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00:01on April 29th 2019 a young man disappears without warning he was well respected well liked and had
00:10a wonderful network of friends so he had all his life to live for we weren't looking at an 18
00:15year
00:15old lad who just stayed out too late there was something more to this a rural community rocked
00:22by a gruesome murder the superintendent rang me and said we've found a body they were unable to
00:29actually identify not just who it was but whether it was male or female he had over 146 different
00:36injuries to his body in my career I can only think of a couple of cases where I've seen injuries
00:41have
00:41come anywhere close to that a race against time to catch the killer was he gonna do it again they
00:48could have been looking at a serial killer here I need to protect the public from this monster it
00:53seems like a real contradiction to have such a gruesome awful scene in such a beautiful
00:58picturesque location
01:44it's quite an affluent little village just outside Scalmersdale really quiet nice people very rural it is a lovely area
01:57population about two and a half thousand in a wonderful village setting with its pubs its shops and its church
02:06there's a little railway station it's very quaint it's what you think of when you think of a village in
02:12the northwest of England
02:17there's a really low crime rate in that area I mean you get the occasional bit that's flown over from
02:23the bigger cities because it's between Manchester and Liverpool but really it's it's quiet people like it for that reason
02:31you don't expect any issues any trouble let alone the murder to happen it's that one place that you would
02:37always see on the television when locals were interviewed and they'd say well we'd never expect that to happen around
02:43here
02:44but on April 29th 2019 a young man went missing under unusual circumstances
02:52the first I heard about this case was when the police put out a missing persons appeal
02:56it seemed a little bit odd because quite often when 18 year olds don't go home they don't reach the
03:03point of media attention because 18 year olds you know it's not that unusual for them to stay out overnight
03:10or whatever
03:11but we heard about this case this appeal for Alex and you just get a feeling about things
03:18the missing person was 18 year old Alex Davies from the nearby town of Skelmersdale
03:25Alex worked in home bargains and he was doing really well there and he just recently got promoted he had
03:31a really good social life he had a lot of close friends and growing up for Alex wasn't easy he
03:38stood out
03:38he realized at an early age he was gay but of course when you're very young the word that comes
03:44to mind is different I was different in some way
03:46where all it was was it was his sexuality
03:50children can be cruel and they can pick out when children are different in some way
03:54now for Alex that was he liked to do train spotting he would often go with his friend looking at
03:59trains
03:59he liked ABBA and he was open about the fact he was gay
04:03the sort of things that children can focus in on and he was picked on for standing out
04:09Alex however had done really well for himself he'd showed resilience he'd got through that time in his life
04:14he was openly gay as an adult he was working hard and doing really well
04:18Alex was so comfortable in his own skin that he really didn't care if people liked him or not
04:24he was just going to be himself and people could think what they liked
04:28very friendly he would approach people often you know it was said by some of his friends he didn't have
04:35filters
04:35you know if he liked somebody he would go and ask them for it on a date you know carefree
04:40life loving lad
04:43Alex had a great group of friends they described him as lively and happy and he would see them really
04:47often
04:49like many boys of his age Alex was into cars so he liked to drive around late at night out
04:55listening to music
04:55he was even known to pull the old donut
04:57he'd pick his friends up he'd drop them off at home
05:00if they were on the same shift or you know he'd go and pick them up and they'd have some
05:03music on
05:04they'd be singing and joking and just having a fun time with it
05:08he was really there for people and when you hear people talking about what Alex was like as a person
05:14that really comes through that he was there for people
05:17everybody said that he was one of the nicest guys that you could ever meet
05:20he was well respected well liked and had a wonderful network of friends
05:24so he had all his life to live for
05:30the last time that Alex met up with his group of friends was on the Friday night
05:33they had drinks they did what they would usually do
05:35but sadly they didn't know that when they said bye to him that night
05:38for many of them that would be the final time
05:42on Monday 29th of April 2019 Alex's mother Beverly returned home from work
05:48to find that Alex had not come home
05:51the kind of relationship that Alex had with his mum they were really close
05:55and it would have been really unusual for him not to be in contact with her
05:59when she came home that night 9 o'clock and she hadn't heard from him all day
06:03she started to worry she had those mother instincts that
06:06it's not quite right because this is out of the normal
06:09I would have heard from him by now
06:10there were no secrets so she would know where he would be
06:14a lot of relationships like that you can set your watch
06:17you know what's going to happen where people are going to be
06:20so she was very surprised that he wasn't there
06:23and he didn't turn up at home when she was at home
06:25and when you know somebody whatever age they are
06:28you know that's out of character
06:30so straight away his mother was concerned worried
06:34and a bit bamboozled about what has happened to Alex
06:39Beverly grew even more concerned as it drew closer to midnight on Monday
06:43and there was still no sign of Alex
06:47Alex's mum was starting to get really worried now
06:49and as you would expect she started to phone around his friends
06:52obviously hoping that there was a really simple explanation
06:55that perhaps he got caught up in things his phone had no battery
06:58but as she was ringing through it soon became clear that
07:01none of his friends had seen him since the Friday
07:03and one particular friend Leon
07:05when he said he hadn't heard from Alex
07:08that really started to worry her because that was unusual
07:11Leon had seen him on the Sunday at work
07:13but he'd not seen him at all since then
07:15and for both of them not to have seen him
07:17something was really wrong
07:18the following morning when Alex still wasn't home
07:21she was more worried than ever
07:22and that was when she decided to phone the police
07:26unfortunately perhaps as might be expected
07:28it wasn't treated as high risk
07:30Alex was an adult
07:30it was suggested that give it some time
07:33see what happens
07:34then it was a case of well
07:36he'll come back
07:37he may have just been staying at a friend's house
07:39so police don't sort of take it lightly
07:41but they don't take it seriously in a sense
07:43so therefore as a parent you feel that you've been let down
07:47that no reports being taken
07:49they're not going to do anything
07:50I think it's a mother's instinct
07:52you know your children
07:53you know your patterns
07:54you know what to expect
07:55and when something's not right
07:57it's just a feeling
07:58and it's not something you can describe
08:01it's just
08:01it's powerful
08:04Alex's friends and family did not want to waste any time
08:07so they began their own appeals for help
08:10his friends took to social media
08:13to try and raise awareness that Alex is missing
08:16asking for information that anybody had of him
08:20had they seen him
08:20do they know where he is
08:22and that included home bargains where he worked
08:24they used their own Facebook page
08:25to put out an appeal for information as to where Alex might be
08:29Alex had previously been confronted by a group on his way to work
08:32so one of his friends was worried that perhaps
08:35you know perhaps he'd been picked up
08:36perhaps he'd been attacked
08:37they must have been thinking the worst
08:40Beverly downloaded the CCTV footage from her front door camera
08:44and made an interesting discovery in the recordings from Monday 29th April
08:49Alex got a taxi from outside their house
08:53and on the CCTV she could make out the registration number
08:56that she could trace back to the cab firm
08:59so the next thing you'd automatically do as anybody
09:02let alone a parent is to ring that firm and say
09:05look I'm worried about my son
09:07can you please tell me where that taxi actually took my son
09:10it turns out that he was dropped off at the station in parbold
09:14which is about 10 miles away from where he lives
09:21there was no indications that Alex was alive moving around
09:25doing everyday things
09:27and this would have started to raise the concerns of the police
09:30and raise the risk against him
09:33police began their search for Alex by scouring CCTV footage in parbold
09:38where he had taken the taxi to on the day he went missing
09:41there was CCTV in and around parbold train station
09:45which showed Alex turning up in the taxi
09:48getting out carrying a rucksack
09:50and he went into a shop and he bought a can of pop and bar of chocolate
10:01they were able to track Alex's route using different CCTV cameras that were available
10:06but only to a certain point because this was now a rural area
10:11the camera footage stopped the coverage stopped
10:14so some distance away from parbold station
10:17they knew that Alex was walking towards a more rural area
10:22from that point on the trail went cold
10:24there seemed to be no more evidence of Alex in the area
10:28the police and family members had reached a dead end in their search for Alex
10:33and as the days went on
10:35it became more and more concerning really
10:39that you know that we weren't looking at an 18 year old lad
10:43who just stayed out too late and not gone home when he was expected
10:46there was something more to this
10:49but everything changed when the inevitable call came on the evening of May 1st
10:57I'd finished work gone home doing me thing at home
11:00just sat down watching the telly
11:02and the superintendent rang me and said
11:04are you aware there's a job at parbold?
11:07and I said I'm not what is it?
11:09and he said we've found a body
11:18it's hard to understand that such a brutal thing could happen here
11:23the rural community of parbold was about to be shocked
11:26by what had happened in their peaceful village
11:41April 29th, 2019
11:4318 year old Alex Davies from Skelmersdale, Lancashire has disappeared
11:49raising concerns among his family and friends
11:52he was last sighted on CCTV in the village of Parbold
11:56before vanishing without a trace
11:57but a grim discovery is made on May 1st
12:01a body has been found in some nearby woods
12:05I took responsibility for the investigation on the Thursday morning
12:10Alex was found on the Wednesday evening
12:12he was found by a gamekeeper who'd gone to check the traps
12:15he spotted an arm underneath a pile of conifers
12:20it was quite clear that there'd been a lot of violence
12:25the body has been so badly mutilated
12:28they were unable to actually identify not just who it was
12:33but whether it was male or female
12:36so at that point I said to my deputy D.I. Muller
12:39can you open your computer and see what missing from homes we've got locally
12:43he said they've got a missing from home from Skelmersdale
12:46and he brought up a picture of Alex
12:48I said let's have a look at him
12:49and I was looking at a picture of Alex
12:52and I'm looking at the body in front of me
12:54and I'm thinking
12:56they don't look the same
12:59for the family
12:59of course it's terrible that a body's been found
13:03but there was still that grain of hope
13:05that maybe it wasn't Alex
13:07that maybe Alex was still out there somewhere
13:11his mother must have just been so distressed
13:14on the one hand she's hoping it's not Alex
13:16but on the other hand she wants to know what's happened to Alex
13:20Beverly's worst nightmare becomes a reality
13:23when the identification of the body is confirmed
13:27we had a search team
13:28and suddenly I heard a cry of find
13:32from one of the search officers
13:34and they all stopped
13:34it was almost military in precision really
13:38they just stopped searching
13:39and the polter then took over
13:42and they found what you would call the contents of a wallet
13:45so library card, train card, other cards, bank cards, etc, etc
13:53and they were in the name of Alex Davis
13:57Alex had a little tiny birthmark on his cheek
14:01just like a little beauty spot if you will
14:03and in his photograph he was wearing a silver chain
14:07so I examined the body in front of me
14:10and I thought I could just see a little beauty spot
14:16and the body did have a silver chain on
14:18so at that point I made the call
14:21I want someone to go around to his mum
14:24who's reported him missing
14:25tell her I think we've found him
14:30it must have been terrible for his mum
14:32to know firstly that her son had died
14:36that he'd been murdered
14:38and that he was in such a state
14:40that they needed to identify him through jewellery
14:43and that moment when they showed her that jewellery
14:46I just, I can't imagine the feeling
14:48that must have been in her stomach and in her heart
14:51it's not just losing a son
14:53it's losing a son in such horrific circumstances
14:57Alex had multiple stab wounds
15:00as well as the stab wounds
15:02Alex had injuries to his face
15:04he had a broken nose
15:05it looked like he'd been badly beaten
15:08as well as being stabbed
15:10when I started to look at Alex
15:12I noticed that he had mud up his nostrils
15:15and in his mouth
15:16it looked like he'd been dragged face down
15:20and that was awful
15:22and I saw this flat area of land
15:24I started to sort of just assess it
15:27as a crime scene
15:28is that relevant?
15:29very quickly established
15:30the grass was flat
15:33and there were lots of bluebells
15:34it was, it was May
15:36lots of bluebells
15:37a lot of stick in my mind
15:39and a lot of them had been
15:40were flattened
15:41which said to me
15:43a lot of activity has happened in that area
15:47so is that where something's happened
15:49and is that where
15:50where it started
15:51and this, where Alex was
15:52is this where it's ended?
15:54so I started to hypothesize
15:56what might have happened
15:59The post-mortem revealed the horrific nature
16:01of Alex's death
16:03he was stabbed 128 times
16:07he had over 146 different injuries to his body
16:13we know that Alex was still alive
16:15when the stab wounds were being inflicted on him
16:18because the post-mortem found these cause of death
16:20to be asphyxiation
16:22so he'd felt those injuries
16:24in my career
16:25in my career I can only think of a couple of cases
16:27where I've seen injuries
16:28that have come anywhere close to that
16:29this is indicating a horrific sustained violent attack on him
16:35and it appeared as if the body had been dragged down a slope
16:40placed next to a tree and had foliage put over it
16:43in an almost crude attempt to hide the body
16:48it's hard to fathom
16:49the level of force
16:51and also the level of rage that must have been involved in an attack like that
16:55what was going through this killer's mind to be so angry
16:59and to be so vicious and so violent
17:01that kind of crime scene with over a hundred stab wounds
17:04suggests to me a perpetrator who was acting on emotion
17:07loss of emotional control
17:09that's not to say they didn't have control over their decision making and their actions
17:13but it's someone who couldn't cope with their emotions
17:16somebody kept going until they were either no longer feeling those emotions in the moment
17:20or they simply tired themselves out
17:24we had what we call a welfare van
17:26it had equipment so we could make a cup of tea or a coffee
17:29so the CSI said we're going to go to the welfare van
17:33so they all went off to do their thing
17:35and then I looked at Alex and I thought
17:37I can't leave this young man
17:40his mum wouldn't want me to leave him like this all on his own
17:45and I don't really know what the catalyst for that was
17:49but I just couldn't leave him
17:50so I just stood at the side of him
17:54erm, quietly
17:55but during that time I was thinking
17:57look at the injuries that this young man's suffered
18:01and I was trying to imagine who would have done it
18:04who would have been responsible
18:05what kind of person
18:06could have been responsible for that kind of horrific attack
18:10it seems like a real contradiction
18:12to have such a gruesome, awful scene
18:15such a horrible crime in such a beautiful picturesque location
18:19it's night and day
18:29when Alex's body was found
18:31there was an outpouring of love for him actually
18:33there was a lot of tributes laid at the scene
18:36you know, it was clear that he was, he was a really loved guy
18:42he had a lot of friends and a lot of people who were absolutely devastated
18:46that this kind, friendly young man had been killed in such an awful way
18:52the media were quite keen to understand what was happening
18:56but equally for me as an SIO
18:58I wanted to offer as much reassurance to the public of Par Boulder
19:03and the wider communities
19:04that we were doing everything that we could
19:07to sort of understand what had happened
19:09and catch the person responsible for killing Alex
19:13if I'm honest I wanted to get him in the cells as quickly as
19:16so I couldn't, he couldn't do anything else to anybody
19:18any other people
19:19I had this thing about
19:21I need to protect the public from this monster
19:24Now the hunt is on for Alex's killer
19:28Despite the difficulties of a rural crime scene
19:30severe weather, wind, rain
19:33not to mention animals being present around the crime scene too
19:35the police found a crucial piece of evidence
19:38In the ground was a small knife
19:40that had been pushed into the dirt
19:43just with the handle sticking up
19:45and that became really important
19:47because when we had that forensically examined
19:49it had Alex's blood on it
19:53and then we showed the pathologist the knife
19:56and she could then compare that to the injuries
19:58and it all fell into place
20:00so it was a really, really good find
20:02There's a sign in murder investigation
20:04to understand how a person died
20:06you have to understand how they lived
20:08and that's because in general
20:09there's some link between
20:12someone or something in the victim's life
20:14that would indicate why harm has come to them
20:17and that's because most times
20:19there's a link between a killer and a victim
20:21so you need to start to build up a picture of the victim's life
20:25and that could be by talking to friends
20:27looking at their social media posts
20:29and importantly now is looking at people's phones
20:32we can build up such a huge picture of someone's life now
20:35from their phones
20:35so this is a task that the police were now having to do for Alex
20:39to build up a picture of those hours and days leading up to his murder
20:44as to who he was in contact with
20:46The police began to look into Alex's call logs
20:48had he contacted anybody that was out of the ordinary
20:51and they did see something different
20:53they saw a number that had contacted him
20:55on the day of his murder
20:56that had never contacted him before
20:58Police managed to find out that the number that had called Alex
21:01and Alex had also called a landline
21:03so they called the landline and asked the people there
21:05whose phone it was
21:07and this led them straight to Brian Helis
21:11Investigators waste no time
21:13and go to the home address of Brian Helis
21:16I've got someone who's just brutalised an 18 year old boy
21:20and was still at large
21:22and my sense of duty to protect the public
21:26was immense
21:28but the person they discovered is not who they expected
21:33and he was just a young fella
21:34absolutely unremarkable in every way shape and form
21:39physically he had no presence
21:42you know you could almost describe him as grey
21:45you would never notice him in a quiet street
21:48never mind a busy one
21:49there's just nothing about him
21:52Police need to establish any previous criminal history
21:56most people who commit murder
21:58have some kind of history with the police
22:00that might not necessarily be violent crime
22:02but they'll be known in some way
22:04he had no criminal history
22:06he wasn't known to the police
22:08so he hadn't been arrested before
22:10hadn't come to notice in any way
22:11so if it was Brian Helis
22:14that had murdered Alex in this brutal way
22:17this is going to be really quite unusual
22:20the police then understandably searched Helis' house
22:23importantly they found crucial evidence there
22:26in the CCTV footage of Alex
22:29as he was walking away from that train station
22:31he had a rucksack
22:34and the contents of that rucksack
22:37were now found in Helis' home
22:41Investigators now need to uncover
22:43the sequence of events that led to Alex's death
23:00on 29th April 2019
23:0318 year old Alex Davies from Skelmersdale
23:06disappeared without a trace in a rural part of Lancashire
23:10his mutilated body was discovered in a wooded area of Parbelled Hill
23:14a few days later
23:16Investigators have been led to the home of 18 year old Brian Helis
23:19who they learned had called Alex on the day he went missing
23:24When the police were searching Helis' home
23:27they'll be looking for any clues, any evidence
23:30that can link him to either the crime scene or to Alex himself
23:34and that's what they found in his home
23:37they found earphones, mobile phone and wallet belonging to Alex
23:44When they found Alex's headphones at Helis' house
23:47they'd also got the serial number of that exact pair of headphones
23:52because Alex had kept a box for them
23:54so they were able to match the serial number on the box
23:58to the actual pair of headphones that they found at Helis' house
24:02he couldn't say that he had a pair that were the same
24:06these were the exact headphones
24:08We looked at the telephone
24:09and we established that that was his grandad's
24:12his grandad had passed
24:13so Alex had said to his uncle
24:15can I have grandad's phone
24:17that I can keep as a spare in case my battery dies
24:21so all of a sudden Brian Helis has got Alex's spare phone
24:25Alex's headphones and Alex's wallet
24:29not only had he got his wallet
24:31he'd taken everything out of Alex's and thrown it at the scene
24:34and he'd put his own ID cards and his own money in it
24:37he was actually using it
24:39we found the knife block with a missing knife
24:43we found a bike
24:44and we found clothing which was all seized
24:47so the evidence is fairly overwhelming
24:51so if there was any doubt
24:53as to whether or not Helis was the person that they were looking for
24:57that doubt had gone now
24:58there was no doubt whatsoever in the officer's mind
25:01we have our man
25:03and now we start the process of gathering evidence from him
25:07so we did the custody procedures
25:10we did the hand swaps
25:11all that kind of thing
25:13and then the interview was going to be key
25:16Brian Helis was taken into custody
25:18and he was asked a lot of questions about Alex's disappearance
25:22and about the murder
25:24he's been given the same old advice from a solicitor
25:28who turns up to represent him
25:30don't say anything
25:31make the police prove it
25:33first question gets asked
25:35and he's been advised to say no comment
25:37what does he say?
25:38no
25:39are you responsible for the murder of Alex Davies?
25:42no
25:44that tells me he wanted to talk
25:48do you recall the advice I gave you in the interview?
25:51we'll start again
25:52are you responsible for the murder of Alex Davies?
25:54no comment
25:55that's Alex
25:56look at that picture
25:59do you know Alex?
26:01no comment
26:01have you ever seen that person before?
26:04no comment
26:06how do you know him?
26:08no comment
26:09with no cooperation from Helis
26:11investigators need to work hard to build a case against him
26:14it might be easy to think that once somebody's been arrested
26:17and there's some evidence available
26:18that it's really easy for the police to prove
26:20that they're committed the offence
26:22but that's far from the case
26:23they have to prove this beyond reasonable doubt
26:25so in the background there will have been loads of work going on
26:28to hone out what the actual evidence was
26:31to make things clear
26:32and to see if there was anything else they needed
26:34to support a prosecution
26:36so then they start to look at CCTV
26:39in and around the areas Alex had been
26:42and importantly the route between Helis' home
26:46and the crime scene
26:48and what this showed is that he in actual fact
26:51on the day that Alex went missing
26:52had cycled from Chorley to Parbold
26:57and that footage showed him going there and coming back
27:02the first time that they see Brian Helis in the area
27:05he's not got anything with him
27:07he's just riding a bike
27:08later on that day
27:10they see him again riding the bike
27:13but this time he's got a backpack on
27:15and that rucksack matched the one seen
27:18being carried by Alex on the CCTV they had of him
27:21so again it's more evidence linking Helis
27:26not only to Alex but linking him to his murder
27:29but how had these two young men encountered each other
27:32and how had Alex ended up murdered on Parbold Hill
27:37an important element in any murder investigation
27:39is a building up of a timeline
27:40by laying out known facts and when they happened
27:43and that's what they did in this case
27:46and it started to build a picture
27:48a picture that indicated what had happened
27:51in the lead up to Alex's murder
27:53what they were able to identify is that
27:56Helis and Alex had been communicating on a dating app
28:00and those communications have moved from the dating app
28:03to WhatsApp
28:05and they started to talk to each other
28:07the majority of this was literally the build up to the day
28:10that we know that Alex was murdered
28:11so you've got that initial of
28:14how are you, do you fancy meeting up, what should we do etc
28:18then a few interests
28:19we know that Alex actually was very very much into his ABBA music
28:23and of course even the Bee Gees
28:25he actually says in one of the messages
28:27do you know who the Bee Gees are?
28:29Brian Helis has no idea what he's talking about
28:33so you've got some normal conversations
28:34but a lot of it is flirtatious
28:44what became clear is that Helis was pushing for a meet
28:49pushing to meet Alex
28:51and he was being what I would describe as manipulative
28:55he was talking to himself as
28:57I haven't come out yet as gay so people don't know
29:00meaning that when we meet it needs to be somewhere secluded
29:03somewhere we're not going to get seen
29:07and now we know looking back why that was
29:11but for Alex himself
29:13he probably wanted to see the best in the person he was speaking to
29:18it's not unusual for young people to try and keep their love lives from the parents
29:25regardless of sexuality
29:27but particularly in the situation that perhaps you know
29:31the mum and dad maybe aren't as open-minded
29:33so it would be a believable story
29:37Alex's character is so trusting
29:40you know he's got this wonderful network of friends
29:43he works so much for charity
29:44he believes in people
29:46and I think that was picked up straight away
29:48there's that question of Helis asks
29:50what phone have you got
29:51and of course he's got a Samson 9
29:53and of course
29:54what does Helis have a Samson 3
29:57automatically you can think to yourself
29:58oh this could be robbery
29:59he wants a better phone
30:01to me what that's doing is Helis trying to go for the sympathy
30:04oh I've only got a Samson 3
30:07and then you've got
30:08because you've got this wonderful caring individual and Alex saying
30:10oh I can you know I can look after you there
30:13and I've got a Samson 9
30:14I can help you out
30:15you're a bit younger than me
30:16so I can be like the older brother
30:18but also in the relationship
30:19I can make sure that I can look after you
30:21so I think you've already seen that
30:24Alex even felt that Helis was slightly vulnerable
30:27but he wasn't
30:28he was being duped
30:28he was being lured into this awful trap
30:30he said
30:31do you think it would be worth upgrading
30:33because mine's so slow
30:36that was really important that
30:38because you think
30:39what are you talking about Geoff
30:40but that's so you know
30:41the S with a load of O's
30:44I thought that's unusual
30:45anyway
30:45when we then do the research on
30:48Ryan Helis' computer
30:49we see him
30:50after he's had that conversation with Alex
30:52he's researching on eBay
30:54how much you can sell
30:55Galaxy S9 for
30:58and how to reset
30:59a scam Samsung Galaxy S9
31:01how to avoid being tracked
31:04also in the phone messages
31:06were the plans of when the two young men would meet
31:08it was scheduled for April 29th
31:11the day that Alex went missing
31:22and now you start to see the build-up
31:25and the arrangements for meeting
31:26who is in control of this
31:28they've both decided that there will be a meet
31:31but of course what's very interesting here
31:33is that you've got
31:34Brian Helis
31:35who's actually turned around and said
31:36I've got a location
31:43so he's now in control of the meet
31:45he knows where it's going to be
31:47what time it's going to be
31:49I'm in control
31:57Alex must have been excited
31:58looking forward to a nice day out
32:00going on a date
32:00going to meet this new guy
32:02who seemed
32:03fawn and flirty
32:14it was
32:14it was Helis that was pushing for this meet
32:16then he was pushing for it in a secluded area
32:19he took a knife with him
32:22these were indications that
32:24this natural fact wasn't a spontaneous event
32:27this was a planned and premeditated murder
32:35Alex must have been terrified
32:37he'd set out that morning
32:39looking forward to a nice day out
32:41and when it turned so badly
32:43and so violent
32:45he must have been terrified
32:46it was exactly what he wasn't expecting that day
33:07and then obviously they met in the wood
33:11I couldn't speculate
33:13but I do know
33:14there was a violent episode
33:16and Brian Helis battered
33:17and then stabbed Alex to death
33:25when we found Alex
33:26he has multiple injuries
33:28are you responsible for causing those injuries?
33:31no comment
33:31are you responsible for murdering Alex Davis?
33:35no comment
33:39Brian Helis' phone
33:40held some other disturbing information
33:42in the days after Alex had been murdered
33:46really worryingly
33:48what they also find
33:49is that after Alex has been killed
33:52Helis is back on the dating apps
33:59he was speaking to multiple other young men
34:03he was trying to arrange meet ups
34:09was he going to do it again?
34:11there's every chance that
34:12they could have been looking at a serial killer here
34:27on May 3rd, 2019
34:30police arrest 18 year old Brian Helis
34:33for the brutal murder of Alex Davies
34:35in a secluded area of Parbold Hill
34:38Alex had been stabbed
34:40Alex had been stabbed 128 times by Helis
34:42whom he met on a dating site
34:44police discovered the details
34:46of how Helis
34:47lured Alex to the woods in Parbold that day
34:49and now they have incriminating evidence
34:51on Helis' phone
34:53to suggest that he was planning to kill again
34:58he killed Alex on the Tuesday afternoon
35:01and then on the Wednesday and Thursday
35:05he'd made contact with a man in Scalmersdale
35:09about a sexual encounter
35:11Brian Helis had sort of indicated
35:13that he could stay over at this address
35:15and the other person said
35:16not likely
35:17you know
35:17we'll do what we need to do
35:19and then you're away mate
35:20so that didn't seem to fit the
35:23what Helis wanted
35:24but then he made contact with another guy
35:28in the Bolton area
35:30so the other side of Chorley
35:32and really unusual
35:34because he asked this guy
35:35what kind of phone he had
35:37and he said
35:38oh I've got Huawei P-Lite
35:40and he said
35:41I've got rubbish whatever it is
35:44is it worth upgrading
35:45because mine is so slow
35:50and they arranged to meet
35:51and he said
35:52as he said with Alex
35:53it would be the first time
35:54I've kissed anybody
35:55so I'm a bit shy
35:56is there somewhere discreet we can go
35:58and the other person had said
36:00well there's a wooded area near mine
36:01we can go there
36:03and then
36:04we arrested him on a Friday night
36:06he was going to meet in the following day
36:08we'll never know
36:09whether that was for the same purpose
36:13but it's not exactly a leap is it
36:15to go from
36:15I've just killed one person
36:17in this route
36:18and now I'm trying to meet another
36:20there's a very good chance
36:21that they've prevented him
36:22carrying out a second murder
36:24there were other signs
36:26that Helis may not have stopped
36:27after the murder of Alex
36:30he'd been doing searches
36:31on army spades
36:33as it were
36:34they're the fold up spades
36:35so you can carry them in a rucksack
36:37there
36:37why would you be doing that
36:38when we know those actual items
36:40for the army
36:41are used to
36:42actually dig
36:43very quickly
36:44little troughs
36:44or little holes in the ground
36:45so it's this all
36:46this learning curve
36:47for this
36:49sociopath
36:49psychopath
36:50who is now
36:52actually living his dream
36:54which is gets the anger
36:55and he wants to kill
36:55and now he's planning the future
36:58well I've got to dispose of the body
36:59a lot better
36:59so perhaps
37:00it's actually not worked that out
37:02if I do this
37:03what do I do with the body
37:04and that's hit him
37:05when it's happened
37:05he's dragged it
37:06tried to cover it up
37:07it didn't work
37:08and now already he's planning
37:10for the next one
37:12so when we look at the circumstances
37:13of what happened
37:14after Alex's murder
37:17can any sort of inference
37:18be drawn from the fact that
37:20Helis had taken
37:22Alex's property
37:22and still had it with him
37:24in his bedroom
37:24well it's difficult in all honesty
37:27to 100% say one way or the other
37:29but what he would have been able to do
37:31he had the opportunity to do
37:32is to throw away that property
37:35to dump it on his root home
37:37put it in a bin
37:38throw it in a bush
37:39he didn't do that
37:40he took it home
37:41why would he do that?
37:43well one of two reasons really
37:45one
37:45it's a shiny object
37:47I want to keep
37:47it's a phone
37:48it's got value
37:49or
37:50and more sinister
37:51it's some kind of trophy
37:53a reminder of what he's done
37:54and
37:55if we're talking about
37:57an emotional attack
37:58where someone's carried it out
37:59because of that
38:00what these killers will often do
38:02is keep almost like a memento
38:03from their crime
38:04to remind them
38:06of the attack
38:07and almost sort of
38:08to draw out that emotion again
38:10at some later time
38:11they couldn't rule out the fact
38:13that they might be looking at somebody
38:15with a real vengeance
38:16and having killed one person
38:19you could do it again
38:31the trial for the murder of Alex Davies
38:34is held at Preston Crown Court in March 2020
38:43there was quite a lot of press there for the trial
38:45it was an intriguing case
38:48at that point
38:49all that we knew
38:50was that
38:50Alex had disappeared
38:52his body had been found on Parbald Hill
38:55and the boy had been arrested
38:56at that stage
38:58we didn't know the background
38:59about the dating app
39:00we didn't know the extent of Alex's injuries
39:03so when the prosecution opened the case
39:06it was really quite a shock
39:07to learn
39:08what had happened that day
39:10when Brian Helis walked into the dock
39:13he just looked like you might see him
39:15outside the local sixth form college
39:17he was very emotionless
39:19his face barely moved
39:22there was no sign of any sort of remorse
39:24or anything
39:25he was an odd character
39:26in that regard
39:30by the time the prosecutions finished opening the case
39:33it seems fairly cut and dried
39:36they had so much evidence
39:37the headphones
39:39the backpack
39:39all the phone evidence
39:41all the CCTV evidence
39:43it was difficult to think
39:45what Helis could possibly say
39:48to try and
39:50get out of this one
39:51murder investigations teams
39:52put a huge amount of effort
39:54into gathering the evidence
39:55against any killer
39:57and you can go to court
39:59and you can feel like
40:00we've done everything
40:01we've done
40:02we've got all the evidence we have
40:04I'm in absolutely no doubt
40:05that a person standing trial
40:07has committed this crime
40:09but that does not mean
40:10that you go to court
40:11confident that the verdict's
40:12going to be one of guilty
40:14because it has to go through a jury
40:15and you can never take for granted
40:17the decision a jury are going to make
40:20so as confident as you are
40:21you can never go into a trial
40:23expecting to get a guilty verdict
40:27Healus' defence was diminished responsibility
40:30there was reports from psychiatrists
40:33that backed that up actually
40:35he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia
40:39and his defence was that he'd committed this offence
40:44while suffering with that condition
40:47Healus said that he thought that people were after him
40:51and that that was why he was carrying a knife that day
40:53and he said that while he was on his way to meet Alex
40:56he thought that there was people trying to knock him off his bike in their cars
41:00and yeah he was painting a picture of real paranoia
41:04what happens when a defendant looks to use a defence of diminished responsibility
41:10is that they will be seen by their own psychiatrist
41:15appointed by their own legal team
41:17and they will assess them as to whether or not that defence
41:21partial defence of diminished responsibility is open to them
41:24and that's what happened in this case
41:27and this psychiatrist said yes
41:29in my opinion
41:31Healus has a defence of diminished responsibility
41:33because he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia
41:37but then what would happen
41:39is the prosecution would appoint their own psychiatrist
41:42to carry out the same assessment
41:44if they agree with the previous assessment
41:47yes the defence is open to them
41:49the likelihood is that the Crown Prosecution Service will accept that
41:53if they disagree then they will go to trial
41:56and it wouldn't be on the facts of whether or not the incident took place
42:00it would be what was in the mind of the defendant
42:03what was in the mind of Healus at the time it was being committed
42:07It seems that it was agreed that paranoid schizophrenia
42:09was a relevant diagnosis for Healus
42:11but there's still the question
42:12did it cause the murder?
42:14does it result in diminished responsibility?
42:17You've got the days beforehand of the chat
42:19you've got the whole thing that's been planned to meet an individual
42:22so he knows he's going to meet an individual
42:25and he takes a knife with him
42:27and then immediately goes into the anger and attacks Alex
42:31this is your classic premeditation
42:34the fact that he's planned everything to meet Alex in a secluded spot
42:40even controls the location and kills Alex
42:44so it's not spontaneous where they've had a relationship
42:46something's broken down and he's picked up a weapon and used it
42:49and then what do I do?
42:51he's actually, and the misresponsibilities would mean he's got no idea what he's doing
42:55but just look at the chat logs, look at the control he's doing
42:58so without a doubt he has thought out the whole thing here
43:03after the trial had concluded and the judge had made his comments
43:07sent the jury out, we were waiting
43:10despite having complex issues like a defence of diminished responsibility to navigate
43:14the jury took only an hour to decide
43:17they knew what the outcome was going to be
43:19and he was found guilty of murder
43:25in the UK there's only one sentence for murder
43:28and that is one of life imprisonment
43:30but in the UK life doesn't always and rarely means life
43:35a judge will set a minimum tariff
43:38meaning the defendant will have to serve this amount of prison time
43:41before they can apply for parole
43:43in this instance the judge passed a sentence of a minimum of 24 years
43:48meaning it would be that long before Helis could apply for parole
43:53but Brian Helis is yet to see the inside of a prison
43:57because of his mental health conditions
44:00he has never actually gone into a prison
44:03he's detained now at a psychiatric unit
44:07a secure psychiatric unit on the outskirts of Preston
44:10I think for Alex's family it's got to be hard to know that
44:14the young man that killed Alex has never been inside a prison cell
44:19they feel that there's a lack of justice there
44:21that for everything that he did
44:24he's never really paid the price
44:30I mean no doubt Helis is and probably always will be
44:36a dangerous individual
44:37to go from no offending history to an attack of this ferocity
44:43really suggests someone
44:44and I don't use this word lightly
44:46he's evil
44:4724 years would mean he'll be roughly in his early 40s
44:51before he could be released
44:52so still a relatively young person
44:54young enough to start his own family
44:57to start a life
44:58something that Alex will never have
45:03loads of people use dating websites perfectly safely
45:06but the difficulty with that is we can be lulled into a false sense of security
45:10we need to remember that we're messaging someone
45:12who you've no idea in reality who they are
45:15what they're like
45:16they might be telling you one thing
45:17but the truth is something else completely
45:20Bev, Alex's mother said well yes she was aware that her son was using them
45:24even to the extent they had the conversation
45:27that his mother was aware of some horrendous cases
45:32involving some online sexual predators
45:35who had gone on to murder
45:37and it said that's okay that will never happen to me
45:41online dating is the world that we live in now isn't it
45:43that's how people meet
45:44you know I think
45:45certainly a high number of relationships start online these days
45:49I think there's always advice out there
45:52if you're going to meet somebody
45:53meet them in public
45:54tell a friend where you're going
45:56all of those kind of things
45:58because really until you've met
46:00you can never really be sure that somebody is who they say they are
46:17or no
46:19and we're going to meet somebody
46:39you know
46:42that anybody is who they say they need
46:43that number is
46:51Transcription by CastingWords
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