Breck Bednar: Schoolboy's killer Lewis Daynes was on police database for accusations of previous sexual offences

‘All it was needed was for police to run his name through the system’ Bednar’s mother said

The mother of a schoolboy murdered by a teenager he met while playing online video games has said it is “unforgivable” police missed previous allegations against her son's killer.

Computer engineer Lewis Daynes was jailed for life with a minimum of 25 years for the murder of Breck Bednar, 14, from Caterham, Surrey, who was found with a fatal neck wound at a flat in Grays, Essex, in February last year.

In an interview with the Sunday People, Lorin LaFave said Essex Police told her this week that officers had recorded accusations of sexual offences against Daynes, 19, in 2011 on both the Police National Computer and the Police National Database.

Lewis Daynes, left, was jailed for life for murdering 14-year-old Breck Bednar (PA)

Ms LaFave, who contacted Surrey Police two months before the murder to raise concerns about Daynes, has now complained to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) over both forces' handling of the case.

“It's unforgivable. It was there in black and white that another boy of Breck's age had accused Daynes of grooming him and then sexually assaulting him,” Ms LaFave told the paper.

“All it was needed was for the police to run his name through the system and they would have noticed the pattern. But no one picked up on it and now my son is dead. I felt like dying when I found out. I still feel like dying now.”

Breck had played war games such as Call of Duty and Battlefield online, prompting Ms LaFave to fear Daynes had “terrorist intentions”. She also described the way her son had distanced himself from her as similar to those “groomed to be jihadists”.

She said: “Even if the police didn't take my fears of Breck being groomed for sex seriously, I thought they were certain to look into a possible terror threat - but apparently not.”

Press Association