My son, 14, was tied up & killed in sadistic sex attack by brainwashing groomer – then his warped fans tormented me

LORIN LaFave will never forget the day she heard a strange voice coming from her son’s room as he sat gaming with his friends. 

One minute, he was the perfect child – friendly, kind, helpful, and clever. 

The next minute he stood against everything he’d been raised to be, persuaded by an older teenage boy who was slowly taking over his life. 

Just months later, 14-year old Breck , from Caterham, Surrey, would be dead – stabbed in the neck by the very person his mum had tried to protect him from. 

Now, Lorin, 51, has spoken to The Sun about her ordeal ahead of a new documentary set to air on Channel 5 .

“When I think about that last moment, he must have said, ‘Oh my god, my mum was right’,” she said.

“But it was too late.”

And though the killer was in jail, the family’s ordeal was far from over.

They became the target of a sick campaign to harass, discredit, and hurt them – and Lorin believes the killer was the one behind it.

Growing up, Breck would rush home from school, eager to hop straight on the computer and game with his friends who were all around his age.

Lorin could hear him excitedly chattering away to the others. She was happy, and so was her son. 

Then, one day, something stopped her in her tracks. 

“I remember the day I heard a deeper sounding voice. It did not sound like someone who was 13, 14, or 15, it sounded like someone older – an adult,” she said. 

“Immediately in my head I was concerned.”

Little did she know, but this stranger’s name – Lewis Daynes – was one that would come to forever scar her life. 

Daynes claimed to live in New York , and to be working as an important covert operative for the US government. 

But every time Lorin raised concerns, Breck explained them away.

Shifting character

“He was always an easy kid. Went with the flow, helpful, good. He was a good big brother, and the triplets looked up to him,” Lorin said.

“I noticed that his personality was changing. That was difficult – he’s my first teenager, and teenagers get a bit stroppy.

“I was trying to work out, is this just his hormones?

“But in my heart, I could feel that he was being manipulated and controlled.”

Breck had ditched his childhood dream of becoming a pilot, given up on church, and turned disrespectful and dismissive of his family.

Whenever his mum came into the room, she’d see glimpses of herself being mocked online – a witch popping up on Breck’s screen. 

She’d call her son down for dinner, but Daynes would tell Breck not to bother as he wasn’t hungry. 

“I felt like I was constantly fighting against this person, almost as if he was another parent,” Lorin said.

“Even now, after all these years, I just still can’t believe it happened. 

“We had a good relationship, we had a good family situation. I was always aware of how he was doing and who he hung around with, which is how I recognised that he was being groomed.

“But the problem was, I couldn’t get anyone to believe me.”

There’s a million what ifs. I think that taking away the technology is the wrong thing to do, because it pushes it underground

Lorin LaFave

Lorin’s concerns surrounding this older boy grew day by day, but the other parents were dismissive. 

She was so concerned that she contacted the police in December – but their only response was to suggest she take away his technology. 

Lorin did just that, for a week, and everything went back to normal. 

Even when he got his tech back and started gaming again, the older, deeper voice was nowhere to be heard.

Hidden danger

What she didn’t know is that Daynes had sent Breck a smartphone so they could secretly communicate. 

Loris thought she’d done the right thing – but had in fact just given Daynes the proof he needed that they were on to him.

“There’s a million what ifs. I think that taking away the technology is the wrong thing to do, because it pushes it underground,” she said.

“It also made me the bad guy, which is what the predator wants. ‘Look how mean they are, they don’t trust you’ – it feeds right into that.”

At the start of 2014, the proud mum waved her son off on a Spanish exchange trip.

As Lorin had plans to go away herself and given that Breck’s parents were separated, it was planned that he would stay with his dad when he returned. 

But it was to be the last time Lorin ever saw Breck alive.

A few days after returning, Breck asked to go and stay with a friend from school. 

Neither of his parents suspected anything. Their son wasn’t a liar – and after all he was only nipping round the corner. 

In reality, he’d stepped into a taxi that took him all the way from Surrey to Essex – lured straight to the flat of Lewis Daynes, in which he lived alone.

My friend and I got into an altercation…and I’m the only one who came out alive

Lewis Daynes

At 11am on February 17 2014 – mum Lorin’s birthday – a chilling call was made to 999.

“My friend and I got into an altercation,” said the same voice Lorin had heard coming from her son’s room all those months ago.

“And I’m the only one who came out alive.”

On the call, Daynes claimed Breck had descended into a suicidal rage that led to a struggle.

It was self-defence, he said – something he maintained as police placed handcuffs on him.

But what they didn’t know, is that even before he’d called the police, the news that Breck was dead was out there – as were photos of his dead body, circulated among their online gaming group. 

It even meant that one of Breck’s siblings received a text asking if the news about his brother was true, just as the police were informing his parents what had happened.

Brief relief

Daynes’s tale of self-defence soon fell apart.

Breck was found on the floor, covered in blood, while a pile of USB sticks and hard drives were in the sink, covered in water in an attempt to wipe them.

Duct tape used to tie him up was found in the bins, with Breck’s leg hair on them. 

Forensic material suggested there had been sexual activity. 

“I woke up that day with an impending sense of doom,” Lorin said.

“I do feel like, as a mother, I had that feeling because of what had happened.

“It was the worst thing that can ever happen to anyone, and if I could have my wish, that predator would have come and got me. 

“I couldn’t leave the house, I couldn’t function because I was so traumatized. 

“The poor triplets had to carry on at school, too, putting on a brave face.

“They were kids, and then boom – this is real life. There’s no more playland here.”

The mugshot taken of Daynes sent shockwaves through the country, and thanks to his young-looking features he became dubbed the “baby-faced killer”. 

To Lorin and the rest of their family’s relief, Daynes, then, 19, pleaded guilty.

On January 12 2015, he was sentenced to life for murder, with a minimum term of 25 years.

“I don’t think justice has truly been served,” said Breck’s sister Chloe.

“Twenty five years is not nearly enough for the way it was planned, and the torture he gave to my brother and our family. 

“I just couldn’t imagine that someone so young would be so cunning and manipulative to be able to do that to a young child.”

It had also emerged that Daynes had been arrested on suspicion of raping a 15-year-old three years before he murdered Breck.

Torment continues

However, the family’s ordeal was far from over.

A number of blogs purporting to be from the killer were posted after he was jailed, but police said there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone.

“He contacted me and everyone in the media that he could, trying to discredit the story and discredit the evidence,” she claimed.

“He did all that from prison, which is the last thing you want. A predator, a groomer, a paedophile, able to contact people from prison.”

The letters stopped – but then in 2019, another member of their family found themselves targeted. 

Let’s see his body then…

Dwaine Boakye

Horrific messages sent to Breck’s sister Chloe included a photo of Breck with the caption “Let’s see his body then”.

Other messages made graphic references to the murder, including one that said: “Shame Breck is dead. He was sexy. If he was alive I’d be all over him.”

Mum Lorin then faced an uphill battle to get justice . 

As the app being used to send the messages, Snapchat , was based in the US, Lorin was originally told by the police that there was nothing they’d be able to do.

And it was about to get worse.

They were then contacted by an account set up to look like it was her brother, which sent messages like “I miss you” and “I’ll be back soon”.

Slamming the tech companies , Lorin said: “When my daughter tried to report it and block it, along with her friends, she was told the person who’s being impersonated is the one that needs to do the reporting. 

“Well, Breck can’t do that, unfortunately.”

It was years until the person behind the sick campaign was finally convicted. 

Dwaine Boakye, who was 19 when he first made contact, pleaded guilty to staking and two offences of sending a malicious communication and was jailed for three and a half years in May 2024.

He’s the one that made me a mum, he’s the one that changed my life

Lorin LaFave

Boakye did not have any association with Breck’s murderer but police found he had extensively researched the case online. 

However, Lorin did not let this fresh pain distract her from founding the Breck Foundation to raise awareness and campaign for online safety – and in fact, it only proved the importance of what she was fighting for.

And though it may be more than a decade on from her son’s death, Breck is never far away from her heart.

“I jumped off some rocks into the sea the other day. The first jump I did for Breck, and the second jump for myself. It felt empowering, because everything I do and see, I’m wishing Breck was doing and seeing as well,” she said.

“It’s hard, but I want him still with me because he’s the one that made me a mum, he’s the one that changed my life. 

“He’s always with me.”

For more information visit the Breck Foundation’s website . Murdered At First Sight airs at 10pm Monday on Channel 5