Exact prison sentence handed to Amazon Prime's 'Minecraft to Murder' killer
A man who groomed a 14-year-old boy through online gaming before murdering him will now become the subject of a new documentary set to arrive on Amazon Prime next week.
Lewis Daynes was 19 when he was sentenced in January 2015 for the murder of Breck Bednar, who was found dead at Daynes’ apartment in Grays, Essex, in February 2014.
At the time, Daynes was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 25 years, and now the case is being brought back into focus by a two-part doc titled Minecraft to Murder: The Killing of Breck Bednar, which is scheduled to be released on Amazon Prime on Tuesday (October 20).
The documentary will examine how an online connection that initially appeared to be a friendship became a devastating case of grooming, manipulation and murder.
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Breck, who lived in Caterham, Surrey, enjoyed playing video games and socializing with other players online. He met Daynes through a gaming group run on an online server, where the older teenager gradually gained his trust.
According to the court case, Daynes manipulated Breck over a period of months, using promises of a successful future in the computer industry to persuade him to visit his home.
On February 16, 2014, Breck traveled to Essex and the following day, Daynes contacted emergency services and claimed Breck had injured himself and that he had accidentally stabbed him while trying to restrain him.
Daynes later admitted murdering the teenager, changing his plea to guilty on the day he was due to stand trial.
At Chelmsford Crown Court, the judge sentenced him to life imprisonment, ordering him to serve a minimum of 25 years before he could be considered for release.
The court heard that the killing was believed to have been motivated by sadism or sexual factors. The judge also described the influence Daynes had exerted over Breck as grooming behavior.
The case raised serious questions about how online relationships can be exploited by people seeking to manipulate young users, particularly when parents have limited visibility of what happens in private gaming chats.
Speaking to LADbible, Breck’s mother Lorin LaFave said: “I wanted to really educate people about what a healthy relationship is, whether that is online or face to face.
“I am not a tech person, so I never endeavored to teach about the intricacies of computing and gaming, it was more about recognizing when someone is asking you to do something that isn’t good for you and is manipulation.”
The upcoming documentary revisits the circumstances surrounding Breck’s death and delves into the importance of recognizing manipulation before an online relationship moves into the real world.