A teenager has been jailed for a minimum of 14 years for murdering his ex girlfriend, Rebecca Aylward.
Joshua Davies, 16, lured Aylward, 15, into a wood and smashed her skull with a rock in October last year for a free breakfast promised by his mate if he carried it out.
Teenage 'psycho' to get life for killing Rebecca Aylward
Davies had routinely joked about killing his former sweetheart to friends in the months before the murder.
After he lured her into the woods and beat her up, he left her body lying face down on the sodden forest ground in south Wales. She was wearing new clothes bought especially for the meeting, which she’d considered a date.
The victim’s mum Sonia Oatley today paid tribute to her daughter outside Swansea Crown Court, and said Davies deserved the death penalty.
She said: "We will never forgive him for tearing our family apart so brutally, and would welcome the return of capital punishment for the likes of Joshua Davies.
"He forfeited his human rights when he killed my daughter."
Davies was found guilty by a murder trial jury at the end of July, when trial judge justice Lloyd Jones ruled the teenager's anonymity should be stripped away and his identity made public.
During the trial Swansea crown court heard that Davies and Rebecca had known each other for some years and dated for three months a year before she was killed.
After they parted Davies began to talk about killing Rebecca, telling friends he would find a way of murdering her and get away with it. He spoke of making a poison out of plants such as deadly nightshade.
On 23 October last year Davies and Rebecca arranged to meet in woods at Aberkenfig, a popular hangout for teenagers.
Rebecca wore an outfit she had bought the day before, possibly believing they were going to get back together. Before he left for the woods Davies smiled at one of his friends and told him: "The time has come."
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". He later boasted that he had attacked Rebecca, who was slightly built, from behind.
She was screaming and the worst thing, he said, was seeing her skull give way. The rock he used to batter her was so heavy that a court official struggled to pick it up with one hand during the trial.
Following the murder Davies summoned a friend to the woods. The boy described in court how he "glimpsed" Rebecca's body lying face down, her arms splayed out. Davies was a "bit shaky" but "didn't seem upset at what he'd done".
The alarm was raised and a search was launched after Rebecca failed to return home. Meanwhile, Davies updated his Facebook page to say he was "chilling" with friends. He had a cup of tea and watched Strictly Come Dancing and the film No Country for Old Men, the court heard.
During the search for Rebecca he sent a text asking her to get in touch: "We're all worried," he wrote. Rebecca's body was found in the woods the next day. Davies was arrested but claimed his friend was guilty of the killing.
Following the trial Rebecca's family said she had "loved and trusted" Davies. In a statement they said: "The pain and horror of losing Rebecca in such horrendous circumstances cannot be put into words.
"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."
Davies was told he would have to serve 14 years before being considered for parole. He remained impassive as he was sentenced.
