Teenager gets at least 14 years for murder of ex-girlfriend

A teenager found guilty of luring his ex-girlfriend into a wood and smashing her skull with a rock has been sentenced to at least 14 years in prison.

Joshua Davies, 16, left Rebecca Aylward lying face down in the rain wearing new clothes she had bought for their meeting, after bludgeoning the 15-year-old to death.

The brutal murder was carried out in an isolated area of woodland at Aberkenfig, near Bridgend, last October. Davies had spoken about murdering Miss Aylward for months before the attack, with one friend offering to buy him breakfast if he killed her, in the belief that Davies was not serious.

Trial judge Justice Lloyd Jones called Davies "devious, calculating and controlling" as he handed down a life sentence at Swansea Crown Court yesterday. Sonia Oatley, the victim's mother, called for the death penalty for Davies.

"We will never forgive him for tearing our world apart so brutally and I would welcome the return of capital punishment for the likes of Joshua Davies, who forfeited his human rights when he chose to take my daughter's life," she said.