00:00:04
Okay. Wait, don't wait. Breck? Three, two, one. Breck was born [music] on St. Patty's
00:00:20
Day was kind of special because you could hear everybody celebrating outside. >> [music]
00:00:27
>> I dressed him like a little old-fashioned English outfits and people always thought he was a girl because he
00:00:33
was so pretty. I was so proud of him. It was the happiest time of my life. [music]
00:00:45
He was super nice at home. I would sit next to him at restaurants. I know people would like wouldn't believe that,
00:00:51
oh, he's an older brother, he's going to be annoying, but he was super helpful in
00:00:56
any way that I needed. >> [music] >> I couldn't ask for a better older brother. Breck was a guiding figure for [music]
00:01:04
us. He would teach us things. He always come up with games. Come on, dude. I'd always be at his shoulder, just
00:01:12
tapping him and annoying him. [laughter] Just desperate to get his attention. He was such a cool older brother.
00:01:25
2013 was when Breck was first meeting this new friend. By the end of [music] that year, Breck
00:01:32
seemed like a completely different person. He was disinterested. [music] He didn't want to participate. He wasn't
00:01:39
the same at all. My mom and Breck were arguing like crazy. I just thought it was about
00:01:44
spending too much time on the computer. I wasn't aware of anything deeper, anything more sinister.
00:01:52
Good evening, sir. Please, how can I help? Um, yes, I have a 14-year-old son and I feel like he's being groomed.
00:02:01
The perpetrator seemed very, very young, and that was how he [music] was able to
00:02:05
disarm Breck. He just seemed like another one of the boys. When I took away Breck's technology, he
00:02:11
wasn't pleased. I [music] said to him, "Okay, do we understand now? You know, you are not to spend time with this guy
00:02:16
online." And he said, "Okay, Mom." He was actually enjoying time with the family, and it felt like normal [music]
00:02:25
again. It felt like I had fixed the problem. I had no idea the predator was still
00:02:30
lurking in the background. All along I had known that he [music] felt dangerous, but I never realized how
00:02:37
dangerous he actually was. Essex Place, Mersea. [music] Hello. Um I need police and a forensics
00:02:46
team to my address, please. What's happened? My friend and I got into an altercation,
00:02:52
and I'm the only one [music] who came out alive. The only time I remember Breck being sad
00:03:21
[music] was the day I was meant to go to the hospital to have the triplets. It was confusing [music] for him,
00:03:28
and he was crying when I was going to the hospital, which just tugged at my heartstrings. [music]
00:03:32
But after that, he just took on the role of big brother. I remember other children being
00:03:42
>> [music] >> jealous of their siblings, and he just wasn't. He was only two when they were born.
00:03:49
And if [music] I said, "Can you get Mommy, you know, some nappies over on the changing table?" He'd toddle over
00:03:54
and bring them back. I think he actually [music] liked taking on responsibility. He was quite grown up
00:04:01
even from the start. Like at school, he [music] pretended he didn't know who I was. You know, he's
00:04:09
going to be cool and tough with all [music] his friends. But at home, he was so sweet and so smart and
00:04:16
>> [music] >> he really did love us and he really did look out for us. Breck always [music] easily got good
00:04:29
grades. He did try, but he also was naturally clever. Mom, I got three merits for the history project I did.
00:04:36
Oh, really? WOW. I GOT THREE MERITS. I DID REALLY WELL. Well done. He wanted to [music] be a pilot, which I
00:04:48
thought was amazing. And so I would drive him to air cadets. That was sort of some of my favorite
00:04:54
memories because it was just with the two of us in the car and there were no distractions. It was just us and we
00:05:00
could chat the whole way and listen to music together. He was just innately good. I barely ever
00:05:09
had problems with that child. He was laid-back, chilled, clever, easy, fun, funny, um good.
00:05:19
He was special. As Breck got older, his passions were [music] were anything to do with technology. He
00:05:33
loved spending time on his devices, gaming, computing. I would enjoy watching Breck play games
00:05:41
more than I enjoyed playing them myself. Just Breck being in the middle, all the
00:05:45
trip lads gathered round, just at his shoulder and just peering in and watching what he was doing.
00:05:51
We just idolized him in everything that he did. I was just always so impressed. I was
00:05:57
always in awe. Unfortunately, Barry, the children's dad, and I separated when the children
00:06:07
were still in primary school. And it, you know, it was hard for the family, obviously.
00:06:12
>> [music] >> Barry and I always wanted to make sure it was the best for the children.
00:06:20
Things were a little bit difficult cuz we were going back and forth from my dad's to my mom's, but we were still all
00:06:26
very close as a family. Because of the divorce, Breck had to switch schools, and [music] the school
00:06:32
that I found him, it reconnected him with friends that he knew back from primary.
00:06:37
Breck was invited into a gaming group, and I was pleased that he had, you know, rekindled this relationship with his
00:06:43
friends. All the boys would hang out at school during the day, and then they'd all race
00:06:48
home, get on their computers, and enter their kind of second life, [music] their
00:06:53
virtual life. I knew where these friends lived. I knew their parents. We had a history
00:06:59
together, [music] and it felt safe, and I was pleased for him. He seemed to love it, and he put a lot
00:07:06
of money and effort into his perfect gaming setup. As Breck grew older, he started to
00:07:16
expand his games and played more war games, fighting games, which was ironic because he was such a chill guy himself.
00:07:27
When the children were young, we only had a family computer in the kitchen. >> [music]
00:07:33
>> And that was obviously easier to hear and see what was happening. As As got older, he earned the
00:07:41
responsibility and he had his own computer in [music] his room. The door was always open and I could
00:07:48
hear what was happening. I could see what was happening. Breck had three screens. One would be
00:07:54
all the players, what their names were, then you'd have the action screen and then on the other side you'd have
00:07:59
messages popping up and it was so cool. I could understand why Breck [music] liked to game this way.
00:08:06
But I didn't realize the danger that he was up against. >> [music] >> When I joined the police, I was a
00:08:22
standard police constable. Did that for a number of years. And then as I was working with Essex
00:08:28
Police, I got involved viewing images that were being shared online. And then as my knowledge and my skills
00:08:36
grew, I joined the Digital Forensics Unit with Essex Police in 2008. There is no accounting for what people
00:08:46
look at, what people are interested [music] in, what groups they will take part in. Became quite evident to me that
00:08:53
there's a sort of full range of how people behave and how they would disassociate themselves from what
00:08:58
they're doing online to how they would work in real life. I could hear what everyone was saying
00:09:05
and I recognized all of the voices, but I remember literally the day that I heard a deeper sounding voice.
00:09:13
And it did not sound like someone who was 13, 14, 15, the age of his friends. It sounded like someone older, an adult.
00:09:21
And I immediately in my head was concerned. I pictured some creepy 40-year-old guy behind a screen
00:09:30
hoping to entice some boy into doing something sexual. That was the exact image that I got from
00:09:37
this voice. Breck told me that this stranger was the one who ran the server, the best that
00:09:45
he'd ever gamed on, the fastest and most efficient. And, you know, I I said, "Okay, who is
00:09:51
this stranger?" Breck told me all about this new friend. He told me he was 17, he had an amazing
00:09:59
job in New York City, he was working for the US government on contract, and worked his own hours. He told me his
00:10:07
name. I never knew the name, Lewis Staines. I had no idea who that was. He was talked of as a computer engineer,
00:10:17
as having a very successful business, saying that he was like a covert operative, and so he was or trained
00:10:23
himself as this very important person >> [music] >> who was living this fantastic lifestyle.
00:10:34
It was obviously someone who had very similar interests, a huge knowledge of technology,
00:10:40
um successful, >> [music] >> and fun and funny. Sometimes I would go into the room,
00:10:49
and funny things would pop up on the screen. We'd laugh, and it'd be entertaining, and I'd be like, "Oh my
00:10:55
gosh, they're so quick." If you talked about a news story, it would flash up. If you talked about a movie, it would
00:11:01
flash up. But, with Breck being just 13, 14, I didn't necessarily want him gaming with
00:11:08
17- or 18-year-olds anyway. I'd rather have him hanging out with kids his own age.
00:11:14
Little things started to add up for for mom and dad, um just as to feeling uncomfortable, getting these
00:11:23
little clues as to this really just doesn't seem right. Whenever I tried to talk to Breck about
00:11:34
my concerns, Breck would just defend him. I would say, "Well, how does he have time to game with you guys if he has his
00:11:41
amazing career?" And Breck is like, "That's cuz, you know, he can work his own hours."
00:11:46
I would ask Breck if he had seen this stranger, this new friend. Breck would say, "No, he can't show his face because
00:11:53
of the work he does." There was an answer for everything. When I tried to speak to the gaming
00:12:00
group, Breck's friends that I knew would get kind of quiet. They didn't want to talk to a mom. Whereas the person that I
00:12:06
didn't know would speak to me openly. "Hey, Mom, how you doing? What's going on?"
00:12:11
And he would say, "Oh, yeah, I'm in New York City. It's great." And so, you know, "What's the weather like?" And
00:12:17
"Oh, yeah, it's about the same." He never really had any New York stories even though he claimed to live there.
00:12:23
I couldn't gather any information that would lead me to believe that he either lived there or that he was who he said
00:12:30
he was. As time went on, I had rules in the house. Breck had to come to dinner. I
00:12:44
cooked dinner because I wanted to chat with my children. So, I'd say, "Breck, you do have to come down for [music]
00:12:49
dinner." Well, this predator used it against me. "Oh, well, why is your mom making you
00:12:54
eat if you're not hungry? Why does your mom insist that you eat when she wants to eat?" I felt like I was constantly
00:13:00
fighting against this person that I didn't know who he was. Almost as if he was another parent.
00:13:15
I noticed Breck's personality changing in the summer. He stopped being easy about
00:13:23
doing the things that I asked him. Um, he would question them. And in a way I couldn't tell, is this
00:13:29
normal teenage behavior or is this something different? He always wanted to go into the air
00:13:36
corps training. And Breck was saying that he wanted to drop out and continue gaming. And they were like, "What? But
00:13:44
you've always wanted to be a pilot. You've always wanted to pursue that." And he was saying that he didn't want to
00:13:49
anymore. Breck would be really sullen. Like he just didn't want to be hanging out with
00:13:56
the family. He'd much rather be back in his room on his computer. I felt quite far away from him.
00:14:13
I started to pop in more often to see what I could see. And instead of funny things popping up on the screen, it
00:14:20
would be the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz would fly across on her broomstick.
00:14:25
And the next time I'd pop into the room, "Breck, it's time for dinner. Come on."
00:14:29
Uh, Hitler would goose step across the screen. He was turning me into the bad guy when all I was doing was trying to
00:14:36
be [music] a good parent. Lewis Daynes used multiple methods of grooming on Breck.
00:14:44
He will have worked out what Breck needed, what he likes, and [music] it found something in common
00:14:51
with him. He contacted him on the daily basis. And he created a fantasy of an individual
00:14:57
that Breck and the rest of the boys would have believed. Because none [music] of them knew any
00:15:03
facts about this individual because he didn't let them see even his face online.
00:15:09
Just like a face-to-face abuser would take somebody off to a different room or a different place,
00:15:15
that's what happens online as well. Breck was being taken to other better places to game, [music] taken to other
00:15:22
sites and up other channels of communication because he was special. Breck saw in Lewis
00:15:30
what he wanted to see over and above all these other friends. Lewis actually meant something. Lewis is what he
00:15:37
aspired to. >> [music] >> On the day I decided to phone the police, I was scared, but I had a gut
00:15:50
feeling that that things were quite wrong. Good evening, sir. Can I please help you? How can I help? Um yes, I have a
00:15:58
14-year-old son and there's an 18-year-old unknown Well, he says he's 18-year-old
00:16:04
person and I I feel like he's being turned against his family and I'm getting really concerned that this
00:16:09
person isn't actually who he says he is. I gave the predator's real name. I gave
00:16:15
his alias. I gave where he lived, lies he was [music] telling to the boys. He's grooming him for something because
00:16:22
he's trying to change his thinking set on everything. And what what happens when you speak to
00:16:28
your son about it? What does he say about it? He and the rest of the guys in this group completely look up to this
00:16:34
older boy. I felt a great sense of relief that I had made the report. I got off the phone and I took away all
00:16:47
of Breck's technology as a stance to say I'm worried and I need you to take this seriously. But
00:16:55
what I missed was a little MP3 player, which was how Breck was >> [music] >> able to record the intervention meeting
00:17:02
when instructed by this predator. It might sound like paranoia, but but it was it felt like it was even grooming
00:17:11
behavior. That's a hard thing to say, grooming. And that's what it That's why we're
00:17:18
concerned, Brooke. And the stuff that we hear scares us to death. Brooke was defending him. He's a good
00:17:26
guy. So, we said at this meeting, "Okay, fine. Let's meet him." They said they wanted to meet him for
00:17:34
coffee, and I remember Brooke saying that he he didn't want to meet them or something. Brooke said he thinks parents
00:17:40
are too judgmental. And so, we said, "Well, if you won't meet up with us, you know, what about
00:17:45
just the dads?" He said, "No, he won't." Well, then that's it. We're going to have to forbid
00:17:51
you from gaming, speaking, or socializing to this guy because we don't know who he is.
00:17:57
The predator now knew that we were onto him. So, it became that much more dangerous because everything then went
00:18:04
underground and became more secretive. And that was the point in which the predator sent Brooke a brand new
00:18:14
smartphone so they could communicate secretly. >> [music] >> So, I think as much as I was trying to
00:18:21
do the right thing by forbidding, it's actually a tool that predators will use to make the parents seem as if
00:18:30
they're the bad guys. When mom and dad try to go to the police and say, "My boy's been groomed," it is
00:18:39
very much a case of, "Well, where's the evidence for that?" Because you've got a child chatting with
00:18:46
an older male, but there's no grooming offense going [music] on as such in terms of the the legal framework that is
00:18:53
required to then try and progress something. Unfortunately, I found out too late that
00:19:01
[music] they had closed the investigation that very evening because they didn't recognize
00:19:07
the signs of grooming that I was telling them about. There were flags earlier on because
00:19:14
Louis was separating Breck >> [music] >> from the rest of the group. Breck was enamored. Louis was all that
00:19:24
Breck wanted to be in terms of this computer engineer. He was out in America. That's all Well,
00:19:33
that's great, but Breck had no way of checking that. Breck wasn't normally, you know, devious
00:19:39
or secretive, but he was being brainwashed. It was Christmas [music] when he had his
00:20:05
computers taken away from him, and it was like the perfect Christmas because he wasn't on his computer.
00:20:14
It was only a week off of technology, and I got to see more of him, [music] and that's what I wanted. I wanted to
00:20:20
spend more time with my children. I didn't want them to be each separated in their own little world.
00:20:28
He was actually enjoying time with the family, and it felt like normal again. After Breck [music] got his technology
00:20:37
back, and he started with the the new gaming group with his, you know, his old friends,
00:20:42
he seemed normal. He was happy-go-lucky. >> [music] >> He was chilled again. He did his chores
00:20:48
again. He came to meals when I asked. I felt that everything was back to normal.
00:20:53
I never heard that deep and distinctive voice again. Early 2014, I was so pleased and proud
00:21:08
of him because he was doing a Spanish exchange trip and that was something that I
00:21:13
>> [music] >> I didn't get an opportunity to do when I was young. I took a couple of pictures of him and
00:21:19
it >> [music] >> as he walked away, I remember being so proud. I guess because he was becoming
00:21:24
[music] a young man and I never expected that to be the last time I would see him alive.
00:21:36
When Breck returned from his trip, I was away. So his dad picked him up from the
00:21:41
airport and everyone noticed how confident he seemed. He had met a girl there and I messaged him and said, "Oh,
00:21:49
I can't wait to hear about your trip." And he just said he, you know, couldn't wait to tell me about it.
00:22:02
A few days later, Breck asked his dad to go visit a friend from school. There was something about Breck going on
00:22:10
a sleepover and he didn't often do that kind of thing. So I was excited for him that he had something different
00:22:17
going on. Breck hadn't lied before. He hadn't snuck off before. He hadn't been bad. So
00:22:25
Breck went with his devices to game, to compute, to learn, to laugh, to enjoy his passion.
00:22:34
And poor Breck would have never expected how that evening was going to go. Essex Police emergency. Hi there. Um
00:22:54
okay. Hello. Um I need police and a forensics team to my address, please. What do you
00:23:00
mean? What's happened? My friend and I got into an altercation. And I'm the only one who came out alive.
00:23:10
Are you telling me you've killed somebody? Yes, I am. Right, and who am I speaking to? My name is Lewis Daynes.
00:23:22
I remember I woke up with an impending sense [music] of doom. And I then get a message from their dad
00:23:29
said, "Breck didn't come home last night. He stayed at his friend's house [music] and
00:23:35
I can't get a hold of him and I immediately started to panic. His dad called me back and was literally
00:23:45
the worst phone call any parent could ever get. And it was um his dad saying, "I don't know how to tell you this, but
00:23:52
um Lewis has killed [music] Breck." And honestly you know, you might as well just die at
00:23:58
the same time. And um a huge part of me did. And [snorts] I couldn't stop screaming.
00:24:06
And I had to be sedated. And I just couldn't believe [music] it because I always knew from the start in
00:24:12
my heart that this guy was a baddie. But I had no idea he was a killer. The 999 call when I first heard it, I
00:24:30
very much felt that Lewis wanted to be in control. He was measured. There was no real emotion.
00:24:40
My friend came to stay the night with me yesterday. Feeling very down. Feeling suicidal.
00:24:49
And I woke up this morning. He was in a mess. I tried to calm him down. I hugged him.
00:24:56
Then said that I was there for him. He shrugged me off. You're telling me he is definitely dead?
00:25:05
Yes, I'm telling you he's definitely dead. The call handler was trying to establish
00:25:12
what had taken place. She was trying to understand, but Louis wanted to get over
00:25:19
his side of it. What's happened this morning? He was going on about how he didn't want to go
00:25:25
home. He was fed up with his life. He didn't want to go. All right. Okay. I had a pen knife
00:25:32
folded. He picked it up, opened it, and then lost control. His account of what happened is that
00:25:40
there was a struggle, an altercation, because Breck was apparently uncontrollable with emotion in the way
00:25:47
that he described it. I, in self-defense, put my left arm up to block him from stabbing me, effectively. We struggled.
00:25:58
I got him to the ground. He got up. I got the knife. Can you Can you not interrupt me with
00:26:07
this part? Okay, go on. Okay. This is being recorded anyway, isn't it? >> Yeah. It's rehearsed. Sounds rehearsed to me.
00:26:16
Which is why he's saying don't [music] don't stop me. Don't stop me. Uh cuz if he's if he gets interrupted,
00:26:22
he won't be able to remember the story he's concocted. I don't >> [music] >> remember exactly what happened, but the
00:26:30
fight ended with me cutting his throat. I believe I turned around and I slashed his throat.
00:26:40
He admitted that he'd caused Breck to die, but he was trying to say it was self-defense.
00:26:47
I don't remember what happened after that. All I know is I dropped the knife in my hallway.
00:26:53
I stripped out and just sat in the shower. Right, you've left the weapon in the hallway. Yes.
00:27:01
The very fact that he went sat in the shower for a while, then decided to then ring the police,
00:27:07
you're then starting to think, well, actually, he's trying to get his head together
00:27:13
before he calls the the police [music] to say, yeah, I've killed somebody. And And how long sitting in the shower?
00:27:22
I I I don't know. Are the Are the Are the police on their way? I can hear something.
00:27:25
>> They are. They are. I'm going to go and do my part. Please, thank you for your
00:27:28
help. Right, just listen. When the police turned up, Lewis Daynes is arrested at the scene. He was just
00:27:46
trying to play it down. Yes, I've killed somebody, but it wasn't my fault. He was
00:27:50
very compliant, almost separating himself from the actual act. I got home and there were two police
00:27:58
cars outside the house. And the two police ladies, they got out their car, they came up to me, and they were like,
00:28:05
um where's your brother? Is he home? All of a sudden, uh my dad came home, and that's when the shouting started.
00:28:13
And it was loud, and we were we had no idea what was going on. My dad's home like he was in pain.
00:28:21
Eventually, my dad comes into the living room, sits on the couch next to us, bloodshot eyes, and he tells us that
00:28:29
Breck is dead. And we just let it sink in, the horrible truth of it. That was the first
00:28:47
time we heard it. That was the first time we felt that blow. And [music] honestly, from that moment
00:28:55
that would change us forever. When I got to the address, it was very tidy. In the lounge, I saw that there
00:29:11
was a laptop [music] on the sofa, which was Louis Dinsdale's laptop. I was then asked if I could seize the
00:29:18
laptop from in the bedroom. I hadn't realized >> [music] >> that when I walked into the bedroom, the
00:29:26
brick was still on the floor. He was covered in blood. The bed was covered in blood, and the laptop was covered in
00:29:34
blood. I directed into the bathroom, because in the sink there were three mobile phones
00:29:41
and couple of hard drives and some USB sticks, which had been put into the water.
00:29:49
They were a priority because they needed to be dried out to a state where we could then start getting data from them.
00:29:58
Detectives and forensic experts would be looking for a variety of different evidence at a crime scene.
00:30:05
First of all, they would be looking for hair, so anything that could contain DNA, skin, [music]
00:30:12
looking for signs of a struggle, any breakages in the house, assessing the crime scene to see if there's anything
00:30:18
in that environment that could give them clues as to >> [music] >> what had happened.
00:30:25
There was duct tape in the bin in the bedroom, but there's also duct tape in the bin outside, and it was forensic
00:30:33
material that suggested there'd been some sort of sexual activity um between Brick and Louis at some point.
00:30:41
They found DNA on the tape which matched the hairs on Breck's legs. They found blood stained clothes. They found a tube
00:30:49
of lubricant with blood on it as well. And this certainly would suggest that Breck was tied up and assaulted.
00:30:58
Dane's account of Breck apparently uncontrollable with emotion doesn't support that at all. The evidence found
00:31:05
was actually that he would have been incapacitated because he was tied up. The last activity from the laptop that
00:31:17
Breck had was at quarter past nine the morning of his murder. Well, the 999 call went into the police
00:31:24
at about 11:00. So, two hours before he was killed, Breck was still doing something with his laptop. And so, I
00:31:32
think he would just been completely unaware. He would have been there doing what he enjoyed doing, which is playing
00:31:37
with his computers. Police found loads of evidence at the killer's flat. Breck had been lured
00:31:44
there. It was premeditated. There was evidence that they had pizza which Breck loved.
00:31:50
They found, [music] you know, bag of Breck's belongings and all of his devices were destroyed.
00:31:58
But, for some reason, one of Breck's >> [music] >> devices was in his bag undestroyed. And
00:32:04
so, that helped police get more evidence >> [music] >> cuz they were really struggling to get
00:32:08
the evidence out of the other devices. >> [music] >> We found a hard drive that had been
00:32:15
opened up and the the chip had been scored across the back, which stopped that working.
00:32:21
But, the important one was Breck's tablet, >> [music] >> which we were able to get into. And
00:32:26
that's where most of the communication data in relation to >> [music] >> Breck and Lewis came from.
00:32:43
>> In the January, all the communications showed [music] this Breck was going out
00:32:47
to Spain for a week. I think Louis is quite nervous about this because Breck was going to be with
00:32:54
another group of friends. He was going to be out somewhere else, which Louis didn't like.
00:33:02
He could lose [music] Breck because Breck was going to be come involved with another group of people. Um so, he
00:33:08
panicked and he said, "Can you research the online platform that was being developed at the time?"
00:33:20
Part of that communication that was taking place was that he was dying or he was ill and that
00:33:26
Breck was to take over this company. And the words were, "You are in a man's world now, so you
00:33:36
need to step up." So, we have this situation now where Louis is trying to formulate how he's [music] going to get
00:33:44
Breck from his home address to Louis's address in Essex. They had to speak in person for him to
00:33:52
be able to properly hand it over. Breck would have probably been looking forward to seeing his friend in person.
00:34:07
But as a 14-year-old, you wouldn't necessarily recognize some of the language as being coercive control,
00:34:12
[music] which is what they were at this point. You would say that's the ultimate dream
00:34:18
for a 14-year-old to be handed a company that's worth millions that he is going to run.
00:34:28
It was arranged [music] in the beginning of February that Breck would be visiting
00:34:34
Lewis. But the parents didn't know this, of course. Lewis has given Breck an idea as to how
00:34:47
to couch this trip. He's said that on the day to [music] tell his dad that that he's going to go to a friend's address,
00:34:57
which is two roads away. Um but not to say anything until he is actually [music]
00:35:03
in Lewis's address. So dad's thinking, Breck's just around the corner, but he's 30 odd miles away.
00:35:30
It was a month from when he was killed on my birthday >> [music] >> to when he was buried on his birthday.
00:35:37
On St. Paddy's Day. I did my best to try to have his funeral on his birthday because [music]
00:35:47
it just made it feel like it might be more special. And his birthday was always going to be
00:35:51
a hard day anyway. It was the most beautiful funeral and the whole town came out and we had a
00:35:57
procession and it was gorgeous. And then everybody goes home and then you're just left to your own devices.
00:36:16
It was only after the family had left and all that chaos was gone that I started having to figure out how
00:36:22
to live with my grief [music] and how to learn to live with that gap in my life that Breck had left.
00:36:40
I was in bed for a year. I only got up for meetings or anything to do with Breck.
00:36:51
I did get up for the triplets school events, but I was a zombie. She'd always died inside, and we [music]
00:37:01
couldn't do anything to help her. I saw the way that she felt her grief. Her grief was rough.
00:37:12
The way that it hits a a mother when she loses a child. I've never seen pain like that before.
00:37:20
The triplets not only lost their brother, they lost a normal acting mother. Luckily, I had my siblings who were
00:37:29
going through the exact same thing. So, we sort of carried ourselves through that. We were all 12. I really couldn't
00:37:36
have done it without them. When I saw Louis in court, he looked very young. He didn't look his age.
00:37:53
He was very quiet, didn't show any emotion. I was shocked because he looked like
00:38:01
a teenager, and he was wearing a a long-sleeved black t-shirt like Breck might have worn.
00:38:07
I remember just glaring at him thinking, you know, how why could you have done this?
00:38:13
And I thought, you could have been friends. >> [music] >> You know, you could have come over for
00:38:17
pizza. You could have been part of our family. Danes all the way through investigation
00:38:25
had maintained his story that this was self-defense. >> [laughter] >> And then he changed his plea.
00:38:38
I noticed my barrister looking at me funny. And then in came the killer and they asked him again what his plea was.
00:38:46
And he said, "Guilty." And you could have heard a pin drop because nobody expected [music] a
00:38:52
psychopathic liar to change his plea. The only way of him taking back control over this situation is to [music] be
00:39:04
honest and plead that he's guilty. It saved us from sitting through weeks and weeks of hell. But then in the
00:39:13
sentencing, we did still have to sit through a lot of the horrific, you know, things that Breckin endured.
00:39:23
When I think about that last moment, think, [music] you know, he must have said, "Oh my god,
00:39:27
my mom was right. My mom was right." But it was too late. On January the 12th, 2015, Lewis Daines
00:39:46
was sentenced to life for the murder of Breck Bednar [music] with a minimum term
00:39:50
of 25 years. I don't think justice has truly been served. 25 years is not enough for the
00:39:58
way it was planned and the torture that he gave to my brother and my whole family.
00:40:04
It's just it's he's truly the most disgusting human being. I just couldn't imagine that someone so young would be
00:40:11
so cunning and manipulative to be able to do that to a young child. He had a record. He had groomed a boy in
00:40:21
the states as well as boys in the UK. He had sexually assaulted [music] a boy his
00:40:28
own age. And he was known to have indecent images of boys in his computer. Although Dane looked very young, he was
00:40:36
an 18-year-old man who [music] was grooming 14-year-old. The fact that they found child pornography on his computer
00:40:42
isn't surprising. Dane is a paedo file at the end of the day. My mom is the most powerful woman that I
00:40:58
know. She's so strong. And she really had to fight to live through that pain >> [music]
00:41:08
>> and to get up and get out of bed and choose to live. And then she gets up and
00:41:15
she starts a charity and manages to find [music] some light in Breck's death. And she goes and makes sure that
00:41:28
what happened to Breck doesn't happen to anyone [music] else. I think if Breck had seen another boy's
00:41:39
story, I in a way think he would have been the typical teenager that said that could
00:41:45
never happen to me. So, I decided >> [music] >> I needed to set up the charity with the
00:41:51
help of the local community because there was so much to learn. When I teach about Breck's story, I try to make sure
00:42:00
that young [music] people look after each other because the parents won't see what's happening or won't recognize it.
00:42:10
But the friends or your siblings are the ones that see the change in the personality. They'll see what's
00:42:16
happening on the platforms. They'll see what's [music] being said behind the scenes.
00:42:21
The person that's being groomed, it's very difficult for them to see. And that's why I want to speak about
00:42:28
Breck's story so that other [music] parents can be better able to help their children
00:42:34
when they meet people online to keep safe. >> [music] >> I feel bad that Breck [music] didn't get to
00:42:54
reach his full potential. He was so clever. I mean, far surpass any cleverness I've [music] ever
00:43:02
remotely had. And just good, innately good and kind. He was just a great older brother cuz he
00:43:14
was so driven by his passions. He was truly someone to look up to. Whenever I do something cool,
00:43:23
I like to think that he can see it, too. I don't know, wherever he is, if he's looking down on me,
00:43:29
I like to think that he'd be proud of me. Because I am so far away from the 12-year-old that
00:43:37
he knew. I wish he could get to know me now. Farmer was in the kitchen popping corn
00:43:48
just as the animals settled in to watch The Sound of Music. The phone rang. The only thing Farmer Brown heard on the
00:44:00
other end was giggle giggle quack giggle moo giggle oink. Uh-oh. Duck, screamed Farmer Brown.
00:44:10
It's for you, Bob. And there he is, sleeping.