Murder of Breck Bednar

Breck Bednar was a 14-year-old boy who was murdered on February 17, 2014 in a flat at Rosebery Road in Grays, Essex.

Circumstances of death

ABC News reported that Bednar's mother, Lorin LaFave, "limited his access to electronics, installed parental controls and forbade him from using the same server as a boy she had grown suspicious of." She recalled, "His personality was changing and his ideology was changing and he was starting to refuse to attend church with us. I felt like it was because of the negative influence of this person." According to the Daily Mail, Bednar had been introduced to the 'exclusive' six-person online gaming club at a church youth group. Bednar's mother described Lewis Daynes as controlling the group, with the power to expel members, owning and controlling an Internet chat channel on which members would communicate by voice. She told the Mail that Daynes had told her son improbable stories, such as donating $2.5 million in bitcoins to Syrian rebels and had told members they did not need to finish school because he would arrange £100,000 computer technology jobs for them.

In December 2013 a relative of Breck placed a call to Surrey Police expressing concerns around online grooming. LaFave said she warned British police that her son was in danger. Nonetheless, ABC News reported, "The teenagers had been playing games online for several months, despite LaFave's efforts to put an end to their relationship."

On the day of Bednar's death, LaFave's ex-husband, with whom he had been expected to spend the weekend, sent a text message to tell her that the boy had not arrived. A few hours later his siblings, 12-year-old triplets, began to receive messages that their brother had been killed, describing photos of Bednar that had been posted to social media, which were soon confirmed by the police. The photos, showing Bednar's dead body, were posted to other members of the six-person online gaming group. Word spread, leading to a friend's text message to one of the triplets, "Is it true about your brother? If it’s true, it’s so sad". At the same time, police were telling Bednar's parents the news that their son had been murdered.

Police and paramedics were called to the flat where Bednar was found with stab wounds to his neck, but were unable to prevent him from dying at the scene.

Victim

Bednar was a student at St Bede's School in Redhill and a member of the Air Training Corps 135 Squadron in Redhill. He attended St John the Evangelist church in Caterham. His mother described him as relaxed and warm-hearted, with many friends with whom he played games online after school and passionate about computing.

Bednar's parents, Barry Bednar and Lorin LaFave, were born in the United States. The family moved to Britain from the United States seventeen years before the murder. Barry Bednar, 49, is a shipping consultant, described by some tabloid sources as a millionaire. Lorin LaFave, 47, is a teaching assistant. The Daily Mail reported that the couple had divorced in 2006 and that Lorin LaFave was living as a single mother for the four children in their family home in Surrey. The Evening-Standard reported that the family lives with their three surviving children in a family home in Caterham, Surrey.

Perpetrator

According to BBC News, "Lewis Daynes, 19, of Rosebery Road, Grays, was due to stand trial at Chelmsford Crown Court on a charge of murder but admitted the offence" before the jury was sworn. Sentencing by Mrs Justice Cox was scheduled for January 12, 2015. Daynes, a computer engineer, was believed to have met Bednar while playing online video games. The Telegraph described Daynes as a 'baby-faced killer' who looked 'much younger than his 19 years'. Daynes was reported by The Mirror to have grown up as an only child, and after his parents split when he was 16 he lived alone in a flat owned by his grandparents; his neighbors described him as 'reclusive'.

Prosecutor Richard Whittam QC told the court, "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."

Daynes was handed a life sentence with a minimum 25-year term.

Legacy

Bednar's family has established the Breck Bednar Memorial Fund to raise awareness of online dangers and promote responsible use of the Internet. His mother was quoted by the BBC: "I want Breck's tragedy to 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." His mother asked his favorite band, Coldplay, to help raise awareness of online dangers. She told ABC News, "People think it only happens to anti-social kids, but it’s just not true."

Ms LaFave has called for "more help from the government for online safety", saying that she had expected more feedback from Surrey Police and saying "I also wasn't recommended to contact CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre), which I found out - when it was too late - is a really great agency that would help parents."

After Daynes' plea in court, Assistant Chief Constable Gavin Stephens said the handling of Bednar's case by Surrey Police had been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC): "Following Breck's death we carried out a review of practices in our call handling centre and implemented changes to improve the way information is handled and shared. Due to the prior contact the case was referred to the IPCC. They have since decided to conduct an independent investigation into the actions taken by Surrey Police following this communication."

According to ABC News, the family "is filing a lawsuit against Essex and Surrey police over the handling of the case."