VICTIM
Rebecca’s sick murderer confesses from prison
A SCHOOLBOY killer who murdered his ex-girlfriend for a bet to win a free breakfast has finally confessed.
Joshua Davies, then 15, lured Rebecca Aylward, also 15, to woodland eight years ago on the pretence of a date, and bludgeoned her to death with a rock.
Her mum Sonia Oatley has now been told that Davies, who is in jail for the killing, no longer proclaims he is innocent.
Speaking ahead of the eighth anniversary of her daughter’s death tomorrow, Sonia, 57, said: “My victim liaison officer called me to her office and said ‘he’s admitted it’.
“I just sat there looking at her. I wasn’t expecting it at all and was so shocked I couldn’t say anything for a few minutes.
“Apparently, he’d said he needed to see his probation officer, and then said ‘I did it – nobody else was involved – I am totally responsible’.
“By pleading not guilty he put us through the pain of a fiveweek trial where we had to listen to every gruesome detail of how Becca died.”
She said Davies “enjoyed putting us through that ordeal”. The murder trial in 2011 heard Davies had sent texts to his friends about plans to murder Rebecca.
A pal offered to buy him breakfast if he carried out the threat. Two days before Rebecca’s death in 2010, Davies texted the friend saying: “You may just owe me a breakfast.”
At the trial Davies claimed to be innocent. He blamed the murder near Bridgend,
He pretends to strangle friend South Wales – close to Rebecca’s family home in Maesteg – on a friend.
Sonia said: “Seeing her in the mortuary it felt like my heart was being physically torn from my body.
“I yearned to hold and kiss her but wasn’t allowed to. He even deprived me of that goodbye. We invited Joshua into our family. And to be betrayed in such a horrendous way... I can never trust anybody again.”
Sonia fears 23-year-old Davies, from Bridgend, has confessed in a cynical TRIAL Our story in 2011 attempt to reduce the time he will be in prison. At Swansea crown court in 2011 he was told he must serve a minimum of 14 years after being convicted of murder.
Sonia is now fighting to ensure he is behind bars for that time at the least.
She said: “Like every youth sentenced to life imprisonment, Davies is entitled to a pre-tariff review with a judge.
“As he is now more than halfway through his sentence this review is imminent. The judge can decide to reduce the tariff. My fear is that because he has admitted it now, he can work towards being released.” As part of the review, Sonia has been invited to submit a victim statement to the judge.
She said: “I will tell the judge how Becca’s murder continues to devastate our lives.
“Her brother Jack is 16 now, while her sister Jess has just turned 21. They were both milestone birthdays without Becca.
“She should have been here. She’d be so proud of them.
“Davies is an extremely dangerous man and I truly believe he will kill again.” LOSS Anguished Sonia. Right, holding Rebecca as a small child