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Police Watchdog Probing Alleged Failures in Schoolboy Murder Case
Thur 15th Jan 2015, Yellow Advertiser

TWO POLICE forces are being scrutinised over their investigations of Lewis Daynes.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has opened files on Essex and Surrey police forces following complaints by Breck Bednar's family.

The watchdog is probing Surrey Police's response to a report by Breck's mother Lorin LaFave about Lewis Daynes grooming her son.
She filed the report two months before his murder.

A second investigation has been launched into Essex Police's handling of a rape allegation against Lewis Daynes in 2011.

DI Anne Cameron, lead investigator in the murder case, revealed at a media briefing last week that Ms LaFave reported Daynes to Surrey Police on December 17 - exactly two months before he murdered her son.

She filed the report after Daynes contacted her to complain about her parenting.

Shortly afterwards, Breck sent her an email telling her he would leave home unless she changed her ways, using some of the same wording Daynes had used in his conversation with her.

Ms LaFave believed Daynes was intentionally turning her son against her and causing him to act out of character.

In a statement issued yesterday, the IPCC said a staff member at the Surrey Police contact centre had been interviewed and served with a misconduct notice.

It added that another staff member, who took Ms LaFave's call, had resigned in August 2014.

An IPCC spokesman said: "We have obtained details of the call made by Breck's mother to Surrey Police about the communication between her son and Lewis Daynes. We need to understand how that information was acted on and whether more could have been done to safeguard Breck."

The IPCC is also probing Essex Police over its handling of a rape claim against Daynes in 2011.

At an Essex Police briefing last week, Ms LaFave told press: "We were pleased to find out that both the Surrey and Essex IPCC investigations are moving forward and pleased that they are both being investigated independently. We have met the team and we feel confident that they will help us find the answers."

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