- 6 hours ago
- #truecrime
- #mystery
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Uncover the chilling secrets of the latest case to grip True Crime Presents! In Season 2 Episode 4, we dive deep into a perplexing mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Prepare to be captivated as we dissect the intricate details of this baffling crime. We explore the timeline of events, the crucial evidence that surfaced, and the psychological profiles of those involved.
Gain startling insights into the investigation process and the efforts made to bring justice to light. This episode provides a compelling look at the complexities of solving a difficult case.
Hashtags: #TrueCrime #Mystery #Investigation #Season2
Prepare to be captivated as we dissect the intricate details of this baffling crime. We explore the timeline of events, the crucial evidence that surfaced, and the psychological profiles of those involved.
Gain startling insights into the investigation process and the efforts made to bring justice to light. This episode provides a compelling look at the complexities of solving a difficult case.
Hashtags: #TrueCrime #Mystery #Investigation #Season2
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Short filmTranscript
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 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 the serial killer here I need to protect the public from this monster it
00:52seems 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 of about two and a half thousand in a wonderful village setting with its pubs its shops and its
02:04church
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
03:30he had a really good social life he had a lot of close friends and growing up for Alex wasn't
03:36easy
03:37he stood out he realized at an early age he was gay but of course when you're very young the
03:43word that comes to mind is different
03:44I was different in some way where all it was was it was his sexuality
03:50children can be cruel and I 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 you know if he liked somebody he would go and ask them for it on a date you know
04:38carefree life 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 if they were on the same shift or you
05:02know he'd go and pick them up and they'd have some music on
05:04they'd be singing and joking and just having a fun time of 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 so he had all his life to
05:25live for
05:30the last time that Alex met up with his group of friends was on the Friday night they had drinks
05:34they did what they would usually do
05:35but sadly they didn't know that when they said bye to him that night for many of them that would
05:40be the final time
05:42on Monday 29th of April 2019 Alex's mother Beverly returned home from work to find that Alex had not come
05:50home
05:51the kind of relationship that Alex had with his mum they were really close and it would have been really
05:56unusual for him not to be in contact with her
05:59when she came home that night nine o'clock and she hadn't heard from him all day she started to
06:04worry she had those mother instincts that
06:06it's not quite right because this is out of the normal I would have heard from him by now
06:10there were no secrets so she would know where he'd be a lot of relationships like that you can set
06:16your watch you know what's going to happen where people are going to be
06:20so she was very surprised that he wasn't there and he didn't turn up at home when she was at
06:24home and when you know somebody
06:26whatever age they are you know that's out of character so straight away his mother was concerned worried and a
06:35bit bamboozled
06:36about what has happened to Alex
06:39Beverly grew even more concerned as it drew closer to midnight on Monday and there was still no sign of
06:45Alex
06:47Alex's mum was starting to get really worried now and as you would expect she started to phone around his
06:52friends
06:52obviously hoping that there was a really simple explanation that perhaps he got caught up in things his phone had
06:57no battery
06:58but as she was ringing through it soon became clear that none of his friends had seen him since the
07:03Friday
07:03then one particular friend Leon when he said he hadn't heard from Alex that really started to worry her because
07:10that was unusual
07:11Leon had seen him on the Sunday at work but he'd not seen him at all since then
07:15and for both of them not to have seen him something was really wrong
07:18the following morning when Alex still wasn't home she was more worried than ever and that was when she decided
07:24to phone the police
07:26unfortunately perhaps as might be expected it wasn't treated as high risk Alex was an adult
07:30it was suggested that give it some time see what happens
07:34then it was a case of well he'll come back he may have just been staying at a friend's house
07:39so police don't sort of take it lightly but they don't take it seriously in a sense
07:43so therefore as a parent you feel that you've been let down that no reports being taken they're not going
07:49to do anything
07:50I think it's a mother's instinct you know your children you know your patterns you know what to expect
07:55and when something's not right it's just a feeling and it's not something you can describe it's just it's powerful
08:04Alex's friends and family did not want to waste any time so they began their own appeals for help
08:10his friends took to social media to try and raise awareness that Alex is missing asking for information that anybody
08:19had of him
08:19had they seen him do they know where he is and that included home bargains where he worked
08:24they used their own Facebook page to 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 so one of his friends was worried
08:34that
08:34perhaps you know perhaps he'd been picked up perhaps he'd been attacked they must have been thinking the worst
08:40Beverly downloaded the CCTV footage from her front door camera and made an interesting discovery in the
08:46recordings from Monday 29th April
08:49Alex got a taxi from outside their house and 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 is anybody let alone a parent is to ring that firm and say
09:05look I'm worried about my son can you please tell me where that taxi actually took my son
09:10turns out that he was dropped off at the station in parbold which is about 10 miles away from where
09:16he lives
09:20there was no indications that Alex was alive moving around doing everyday things and this would have started to raise
09:29the concerns of the police and raise the risk against him
09:33police began their search for Alex by scouring CCTV footage in parbold where he had taken the taxi to on
09:39the day he went missing
09:40there was CCTV in and around parbold train station which showed Alex turning up in the taxi getting out carrying
09:50a rucksack
09:50and he went into a shop and he bought a can of pop and bar 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 the camera footage stopped the coverage stopped
10:13so some distance away from parbold station they knew that Alex was walking towards a more rural area
10:22from that point on the trail went cold there 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 it became more and more concerning really that you know that we weren't looking
10:41at an 18 year old
10:42lad who just stayed out too late and not gone home when he was expected there was something more to
10:47this
10:49but everything changed when the inevitable call came on the evening of May 1st
10:57I finished work gone home doing me thing at home just sat down watching the telly
11:02and the superintendent rang me and said are you aware there's a job at parbold and I said I'm not
11:08what is it
11:08and he said we 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 by what had happened in their peaceful village
11:33April 29th 2019
11:3618 year old Alex Davies from Skelmersdale Lancashire has disappeared
11:40raising concerns among his family and friends
11:43he was last sighted on CCTV in the village of Parbold before vanishing without a trace
11:49but a grim discovery is made on May 1st
11:53a body has been found in some nearby woods
11:57I took responsibility for the investigation on the Thursday morning
12:02Alex was found on the Wednesday evening
12:04he was found by a gamekeeper who had gone to check the traps
12:07he spotted an arm underneath a pile of conifers
12:11it was quite clear that there had been a lot of violence
12:17the body has been so badly mutilated
12:20they were unable to actually identify not just who it was but whether it was male or female
12:28so at that point I said to my deputy D.I. Muller
12:31can you open your computer and see what missing from homes we've got locally
12:35he said they've got a missing from home from Skelmersdale
12:37and he brought up a picture of Alex
12:40I said let's have a look at him
12:41and I was looking at a picture of Alex
12:44and I'm looking at the body in front of me
12:46and I'm thinking they don't look the same
12:50for the family of course it's terrible that a body's been found
12:54but there was still that grain of hope that maybe it wasn't Alex
12:59that maybe Alex was still out there somewhere
13:03his mother must have just been so distressed
13:06on the one hand she's hoping it's not Alex
13:08but on the other hand she wants to know what's happened to Alex
13:12Beverly's worst nightmare becomes a reality
13:14when the identification of the body is confirmed
13:19we had a search team and suddenly I heard a cry of find
13:24from one of the search officers and they all stopped
13:26it was almost military in precision really
13:30they just stopped searching and the pulser then took over
13:34and they found what you would call the contents of a wallet
13:37so library card, train card, other cards, bank cards etc etc
13:45and they were in the name of Alex Davis
13:49Alex had a little tiny birthmark on his cheek
13:53just like a little beauty spot if you will
13:55and in his photograph he was wearing a silver chain
13:59so I examined the body in front of me
14:02and I thought I could just see a little beauty spot
14:08and the body did have a silver chain on
14:10so at that point I made the call
14:13I want someone to go around to his mum
14:16who's reported him missing
14:17tell her I think we've found him
14:22it must have been terrible for his mum
14:24to know firstly that her son had died
14:28that he'd been murdered
14:30and that he was in such a state
14:32that they needed to identify him through a jewellery
14:35and that moment when they showed her that jewellery
14:38I just, I can't imagine the feeling that must have been
14:41in her stomach and in her heart
14:43it's not just losing a son
14:45it's losing a son in such horrific circumstances
14:49Alex had multiple stab wounds
14:52as well as the stab wounds
14:54Alex had injuries to his face
14:56he had a broken nose
14:57it looked like he'd been badly beaten
15:00as well as being stabbed
15:02when I started to look at Alex
15:04I noticed that he had mud up his nostrils
15:06and in his mouth
15:08it looked like he'd been dragged face down
15:12and that was awful
15:14and I saw this flat area of land
15:16I started to sort of just assess it
15:19as a crime scene
15:19is that relevant?
15:21very quickly established
15:22the grass was flat
15:24and there were lots of bluebells
15:26it was May
15:28lots of bluebells
15:29a lot of stick in my mind
15:31and a lot of them had been, were flattened
15:33which said to me
15:35a lot of activities happened in that area
15:39so is that where something's happened
15:41and is that where, where it started
15:43is this where Alex was
15:44is this where it's ended?
15:46so I started to hypothesize what might have happened
15:50the post-mortem revealed the horrific nature of Alex's death
15:55he was stabbed 128 times
15:59he had over 146 different injuries to his body
16:05we know that Alex was still alive when the stab wounds were being inflicted on him
16:10because the post-mortem found his cause of death to be asphyxiation
16:13so he'd felt those injuries
16:16in my career
16:17in my career I can only think of a couple of cases where I've seen injuries that have come anywhere
16:20close to that
16:21this is indicating a horrific, sustained, violent attack on him
16:27and it appeared as if the body had been dragged down a slope
16:32placed next to a tree and had foliage put over it
16:35in an almost crude attempt to hide the body
16:39it's hard to fathom
16:41the level of force and also the level of rage that must have been involved in an attack like that
16:46what was going through this killer's mind to be so angry and to be so vicious and so violent
16:53that kind of crime scene with over a hundred stab wounds suggests to me a perpetrator who was acting on
16:59emotion
16:59loss of emotional control
17:01that's not to say they didn't have control over their decision making and their actions
17:05but it's someone who couldn't cope with their emotions
17:07somebody kept going until they were either no longer feeling those emotions in the moment
17:12or they simply tired themselves out
17:16we had what we call a welfare van
17:18it had equipment so we could make a cup of tea or a coffee
17:21so the CSI said we're going to go to the welfare van
17:25so they all went off to do their thing and then I looked at Alex and I thought
17:29I can't leave this young man
17:32his mum wouldn't want me to leave him like this all on his own
17:36and I don't really know what the catalyst for that was
17:41but I just couldn't leave him
17:42so I just stood at the side of him
17:46quietly
17:47but during that time I was thinking
17:49look at the injuries that this young man's suffered
17:53and I was trying to imagine who would have done it
17:56who would have been responsible
17:57what kind of person
17:59could have been responsible for that kind of horrific attack
18:02it seems like a real contradiction to have such a gruesome awful scene
18:07such a horrible crime in such a beautiful picturesque location
18:11it's night and day
18:21when Alex's body was found there was an outpouring of love for him actually
18:25there was a lot of tributes laid at the scene
18:28you know it was clear that he was he was a really loved guy
18:34he had a lot of friends and a lot of people who were absolutely devastated
18:38that this kind friendly young man had been killed in such an awful way
18:44the media were quite keen to understand what was happening
18:48but equally for me as an SIO
18:50I wanted to offer as much reassurance to the public
18:54of Paar Boulder and the wider communities
18:56that we were doing everything that we could to sort of
19:00understand what had happened and catch the person responsible for killing Alex
19:05if I'm honest I wanted to get him in the cells as quickly as
19:08so I couldn't he couldn't do anything else to anybody
19:10any other people
19:11I had this thing about I need to protect the public from this monster
19:16Now the hunt is on for Alex's killer
19:20Despite the difficulties of a rural crime scene
19:22severe weather, wind, rain
19:24not to mention animals being present around the crime scene too
19:27the police found a crucial piece of evidence
19:30In the ground was a small knife
19:32that had been pushed into the dirt
19:34just with the handle sticking up
19:37and that became really important
19:39because when we had that forensically examined
19:41it had Alex's blood on it
19:44and then we showed the pathologist the knife
19:48and she could then compare that to the injuries
19:50and it all fell into place
19:52so it was a really really good find
19:54There's a sign in murder investigation
19:56to understand how a person died
19:58you have to understand how they lived
20:00and that's because in general
20:01there's some link between someone or something in the victim's life
20:06that would indicate why harm has come to them
20:09and that's because most times
20:11there's a link between a killer and a victim
20:13so you need to start to build up a picture of the victim's life
20:17and that could be by talking to friends
20:19looking at their social media posts
20:21and importantly now is looking at people's phones
20:24we can build up such a huge picture of someone's life now from their phones
20:27so this is a task that the police were now having to do for Alex
20:31to build up a picture of those hours and days leading up to his murder
20:35as to who he was in contact with
20:38The police began to look into Alex's call logs
20:40had he contacted anybody that was out of the ordinary
20:43and they did see something different
20:45they saw a number that had contacted him on the day of his murder
20:48that had never contacted him before
20:50Police managed to find out that the number that had called Alex
20:53had also called a landline
20:54so they called the landline and asked the people there whose phone it was
20:58and this led them straight to Brian Helis
21:03Investigators waste no time and go to the home address of Brian Helis
21:08I've got someone who's just brutalised an 18 year old boy
21:12and was still at large
21:13and my sense of duty to protect the public
21:18was immense
21:20but the person they discovered is not who they expected
21:25and he was just a young fella
21:26absolutely unremarkable in every way shape and form
21:31physically he had no presence
21:34you know you could almost describe him as grey
21:37you would never notice him in a quiet street
21:40never mind a busy one
21:41there's just nothing about him
21:44Police need to establish any previous criminal history
21:48most people who commit murder have some kind of history with the police
21:52that might not necessarily be violent crime
21:54but they'll be known in some way
21:56he had no criminal history
21:58he wasn't known to the police
22:00so he hadn't been arrested before
22:02hadn't come to notice in any way
22:04so if it was Brian Helis that had murdered Alex in this brutal way
22:09this is going to be really quite unusual
22:12the police then understandably searched Helis' house
22:15importantly they found crucial evidence there
22:18in the CCTV footage of Alex
22:21as he was walking away from that train station
22:24he had a rucksack
22:26and the contents of that rucksack
22:29were now found in Helis' home
22:33Investigators now need to uncover
22:35the sequence of events that led to Alex's death
22:44on 29th April 2019
22:4718 year old Alex Davies from Skelmersdale
22:50disappeared without a trace in a rural part of Lancashire
22:54his mutilated body was discovered in a wooded area of Parbelled Hill a few days later
23:00investigators have been led to the home of 18 year old Brian Helis
23:03who they learned had called Alex on the day he went missing
23:08when the police were searching Helis' home
23:11they'll be looking for any clues any evidence that can link him to either the crime scene
23:17or to Alex himself
23:19and that's what they found in his home
23:21they found earphones mobile phone and wallet belonging to Alex
23:28when they found Alex's headphones at Helis' house
23:31they'd also got the serial number of that exact pair of headphones
23:36because Alex had kept a box for them
23:38so they were able to match the serial number
23:41on the box to the actual pair of headphones that they found at Helis' house
23:46he couldn't say that he had a pair that were the same
23:49these were the exact headphones
23:52we looked at the telephone and we established that that was his grandad's
23:56his grandad had passed
23:57so Alex had said to his uncle
23:59can I have grandad's phone
24:01that I can keep as a spare in case my battery dies
24:05so all of a sudden
24:06Ryan Helis has got Alex's spare phone
24:09Alex's headphones
24:11and Alex's wallet
24:13not only had he got his wallet
24:14he'd taken everything out of Alex's and thrown it at the scene
24:18and he'd put his own ID cards and his own money in it
24:20he was actually using it
24:23we found the knife lock with a missing knife
24:27we found a bike
24:28and we found clothing
24:29which was all seized
24:31so the evidence is fairly overwhelming
24:35so if there was any doubt
24:37as to whether or not
24:38Helis was the person that they were looking for
24:41that doubt had gone now
24:42there was no doubt whatsoever in the officer's mind
24:45we have our man
24:47and now we start the process of gathering evidence from him
24:51so we did the custody procedures
24:54we did the hand swaps
24:55all that kind of thing
24:56and then the interview was going to be key
25:00Brian Helis was taken into custody
25:02and he was asked a lot of questions
25:05about Alex's disappearance
25:06and about the murder
25:08he's been given the same old advice
25:11from a solicitor who turns up to represent him
25:14don't say anything
25:15make the police prove it
25:17first question gets asked
25:19and he's been advised to say no comment
25:21what does he say? No
25:23are you responsible for the murder of Alex Davies?
25:27no
25:28that tells me he wanted to talk
25:31do you recall the advice I gave you in the interview?
25:34yes
25:34we'll start again
25:35are you responsible for the murder of Alex Davies?
25:38no comment
25:39that's Alex
25:40look at that picture
25:42do you know Alex?
25:44no comment
25:45have you ever seen that person before?
25:48no comment
25:49how do you know him?
25:51no comment
25:53with no cooperation from Helis
25:55investigators need to work hard to build a case against him
25:58it might be easy to think that once somebody's been arrested
26:01and there's some evidence available
26:02that it's really easy for the police to prove that they committed the offence
26:06but that's far from the case
26:07they have to prove this beyond reasonable doubt
26:09so in the background there will have been loads of work going on
26:12to hone out what the actual evidence was
26:15to make things clear and to see if there was anything else they needed
26:17to support a prosecution
26:20so then they start to look at CCTV in and around the areas Alex had been
26:26and importantly the route between Helis' home and the crime scene
26:32and what this showed is that he in actual fact on the day that Alex went missing
26:36had cycled from Chorley to Parbold
26:41and that footage showed him going there and coming back
26:46the first time that they see Brian Helis in the area
26:49he's not got anything with him he's just riding a bike
26:52later on that day they see him again riding the bike
26:57but this time he's got a backpack on
26:59and that rucksack matched the one seen being carried by Alex
27:03on the CCTV they had of him
27:06so again it's more evidence linking Helis not only to Alex but linking him to his murder
27:13but how had these two young men encountered each other
27:16and how had Alex ended up murdered on Parbold Hill
27:20an important element in any murder investigation is a building up of a timeline
27:24by laying out known facts and when they happened
27:27and that's what they did in this case
27:30and it started to build a picture
27:32a picture that indicated what had happened in the lead up to Alex's murder
27:37what they were able to identify is that Helis and Alex had been communicating on a dating app
27:43and those communications have moved from the dating app to WhatsApp
27:49and they started to talk to each other
27:51the majority of this was literally the build up to the day that we know that Alex was murdered
27:55so you've got that initial of how are you, do you fancy meeting up, what should we do etc
28:02then a few interests, we know that Alex actually was very very much into his ABBA music
28:07and of course even the Bee Gees
28:09he actually says in one of the messages do you know who the Bee Gees are
28:12Brian Helis has no idea what he's talking about
28:16so you've got some normal conversations but a lot of it is flirtatious
28:28what became clear is that Helis was pushing for a meet
28:33pushing to meet Alex
28:35and he was being what I would describe as manipulative
28:39he was talking to himself as
28:41I haven't come out yet as gay so people don't know
28:44meaning that when we meet it needs to be somewhere secluded
28:47somewhere we're not going to get seen
28:51and now we know looking back why that was
28:55but for Alex himself
28:57he probably wanted to see the best in the person he was speaking to
29:02it's not unusual for young people to
29:04try and keep their love lives from the parents
29:09regardless of sexuality
29:11but particularly in the situation that perhaps you know
29:15the mum and dad maybe aren't as open minded
29:17he did so it would be a believable story
29:21Alex's character is so trusting
29:24you know he's got this wonderful network of friends
29:27he works so much for charity
29:28he believes in people
29:29and I think that was picked up straight away
29:32there's that question of Helis asks
29:34what phone have you got
29:35of course he's got a Samson 9
29:37and of course what does Helis have a Samson 3
29:41automatically you can think to yourself
29:42oh this could be robbery he wants a better phone
29:45to me what that's doing is Helis trying to go for the sympathy
29:48oh I've only got a Samson 3
29:51and then you've got because you've got this wonderful caring individual and Alex saying
29:54oh I can you know I can look after you there and I've got a Samson 9 I can help
29:59you out
29:59you're a bit younger than me so I can be like the older brother
30:02but also in the relationship I can make sure that I can look after you
30:05so I think you've already seen that
30:08Alex even felt that Helis was slightly vulnerable but he wasn't
30:12he was being duped he was being lured into this awful trap
30:14he said do you think it would be worth upgrading because mine's so slow
30:20that was really important that because you think what you're talking about Geoff
30:24but that's so you know the S with a lot of O's
30:28thought that's unusual anyway
30:29when we then do the research on Ryan Helis' computer
30:33we see him after he's had that conversation with Alex
30:36he's researching on eBay how much you can sell
30:39Galaxy S9 for
30:41and how to reset a scant Samsung Galaxy S9
30:45how to avoid being tracked
30:48also in the phone messages were the plans of when the two young men would meet
30:52it was scheduled for April 29th the day that Alex went missing
31:06and now you start to see the build-up and the arrangements for meeting
31:10who is in control of this
31:12they both decided that there will be a meet
31:14but of course what's very interesting here
31:17is that you've got Brian Helis who's actually turned around and said
31:21I've got a location
31:27so he's now in control of the meet he knows where it's going to be what time it's going to
31:32be I'm in control
31:40Alex must have been excited looking forward to a nice day out going on a date going to meet this
31:45new guy who seemed
31:46he was born and flirty
31:57it was Helis that was pushing for this meet
32:01then he was pushing for it in a secluded area
32:04he took a knife with him
32:06these were indications that this natural fact wasn't a spontaneous event
32:11this was a planned and premeditated murder
32:19Alex must have been terrified
32:21he'd set out that morning
32:22looking forward to a nice day out
32:24and when it turned so badly and so violent
32:29he must have been terrified
32:30it was exactly what he wasn't expecting that day
32:51and then obviously they met in the wood
32:55I couldn't speculate but I do know
32:58there was a violent episode and Brian Helis battered and then stabbed Alex to death
33:08when we found Alex he has multiple injuries
33:12are you responsible for causing those injuries?
33:14no comment
33:15are you responsible for murdering Alex Davis?
33:19no comment
33:22Brian Helis' phone held some other disturbing information in the days after Alex had been murdered
33:30really worryingly what they also find is that after Alex has been killed
33:36Helis is back on the dating apps
33:43he was speaking to multiple other young men
33:46he was trying to arrange meet-ups
33:53was he going to do it again?
33:54there's every chance that they could have been looking at a serial killer here
34:03on May 3rd 2019 police arrest 18 year old Brian Helis
34:08for the brutal murder of Alex Davies in a secluded area of Parbold Hill
34:14Alex had been stabbed 128 times by Helis whom he met on a dating site
34:20police discovered the details of how Helis lured Alex to the woods in Parbold that day
34:25and now they have incriminating evidence on Helis' phone to suggest that he was planning to kill again
34:33he killed Alex on the Tuesday afternoon and then on the Wednesday and Thursday he'd made contact with a man
34:42in Scalmersdale
34:45about a sexual encounter
34:46Ryan Helis had sort of indicated that he could stay over at this address
34:50and the other person said not likely you know
34:53we'll do what we need to do and then you're away mate
34:55so that didn't seem to fit the
34:58what what Helis wanted
35:00but then he made contact with another guy
35:04in the Bolton area
35:05so the other side of Charlie
35:08and really unusual because he asked this guy what kind of phone he had
35:12and he said oh I've got a Huawei P light
35:15and he said
35:17I've got rubbish whatever it is
35:20is it worth upgrading because mine is so slow
35:26and they arranged to meet and he said as he said with Alex
35:29it would be the first time I've kissed anybody
35:31so I'm a bit shy
35:32is there somewhere discreet we can go
35:34and the other person had said well there's a wooded area near mine
35:37we can go there
35:39and then we arrested him on a Friday night
35:42he was going to meet him the following day
35:44we'll never know whether that was for the same purpose
35:48but it's not exactly a leap is it to go from
35:51I've just killed one person in this route
35:54and now I'm trying to meet another
35:56there's a very good chance that they've prevented him carrying out a second murder
36:00there were other signs that Helis may not have stopped after the murder of Alex
36:05he'd been doing searches on army spades
36:09they're the fold up spades so you can carry them in a rucksack
36:12why would you be doing that when we know those actual items for the army
36:16are used to actually dig very quickly little troughs or little holes in the ground
36:21so is this all this learning curve for this sociopath, psychopath
36:26who is now actually living his dream
36:29which is gets the anger and he wants to kill
36:31and now he's planning the future
36:33well I've got to dispose of the body a lot better
36:35so perhaps it's actually not worked that out
36:38if I do this what do I do with the body
36:39and that's hit him when it's happening
36:41he's dragged it, tried to cover it up, it didn't work
36:44and now already he's planning for the next one
36:47so when we look at the circumstances of what happened after Alex's murder
36:52can any sort of inference be drawn from the fact that
36:55Helis had taken Alex's property and still had it with him in his bedroom
37:00well it's difficult in all honesty to 100% say one way or the other
37:05but what he would have been able to do, he had the opportunity to do
37:08is to throw away that property, to dump it on his root home
37:13put it in a bin, throw it in a bush
37:15he didn't do that, he took it home
37:16why would he do that?
37:19well, one of two reasons really
37:20one, it's a shiny object I want to keep, it's a phone, it's got value
37:25or, and more sinister, it's some kind of trophy
37:28a reminder of what he's done
37:30and if we're talking about an emotional attack
37:34where someone's carried it out because of that
37:36what these killers will often do is keep almost like a memento from their crime
37:40to remind them of the attack and almost it sort of
37:44to draw out that emotion again at some later time
37:47they couldn't rule out the fact that
37:49they might be looking at somebody with a real vengeance
37:52and having killed one person, you could do it again
38:07the trial for the murder of Alex Davies is held at Preston Crown Court in March 2020
38:18there was quite a lot of press there for the trial
38:21it was an intriguing case
38:23at that point, all that we knew was that Alex had disappeared
38:28his body had been found on Parbald Hill
38:30and the boy had been arrested
38:32at that stage we didn't know the background about the dating app
38:36we didn't know the extent of Alex's injuries
38:39so, when the prosecution opened the case
38:41it was really quite a shock to learn what had happened that day
38:45when Brian Helis walked into the dock
38:49he just looked like you might see him outside the local sixth form college
38:52he was very emotionless
38:54his face barely moved
38:57there was no sign of any sort of remorse or anything
39:00he was an odd character in that regard
39:05by the time the prosecutions finished opening the case
39:09it seems fairly cut and dried
39:11they had so much evidence
39:13the headphones, the backpack
39:15all the phone evidence
39:17all the CCTV evidence
39:19it was difficult to think
39:21what Helis could possibly say to try and
39:25get out of this one
39:27murder investigations teams put a huge amount of effort
39:29into gathering the evidence against any killer
39:32and you can go to court
39:34and you can feel like we've done everything
39:37we've got all the evidence we have
39:39I'm in absolutely no doubt that a person standing trial
39:43has committed this crime
39:44but that does not mean that you go to court confident
39:47that the verdict's going to be one of guilty
39:49because it has to go through a jury
39:51and you can never take for granted
39:53the decision a jury are going to make
39:55so as confident as you are
39:57you can never go into a trial
39:59expecting to get a guilty verdict
40:03Helis's defence was diminished responsibility
40:06there was reports from psychiatrists that
40:09and back to that up actually
40:11he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia
40:15and his defence was that he'd committed this offence
40:20while suffering with that condition
40:24Helis said that he thought that people were after him
40:26and that that was why he was carrying a knife that day
40:29and he said that while he was on his way to meet Alex
40:32he thought that there was people trying to knock him off his bike
40:35in the cars and yeah he was he was painting a picture of real paranoia
40:40what happens when a defendant looks to use a defence of diminished responsibility
40:46is that they will be seen by their own psychiatrist
40:50appointed by their own legal team
40:53and they will assess them as to whether or not that defence
40:57partial defence of diminished responsibility is open to them
41:00and that's what happened in this case
41:03and this psychiatrist said yes
41:05in my opinion
41:06Helis has a defence of diminished responsibility
41:09because he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia
41:13but then what would happen is the prosecution would appoint their own psychiatrist
41:18to carry out the same assessment
41:20if they agree with the previous assessment
41:23yes the defence is open to them
41:25the likelihood is that the Crown Prosecution Service will accept that
41:28if they disagree then they would go to trial
41:31and it wouldn't be on the facts of whether or not the incident took place
41:35it would be whether what was in the mind of the defendant
41:39what was in the mind of Helis at the time it was being committed
41:42it seems that it was agreed that paranoid schizophrenia was a relevant diagnosis for Helis
41:47but there's still the question did it cause the murder
41:50does it result in diminished responsibility
41:53you've got the days beforehand of the chat
41:55you've got the whole thing that's been planned to meet an individual
41:58so he knows he's going to meet an individual
42:00and he takes a knife with him
42:02and then immediately goes into the anger
42:05and attacks Alex
42:07this is your classic premeditation
42:10the fact that he's planned everything to meet Alex
42:14in a secluded spot
42:15even controls the location
42:17and kills Alex
42:19so it's not spontaneous where they've had a relationship
42:22something's broken down and he's picked up a weapon and used it
42:24and then what do I do?
42:26he's actually, and to miss responsibilities would mean
42:29he's got no idea what he's doing
42:30but just look at the chat logs, look at the control he's doing
42:33so without a doubt he has thought out the whole thing here
42:39after the trial had concluded and the judge had made his comments
42:42sent the jury out, we were waiting
42:45despite having complex issues like a defence of diminished responsibility to navigate
42:50the jury took only an hour to decide
42:52they knew what the outcome was going to be
42:55and he was found guilty of murder
43:00in the UK there's only one sentence for murder
43:03and that is one of life imprisonment
43:05but in the UK life doesn't always and rarely means life
43:10a judge will set a minimum tariff
43:13meaning the defendant will have to serve this amount of prison time
43:17before they can apply for parole
43:19in this instance the judge passed a sentence of a minimum of 24 years
43:23meaning it would be that long before Helis could apply for parole
43:29but Brian Helis is yet to see the inside of a prison
43:33because of his mental health conditions
43:36he has never actually gone into a prison
43:39he's detained now at a psychiatric unit
43:42a secure psychiatric unit on the outskirts of Preston
43:45I think for Alex's family it's got to be hard to know that
43:49the young man that killed Alex has never been inside a prison cell
43:54they feel that there's a lack of justice there
43:56that for everything that he did
43:59he's never really paid the price
44:06I'm in no doubt
44:08Helis is
44:09and probably always will be
44:11a dangerous individual
44:13to go from no offending history
44:16to an attack of this veracity
44:18really suggests someone
44:20and I don't use this word lightly
44:22he's evil
44:2324 years would mean he'll be roughly in his early 40s
44:26before he could be released
44:28so still a relatively young person
44:31young enough to start his own family
44:32to start a life
44:33something that Alex will never have
44:39loads of people use dating websites perfectly safely
44:42but the difficulty with that is we can be lulled into a false sense of security
44:45we need to remember that we're messaging someone
44:48who you've no idea in reality who they are
44:50what they're like they might be telling you one thing
44:52but the truth is something else completely
44:55Bev, Alex's mother said well yes she was aware that her son was using them
44:59even to the extent they had the conversation
45:02that his mother was aware of some horrendous cases
45:07involving some online sexual predators
45:10who had gone on to murder
45:12Alex said that's okay that will never happen to me
45:16online dating is the world that we live in now isn't it
45:19that's how people meet
45:20you know I think certainly a high number of relationships start online these days
45:24I think there's always advice out there
45:27if you're going to meet somebody, meet them in public
45:30tell a friend where you're going
45:32all of those kind of things
45:33because really until you've met
45:36you can never really be sure that somebody is who they say they are
46:07either what they are
46:27Transcription by CastingWords
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