Youth guilty of ex-girlfriend’s wood murder

Victim Rebecca Aylward, 15, of Maesteg, near Bridgend, South Wales, was left lying face down in the rain after the vicious attack last October.

Joshua Davies, 16, had lured her to a wood in nearby Aberkenfig, then attacked her with a rugby ball-sized rock, killing her with at least six blows to the back of her head.

The teenager listened without emotion as the jury at Swansea Crown Court delivered its 10-2 majority guilty verdict yesterday, prompting members of Rebecca’s family who were seated in the public gallery to cheer.

Before Davies was taken away after the hearing was adjourned for sentencing, the judge told him he would be held in “detention at Her Majesty’s pleasure and you can expect a sentence of indefinite duration”, with a fixed period of years that he would have to serve before being eligible for parole.

The jury had heard how Davies and Rebecca had been in a brief relationship together which had finished by the end of 2009. Despite their break-up the teenagers had kept in touch and at the time of the murder it appeared they were poised to get back together.

But what appeared like the blossoming of a renewed teenage affair was in fact part of a plan to lure her to her death.

Only two teenagers were ever at the scene of the shocking killing before her death was discovered – Davies, who was later charged with her murder, and a 16-year-old friend.

Neither could be named for legal reasons during the trial.

Together they presented the Swansea Crown Court jury with very different versions of events, Davies blaming the friend for the murder while the 16-year-old claimed the defendant was the killer.

It was left to the jury of six men and six women to try to unravel the truth behind two contradictory tales.

Rebecca’s meeting with Davies on the day of her murder followed months of arguments witnessed by friends both in and outside school.

Davies had also openly talked about killing her to a group of friends to such an extent it became a regular topic of conversation between them.

During the trial Davies claimed all talk of killing never amounted to any more than that, just “talk”.

On the day of the murder the friends had breakfast as normal, and having told them he intended to kill her, they later called him and asked whether he was with her.

“Define with,” he replied.

The schoolboy’s friends may have believed the talk of murder was all part of an ongoing joke but they all initially kept quiet as fears for Rebecca increased and her frantic family called in the police.

Her family yesterday said they would never forget or forgive Davies.

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

Richard Killick, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS Wales, said: “This was a planned and calculated attack on a defenceless 15-year-old girl, resulting in her tragic death.

“Only the defendant truly knows what motivated him to commit such an act – but what we do know is that Rebecca’s family and friends continue to live with the awful consequences.

“We can only hope that today’s verdict will, in some way, help them as they try to move forward with their lives.”