Girl murdered over free breakfast bet

SCHOOLBOY Joshua Davies beat his former girlfriend to death with a rock for no discernible reason besides a bet on a free breakfast.

The 16-year-old was found guilty yesterday of luring his ex-girlfriend to a secluded wood and smashing in her skull with a rock the size of a rugby ball.

Rebecca Aylward, 15, of Maesteg, near Bridgend, South Wales, was left lying face down in the rain after the vicious attack last October. Davies lured her to a wood in nearby Aberkenfig, then attacked her with the rock, a Swansea Crown Court jury found.

The teenager listened without emotion as the jury delivered its 10-2 majority guilty verdict. Davies had denied murder and blamed his best friend for Rebecca’s death.

Members of Rebecca’s family, sitting in the public gallery, cheered briefly.

Mr Justice Lloyd Jones adjourned sentencing to a later date.

Davies was promised a full cooked breakfast by friends if he carried out his threat to murder Rebecca.

Davies had openly plotted to murder the girl and sent chilling text messages to his friends about how he planned to do it.

In one text to a friend Davies asked: “What would you do if I actually did kill her?”

The friend replied: “Oh, I would buy you breakfast.”

Just 48 hours before the murder Davies sent a text saying: “Don’t say anything but you may just owe me a breakfast.”

His friend replied: “Best text I have ever had mate. Seriously, if it is true I am happy to pay for a breakfast.”

Rebecca and Davies had a brief relationship which had finished by the end of 2009. When they met in the forest last October it appeared the teenage couple were getting back together. Rebecca was wearing new clothes she had bought that day in anticipation of the date.

Their meeting followed months of arguments witnessed by friends both in and outside school.

After the attack, when a friend phoned him in the woods to ask him if he was with Rebecca, Davies coolly asked him to “define” what he meant by “with”.

The jury was told Davies later used Facebook to make it appear as if he was just a concerned friend following Rebecca’s disappearance.

In one exchange he wrote: “I feel sorry for her mother . . . if I was a parent I’d be worried if my daughter was missing.”

Outside court yesterday the family of Rebecca said that they would never forget or forgive Davies.

“The pain and horror of losing Rebecca in such horrendous circumstances cannot be put into words,” the joint statement said.

“Since that Saturday in October 2010 our lives have stopped.

“Rebecca was killed in a senseless and barbaric act. She died at the hands of someone she loved and trusted. We will never forget what he did to her or forgive him for destroying our family.”

The judge warned Davies he would be detained “during Her Majesty’s pleasure”.