Court,
Lewis Daynes changes his plea.
00:38:06
- Lewis Daynes had
pleaded not guilty. And it was on the first
day of the trial that there was some
discussion, and
00:38:13
he did ultimately then
indicate he would plead guilty. He would still get
a life sentence,
00:38:21
but the judge has
to set a minimum term that he would have to serve. And two of the significant
factors on that
00:38:29
is, one, an intention to kill. And, two, as Breck was
a child, that was it sexually
00:38:35
or sadistically motivated? Steve Keogh: And when the judge
looked at the circumstances
00:38:41
around Breck's
death, she concluded that he should be given 25
years minimum imprisonment.
00:38:49
Lorin LaFave: I didn't
know what to expect. I didn't expect trial
to only last two days.
00:38:55
I think it would have been much
harder sitting through hours and days of that pain.
00:39:02
So in some ways, I'm glad
that he changed his plea. Maybe I won't hear
every gory detail,
00:39:07
but do I really need to? Breck was my amazing, clever,
beautiful boy, beautiful son
00:39:16
who we'll miss forever. He had so much potential
that he'll never now reach. He had so much
to give to this world.
00:39:25
I want Breck's tragedy to help
open the eyes of everyone to recognize the dangers
of online predators.
00:39:32
It is a very real danger today. We all need to look
after each other. We've set up the Breck
Bednar Memorial Foundation
00:39:40
to help raise money and
awareness to help protect all of our children from danger.
00:39:45
I'll never stop
missing my Breck. Thank you. When I think of it and I think
of Breck at that last minute
00:39:55
when he realized, wow,
you know, Mom was right, and I hope he knows
and remembered how much
00:40:03
I loved and cared about him. Because if that
would have been me, I would have been so scared
to be treated that way.
00:40:10
And it hurts me so much
more because it's a child. And if only Daynes
hadn't gone after me,
00:40:16
I was the one he hated. He was hating me. Why didn't he kill me? I had lived enough, done
enough, been enough places,
00:40:27
and I do regret that his
crazy actions weren't taken out of me instead. narrator: The Breck
Bednar Foundation
00:40:37
was set up by Lorin
LaFave to educate and spread awareness about
children's safety online.
00:40:46
Lorin LaFave: Over the years,
I've tried to use my voice and Breck's story to try
to help other children
00:40:51
keep safer online. And when we set up the charity
with a bunch of volunteers, it was about bringing
about awareness,
00:40:58
about grooming, about
the dangers online, that boys can be groomed
too, that predators
00:41:03
can be any age,
that you never know who you're really talking to. And all of those messages
were so important.
00:41:09
And then we went into education
and empowering young people to make safer choices
for themselves.
00:41:16
- What Lorin does and what
the Breck Foundation does is hugely important because
they did everything right
00:41:25
and still they lost a child. And so what they're
doing is they're letting people know that
all children are at risk,
00:41:32
but I do feel passionately
that we have to look at this in a broader way. We've got to up our game.
00:41:40
And we've got to normalize
what is healthy for children, what is good for children.
00:41:47
They have a right to flourish. Danny Shaw: I think this case
was a wake-up call for everyone
00:41:54
about the dangers of the online
world, and gaming in particular and how people that
children might not
00:42:01
know who they've never
met can entrap them and can lure them
into dangerous situations.
00:42:12
Alysia Judge:
In 2025, there are 40 million gamers active
in the UK, which speaks
00:42:18
to gaming's incredible power. And safety is a huge and urgent
topic in video games.
00:42:26
The biggest loophole
in modern gaming that's making it hard
for games developers
00:42:31
are side channels, so chats
that happen off platform. And if you move
into Discord or Telegram,
00:42:39
these are spaces that game
designers just can't reach, so they can't build safety
tools for their players.
00:42:47
We know how to create
safe shopping malls, we know how to create
safe play parks,
00:42:52
and we need to learn how
to apply those lessons into a digital space. Just because it's
in a game doesn't
00:42:59
mean that it's not real. Baroness Beeban
Kidron: Breck's family have turned agony
into action and despair
00:43:12
into trying to make change. And I think you
have to admire that and you have to thank
them for that.
00:43:21
Lorin LaFave: There
are so many issues that children are struggling
with now, with content being
00:43:27
sent to them that's
inappropriate, pushing eating
disorders on them, the bullying, the grooming,
the sexploitation.
00:43:34
I mean, the list
goes on and on. And what I would say
to people, start off small,
00:43:40
start off carefully. And don't think you have
to do what everybody else does because children need rites of
passage, they need boundaries.
00:43:49
They need a childhood, and we
have lost our children's childhood for them. They have had it taken away.
00:43:55
And they need to play outside. They need to enjoy nature. They don't need
devices in their hands.
00:44:02
I try to live a life that's
normal, but every day is hard. And I hate every minute
of missing Breck.
00:44:11
And I miss him most minutes. I miss knowing what he
would have really done. I miss hearing his voice,
and I miss his sense of humor.
00:44:20
And I just miss him because he
was innately a good person. [theme music] ♪ ♪