Surrey police authorities accepted the agreement to pay as a settlement to a lawsuit filed by the parents of a murdered teenager boy groomed on an online game. The lawsuit claims, the police authorities failed to protect their son over their improper response when the mother of the boy reported her concerns to them.
Plaintiffs, Barry Bednar and Lorin LaFave, the parents of Breck Brednar,a 14 year old murder victim who was lured through an online game sued the Surrey Police department over the said claims. The police department agreed to settle the plaintiff's allegations that they responded to LaFave's phone call improperly a money settlement, according to ITV News.
On the issued statement of the parents on Sunday, Surrey police authorities also "unreservedly apologises" to them. The statement also continued, saying, "Mr Bednar and Ms LaFave hope to work with Surrey Police in order to enhance awareness of the dangers that young people face online and to ensure that appropriate training is given to staff to assist in the prevention of similar crimes against children," Belfast Telegraph quoted.
LaFlave called the police to report her son, Breck Bednar, who was being groomed through an online game by Lewis Daynes, 20, luring him to his home. The victim was fatally stabbed on a "sexually and sadistically" way in February 2014, Daily Mail reported. Daynes, a violent computer game addict and psychopath was convicted to murder charge and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The parents sued the Surrey police for "substantial damages" to which they claimed the case was handled on the wrong way. On the investigation conducted, it was revealed that the call handler did failed to check Ioner Daynes' criminal record, who was previously arrested for suspicion sexual offences in 2011.
Surrey Police said a number of improvements had been made in the contact centre, including introducing a dedicated training day for staff to identify risk. LaFave now campaigns for awareness of the dangers of the internet.
