Over the course of a few months in 2013 and 2014, 18-year-old Lewis Daynes groomed 14-year-old Breck Bednar over the internet. Breck lived in Surrey, England, with his family, who described him as “relaxed” and “warm-hearted.”
Daynes targeted Breck on a gaming website where Breck and a handful of his friends were members. The group of younger boys would chat with Daynes over microphone, but over time, the other boys became concerned that Daynes was trying to turn Breck against his family and control and manipulate him.
The manipulation tactics worked, and Breck began acting differently around his family, spending less and less time with them and more time online talking to Daynes online. Breck’s mother noticed the change in her son, and feared that he was being groomed online. She contacted police in December of 2013, but nothing ever came of her report. Just a couple of months later, Breck would be dead…
On 16 February, 2014, Breck got a taxi from his home to Daynes’ apartment in Grays, Essex, after lying to his family and claiming he was sleeping overnight at a friend’s home. Once Breck was inside the apartment, Bednar turned on him. He bound him with tape before sexually assaulting him and then stabbing him and slitting his throat.
After the murder, Daynes called the police and said: “I need police and a forensic team. My friend and I got into an altercation and I am the only one who came out alive.” Evidence showed that the murder had not been self-defence, and in fact, had been pre-meditated.
He pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 25 years.
