'Send police and forensics, I've cut his throat'

Lewis Daynes (pictured), 19, phoned 999 after killing Breck Bednar, telling police to send a forensics team to his flat in Grays, Essex 

A murderous teenager made a chilling 999 call to emergency services after slitting the throat of a 14-year-old he had groomed online, telling operators: 'Send police and forensics'.

Lewis Daynes, described as a 'dangerous and manipulative' criminal, was jailed for life today for the murder of Breck Bednar last February. 

The 19-year-old from Grays, Essex, had invited the youngster to his home before binding his limbs with duct tape and killing him. 

Today, following a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, it emerged the teenager made a disturbingly calm phone call to police after the attack. 

'I need you to send police and a forensic team to my address,' he said, claiming he and Breck had got into a fight and 'only one of us came out alive'.

Asked if he was confessing to killing someone, replied: 'Yes, I am.' 

Then, giving his name, age, address, he told the operator Breck had lunged at him with a pen-knife. 

'I don't remember exactly what happened but the fight ended with me cutting his throat,' he said. 

In an apparent state of calm, he signs off: 'Thank you for your help'.

Some time later Essex Police arrived at his flat to find Breck, a 'calm and gentle' teenager from Surrey, dead. 

Daynes had cut up the clothes he was wearing and attempted to destroy computer equipment in a bid to erase record of their online chats. 

He had also told friends of the teenager's death before phoning the police.

'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 Prosecutor Richard Whitham QC.

'He showered then changed his clothes before calling the police.'

The two teenagers had been speaking for months after meeting via an online gaming service. 

On the day of his murder, Breck had met his killer only once - the previous day.  

Fourteen-year-old Breck Bednar was found dead with his throat slit in the flat where he had been with Daynes. Today his mother, Lorin LaFave, said his death could have been prevented by police

'I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO CAME OUT ALIVE': CHILLING CONFESSION OF TEENAGE KILLER TO 999 OPERATOR AFTER MURDERING 14-YEAR-OLD

Lewis Daynes: 'Hi there, umm, OK. Hello, I need police and a forensics team to my address please.

Operator: 'What do you mean? What's happened?

'My friend and I got into an altercation, and I'm the only one who came out alive.

'Are you telling me you've killed somebody?

'Yes, I am.'

'Right, and who am I speaking to?'

'My name is Lewis Daynes, I am 18 years old. 

'What's actually happened?'

'My friend came to stay the night with me yesterday because he'd been feeling very down, feeling suicidal .And I woke up this morning, he was in a mess, I tried to calm him down. I hugged him and said that I was there for him. He shrugged me off.

'Don't tell me anymore. You're telling me he's definitely dead?

'Yes, I'm telling you he's dead. 

'So what happened last night?

'He came to stay with me because he was feeling down.

'What's his name?

'Breck Bednar. 

'He came to stay with you.'

'I can explain this to the officers.

'I need to take these initial details.

'I know, I know. He came to stay with me the night, I did my best to comfort him, I woke up

this morning, he was in a mess.

'Did you have an argument with him last night?'

'No, we were fine. We were both fine.

'Why did he come to stay with you?'

'Because he was fed up with his home life.He's had a lot of problems, I've known him for a longtime he came to stay with me. I was in Thailand last week on holiday, he was in Spain.

'OK, so you both went to bed and what's happened this morning?'

'I woke up, he was just standing up. He was in a mess, hands on his face, I got up and put my arms around him and said it was OK. He just shrugged me off and said "no", actually, I can't remember actually what he said. 

'He was going on about how he didn't want to go home, he was fed up with his life, and he didn't want to go.

'I have a pen knife on the side of, sorry in my room, adjacent to my bed, I have a chest of drawers, I had a pen knife on there folded, he picked it up, opened it, and lost control. I..'

'Slow down. So Breck grabbed it in order to harm himself?

'No in order to harm ME, he opened it, and lost control.

'I, in self-defence, put my left arm up to block him from stabbing me effectively, we struggled,

'I got him to the ground, he got up, I got the knife... (sighs, Ok)...Can you not interrupt me with this part?

'OK'

'This is being recorded anyway isn't it?'

'Yes'

'I grabbed the knife and I stabbed him once in the back of the kneck, I believe, somewhere near the brain stem. He turned around, tried to carry it on, and I think I stumbled on my chest of drawers. I fell over, I got back up, backed away and, I don't remember exactly what happened but the fight ended with me cutting his throat.

'I believe I turned around and I slashed his throat. He fell face first on my bed, I tried to stop the bleeding, he fell onto the floor and I couldn't stop it. His throat was properly cut. 

'And he's still on the floor?'

'Yes'

'He fell onto the bed face first, I was trying to compress the wound at that time.'

'Lewis are you still in the room where Breck is?'

'No.

'Where are you?'

'Look, this, OK, Don't interrupt me just let me explain this if this is being recorded. I didn't know what to do, I felt like...

'Is the house where you are also where Breck is?'

'Yes. I felt like taking my own life. I don't remember what happened after that, all I know is I dropped the knife in the hallway. I stripped down and then sat in the shower.

'You've left the weapon in the hallway and have spent how long sitting in the shower?

'I don't know. Are the police on their way? I can hear sirens.

'They are, they are.

'I'm going to go and do my part. Thank you for your help.'

Today it emerged Daynes, who will spend at least 25 years behind bars, was accused of raping another teenager in 2011 but never faced conviction. 

The claims were reported to Essex Police but never pursued. His alleged victim is now reluctant to give evidence against him. 

In the months before his killing of Breck, the 14-year-old's mother became concerned with Daynes' seemingly controlling personality. 

Lorin LeFave told police she feared the teenager was grooming her son, after noticing a shift in his behaviour. 

Four months later, Breck was discovered with his throat slit in the flat in Essex.  The handling of the case is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. 

During his murder trial, the court heard how Daynes promised fictitious jobs and ludicrous amounts of money to Breck in a chain of emails. 

He instructed the 14-year-old what to tell his parents when visiting him, saying he should lie that he was visiting a boy the same age. 

'If you're (sic) father asks you where you're going on Sunday say you're going to meet a friend who's 14 and moved to Cairo last year with his mother when his parents split up,' one email read. 

+10

In a photograph released by Essex Police, computer equipment is left in a filled sink in the flat where Lewis Daynes killed the teenager, in an alleged bid to erase record of their correspondence 

After sharing news of the teenager's death, Daynes removed and cut up his clothes before putting them in a black bin liner (above)

The court heard how Daynes attempted to seduce and control Breck in online messages such as one (shown above) in which he makes a false promise of lucrative work 

Breck (left) had been tied up with duct tape (right) at the flat where Daynes lived in Grays, Essex, before his being stabbed in the neck

'Just some ideas, but it's better than getting caught out if your father asks you to provide details and you slip up accidentally and get caught out.'

Another promised the teenager £85million as the sole benefactor of a fictitious technologies sale for 'a Government entity'. 

Following today's sentencing Detective Inspector Anne Cameron of Essex Police described the teenager as 'a dangerous and manipulative criminal'. 

'He used his substantial computer expertise and his knowledge of the world of social media to control everyone he came into contact with in his virtual world.'

She added that he 'coerced and controlled' vulnerable teenage boys to exploit them.

'Tragically, his downward spiral of depravity went even further and ended in the brutal murder of Breck Bednar, an innocent 14-year-old boy who had placed his trust in a man he considered to be a friend,' Ms Cameron said.

'Sadly, Daynes abused that trust in the most horrific way possible.'

'MY SON'S LIFE COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED WITH A MOMENT'S THOUGHT': MOTHER OF MURDERED 14-YEAR-OLD SLAMS POLICE'S HANDLING OF CASE

Lorin LaFave has spoken out against pol

Speaking after his sentencing, Lorin LaFave said police could have prevented his murder by investigating her claims Breck was being groomed online. 

'It breaks my heart to think a minute of someone's time might have changed the course of what happened, for the police to check on him,' the 48-year-old said.

'It kills me to think one small action could have saved Breck's life.' 

In 2011 Daynes was accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. 

He was arrested by Essex Police but never charged. Today, his alleged victim refuses to give evidence against him. 

Two years later in December 2013 he was reported to Surrey Police by Ms LeFave amid claims he was grooming her son. 

Some three months later Breck was found dead in a flat in Essex, having been murdered by the teenager. 

The handling of his case is now being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. 

'Two police forces had crucial information about Daynes and they did nothing about it,' added Ms LeFave, 48.  

'I am pleased to find out Surrey IPCC investigation is moving forward and pleased it is being regulated independently. 

'This gives us the confidence we will find help in knowing what happened.'

Recalling her concerns over her son's relationship with Daynes, Ms LeFave said Breck's behaviour had changed after meeting the troubled teenager online. 

On one occasion, after confiscating his computer equipment to prevent him from playing video games, she received a letter from her previously 'gentle and calm' son in which he threatened to run away. 

'The letter said he did not want any rules and he did not want to go to church and do things as a family. It happened so quickly I thought it was Daynes's influence and did not like it.

'I feared Daynes was grooming my son, perhaps for terrorism or gay sex. 'I thought his picture may have been false and he was a 40 year old paedophile grooming my son.

'When I told this to police there was no response. I thought I had filed my report and there was nothing to worry about.'

Ms LaFave is campaigning for more action to be taken to prevent the grooming of young boys. Breck's father, Barry Bednar (right) said the death of his son had left him 'a shell of a man'

In the wake of her son's death Ms LeFavre set up a foundation which seeks to fight against online grooming.

Of the other teenagers who spoke with Daynes online, she said: 'Perhaps they were more resilient than Breck and did not believe his lies. But I believe he chose Breck.

'Children need to know it's fine to use the internet for games and education but the virtual friends they make are strangers and they should not meet them in real life. They need to play virtual and live real.'

The teenager's father previously spoke told of how the murder had left him 'a shell of a man'.

'He was too young to experience the pain and fear he must have gone through,' Barry Bednar, 50, said.

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