In this week’s episode Sasha and Venetia speak to mother and campaigner Lauren LaFave, who’s son Breck was murdered in a vicious attack after being targeted by online predator Lewis Danes for over a year. Lorin has spent much of the five years since Breck’s death campaigning and spreading awareness around the prevalence of online grooming, and ways for parents and kids to notice any potential warning signs, launching The Breck Foundation in his name.
Breck had a huge interest in gaming, having started playing Minecraft in his early teens. He was invited into an online gaming group by school friends, which is where Breck and his would-be attacker Lewis Dane’s first came in contact. Dane’s owned the server that they played on, and established himself as the ringleader of the group regaling Breck and other younger players with fantastical lies about working for the US government and being a self-made millionaire.
Lorin first became suspicious of Breck and Dane’s online friendship after overhearing his much deeper voice within their computer gaming circle, fearing a sexual motive initially. She went to the police her concerns, who despite saying they would file a report, never fully investigated her Lorin's fears. Following an arranged parents meeting, Breck and his friends were forbidden from speaking to Danes, but sadly he opted to continue the conversation in secrecy via a prepaid smartphone Danes had purchased to keep the contact going.
On the 17th of February 2014 at 8am, 18 year old Danes lured Breck to his flat to play video games, by ordering a pre-paid taxi to collect him from his father's house. Having told his father that he would be staying overnight at a friend's house, the alarm was raised the following day when Breck failed to return home.
Lorin spoke to Sasha and Venetia about guilt: “You do feel immensely guilty, especially because I knew. I just didn’t know what to do, and that’s why I think I have this drive to share Breck’s story, because if I had heard me speaking, if I had been listening to this podcast and my son was being groomed, I would act in a different way than I had”
Lorin and her family have been subjected to masses of online abuse from Lewis Dane’s and his family in recent months. Breck’s 17-year-old sister Chloe has received texts saying “shame Breck is dead, he was sexy,\" \"if he was alive I'd be all over him\" and she was even sent a picture of a skeleton with the caption \"RIP Breck\". Social media app Snapchat and Police are not doing enough to tackle online abuse. “The school drove her to the Police Station , we all met there and made the report. And then it felt like nothing happened, because police and snapchat weren’t collaborating and they kind of blame each other”. “Snapchat won’t hand over the details because it is a US based company and it has to go through 12 - 18 months of this process that involves a treaty. It’s ridiculous”
Venetia Quick talks about how the conversation with Lorin lead her to immediately consider her own children’s internet usage. “Literally the first thing I did after arriving home from our chat with Lorin, was speak to my eldest son Felix about some of the many warning signs that Lorin had described. I feel this interview will make any parent rethink their children’s safety when using the web, and after hearing Lorin’s story I would encourage anyone who is concerned with something to follow their parental instinct ”
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Music by: Nctrnm
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