Breck’s Last Game, a short film about a 14-year-old boy who was murdered by a man he met on a gaming site, is now available online this week.
THE film was made to raise awareness of online grooming and carries an important message – do you really know who your online friends are?
It was provided to schools across Surrey from September last year as part of a wider resource pack and has already been shown to children across 66 schools in the county as part of controlled screenings. Many secondary schools will now adopt the resource as part of their yearly curriculum.
The film is at the heart of the latest, multi-agency project to help raise awareness of child exploitation. It was launched in autumn 2018 when the resource pack was sent out to schools to be included in their PSHE lessons, but up until now, only the trailer was available for public viewing.
T/Chief Constable Gavin Stephens said: “All young people have an online life, but many do not appreciate the dangers that come with forming online relationships. We all have a responsibility to educate ourselves about what to look out for and how to help. As a police officer, but probably more importantly as a parent, I really hope that this film will promote and provoke us to have conversations at home as well as in the classroom. Knowing the right questions to ask as a parent or guardian can go a long way to keeping our children safe.
“I am so grateful to the Breck Foundation, to the other police forces involved, and colleagues in education that have put this project together, so that something positive can come from such a terrible tragedy.”
Breck’s Last Game is about Surrey teenager Breck Bednar who was killed by Essex computer engineer Lewis Daynes in 2014.
Daynes ran an online server where Breck, and several of his friends, played games online. It was through this forum that Daynes groomed Breck over 13 months – telling him a series of lies, turning him against family and friends and eventually luring him to his flat on the promise of handing over a fake business.
Through the use of avatars, the film captures the events leading up to Breck’s death and also features the real 999 call made to police by Daynes.
Breck’s mother Lorin LaFave said: “The Breck Foundation are so pleased that thousands of children have already benefited from learning important life lessons through Breck’s story by viewing and engaging in our film Breck’s Last Game at their schools delivered with focussed lesson plans.
“We are positive with the film going public that millions of young people can also be educated and empowered to realise that they can play an important role in the well-being and safety of themselves and friends by recognising signs of grooming and exploitation and disclosing concerns to a trusted adult, school, police and CEOP. We hope that Breck’s lessons reach far and wide so that children themselves help stop online predators from harming children.”
The project is the work of an innovative collaboration between four police forces – Northamptonshire, Leicestershire Essex and Surrey – and has been made with the active support of Breck’s mother Lorin LaFave, who appears in the film as herself.
The film has been funded by Leicestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Lord Willy Bach, with additional contributions from Northamptonshire, Essex and Surrey police forces, and until now online a short trailer was publicly available.
Breck’s Last Game carries a trigger warning and a notification that, if it were to be screened at a cinema, it would carry a 15 certificate.
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