The Murder of Kayleigh Haywood

In November 2015, schoolgirl Kayleigh Haywood told her parents
she was going to stay at a friend’s house. She wasn’t. For the
previous two weeks the fifteen-year-old had been groomed online
by Luke Harlow, a man twelve years her senior. He had bombarded
her with over a thousand Facebook messages persuading her to come
to his flat in Ibstock, Leicestershire. After she finally agreed,
he plied her with alcohol, assaulted her, then introduced her to
a rapist and killer. In this episode, forensic psychologist Kerry
Daynes examines how two predators — a calculating online groomer
and a violent opportunist living next door — converged on one
teenage girl who had no idea her life was in danger. Listen now
to The Profiler with Kerry Daynes.


Key psychological themes


This episode explores: online grooming and the psychology of
digital predation • the escalation from flattery to control in
sustained coercive communication • the ‘bubble’ dynamic — how
secrecy isolates victims from protection • opportunistic sexual
violence and male social networks that enable harm • the
devastating consequences of a child’s trust exploited by multiple
offenders


Contributors featured in this episode


•       Kerry Daynes —
Forensic psychologist, presenter, and author of Dark Side of the
Mind and What Lies Buried.


•       Phil Mackie — BBC News
Midlands correspondent who covered the investigation, search, and
trial.


•       Miranda Moore —
Barrister and Crown Prosecutor who led the case against Luke
Harlow and Stephen Beadman at Leicester Crown Court.


What you’ll learn in this episode


•       How Harlow used
Facebook to target Kayleigh — and what the thousand-plus messages
he sent her reveal about the mechanics of online grooming


•       Why Kayleigh kept her
contact with Harlow secret — and how that secrecy removed the one
protection that might have saved her


•       What happened when
Harlow introduced his neighbour Stephen Beadman to Kayleigh on
the Saturday night — and what that decision set in motion


•       How a neighbour’s
account of what he believed was a police arrest helped detectives
reconstruct Kayleigh’s final hours


•       What the physical
evidence — bloodstained clothing hidden in an unlit bonfire —
revealed about Beadman’s attempts to conceal his crime


•       Kerry’s psychological
analysis of how two men with very different criminal profiles
came together to destroy one young life


Relevant links and further reading


•       Kerry Daynes — Dark
Side of the Mind (Endeavour, 2019)


•       Kerry Daynes — What
Lies Buried (Endeavour, 2021)


•       Faking It: Tears of a
Crime (Warner Bros. Discovery) — some interviews in this episode
were originally featured in the series. Watch on
discoveryplus.com.


•       https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-36651220 —
BBC News: coverage of the Kayleigh Heywood case and trial


•       Kayleigh’s Love Story
— NSPCC educational film inspired by this case, used in schools
to teach young people about online grooming


•       Support for those
affected — NSPCC Helpline (0808 800 5000) • Victim Support (0808
168 9111)


Subscribe & follow


If you’re gripped by The Profiler, with Kerry Daynes, follow the
show in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your
podcasts. A rating or review takes thirty seconds and genuinely
helps new listeners find us.


Visit theprofiler.co.uk


For Kerry’s exclusive notes on the cases in this series visit
theprofiler.co.uk. Whilst there, subscribe to the newsletter for
case updates. 


Credits


•       Presented by Kerry
Daynes


•       Produced by Shearwater
Media


•       Executive Producers:
Jeff Anderson and Steve Anderson


•       Editing & Music:
Rob Warner


Content note


This episode contains descriptions of the grooming and murder of
a child, references to sexual violence, and details of a police
investigation. Listener discretion is advised. If you have been
affected by the issues raised, support is available from the
NSPCC (0808 800 5000), Victim Support (0808 168 9111), and the
Samaritans (116 123).


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.