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p>Breck Bednar friend: 'Murderer told me he'd killed him'

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p>22 January 2016

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p>A friend of the schoolboy who was killed Breck Bednar claims the killer contacted him on the internet immediately after the death.

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p>"At first, I was in disbelief and I thought it was an insensitive joke," Tom tells Newsbeat.

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p>It was not a prank. Lewis Daynes, a 14-year-old Breck murder victim is currently serving a life sentence.

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p>After spending months playing online games and talking to Breck, Daynes lured Breck into his Essex flat in February 2014. He then stabbed him to the death.

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p>Initial attempts by the killer to pass it off for an accident were unsuccessful.

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p>"He said that Breck was suicidal, depressed and confiding in himself, which is the reason they showed up. He also claimed that he tried to stop Breck's self-harming but ended up dying in a way that was completely absurd.

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p>"This was around 10 am in the morning. I believe he did speak to me before he called the police, as far as I know. https://886.lv/ </p>

p>"I said, "This is a joke. It's not funny." Then I said, "Well, you need to contact the police if it's an accident as well as the ambulance. He said, 'Yeah, yeah I'll do that.'"

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p>Daynes did phone 999. He told the caller: "My friend and I got into an altercation and I am the only one to come out alive."

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p>Breck's family and friends are now telling their story in a BBC Three documentary, Murder Games.

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p>Daynes was the host of the Minecraft server Tom and Breck used to play on.

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p>They claim Daynes didn't ring any alarm bells at the time.

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p>"I was introduced to Lewis through Breck So, since you're introduced to someone who you know in real life, your security immediately drops," Tom explains.

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p>"You don’t even question it, you just assume they’re an OK person."

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p>"I believe we thought of him as an example to follow," Matt says. "I used to talk to Lewis about IT certifications and what I could do if my college was closed."

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p>In the days leading up to Breck's passing, his mother noticed that his behavior was changing and began to be concerned about Daynes' influence.

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p>She expressed her concerns about grooming with Surrey Police, but they didn’t take any action.

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p>Independent Police Complaints Commission in November found that both call handlers and supervisors were not equipped with the necessary knowledge to effectively handle grooming reports.

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p>"The thing about Lewis, he was never very direct with his grooming. He was, I think, patient," says Tom.

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p>"You didn't see it coming, and you didn't take notice because it was subtle, unlike what you're educated against, like direct-like 'send me pictures' and stuff like that."

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p>Daynes, an engineer in computer science, who is now 20, had promised Breck an opportunity to work and assistance to upgrade his computer.

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p>"He didn't even bother to ask me my name, he never asked me where I was, just nothing really," Tom recalls.

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p>"He seemed like a really genuine person during the gaming. We shared lots of laughter.

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p>"I suppose I was more foolish when I was younger, but looking back I'd say no I didn't really have any alarms that were ringing in my head."

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p>Matt says he doesn't think that he'll ever be able to move on from what's happened.

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p>"The times I was most at my lowest were in school, where the class would be silent.

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p>"I'd be just sat there doing work , and my thoughts would drift off, and this happened for a whole year.

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p>"The only way I was able to escape it was when I had my friends around."

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p>"I just still don't understand why you would take an extended period of time and make great acquaintances with someone, particularly Breck and then murder them and try and harm them."

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p>Murder Games: The Life and death of Breck Bednar will be on BBC Three Tuesday 26 January at 9pm.

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p>For more stories similar to this one you can now download the BBC Newsbeat app directly to your device. For iOS go here. For Android go here.

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