Murderer who stabbed his teen Grindr hook-up more than 100 times had ‘sinister’ chats with four other men
Brian Healless was found guilty of killing Alex Davies by stabbing him more than 100 times
A “cunning” killer who lured a gay teenager to his death on Grindr also attempted hook-ups with four other men, and had his next date already planned.
Yesterday Brian Healless was found guilty of killing 18-year-old Alex Davies by stabbing him 128 times in the back, neck, chest, abdomen and left arm.
Healless contacted Davies through the dating app Grindr and convinced him to meet in a secluded area in Lancashire on April 29. His body was found on May 1.
The court heard that between April 30 and May 2, Healless started conversations with four other men on Grindr, adopting the same “calculating” tactics as he had with his first victim.
Writing with a “manipulating” innocence, he convinced one man called ‘Matt’ to meet in a quiet countryside location, similar to the spot where he murdered Davies.
Suggesting a secluded woodland, Healless told him: “Haha, it would be fun, bring something to ly [sic] on and it will last longer.”
He also asked ‘Matt’ what mobile phone he had, claiming he was thinking of “upgrading” his own. Matt replied that he had a Huawei P20 Lite.
“Less than four minutes later, what was Brian Healless up to on his computer?” prosecutor David McLachlan asked jurors.
“Well, less than four minutes later he had his computer out and he was googling Huawei P20 Lite, Huawei P20 Lite, hard reset.”
Healless did the exact same thing on Davies’ phone in a bid to restore factory settings and remove evidence of their Grindr messages – leading prosecutors to conclude that “history was repeating itself”.
In a lucky twist of fate, Matt’s life was saved when pushbike problems led to their meeting being delayed. Detectives tracked Healless down and arrested him before the hook-up could take place.
But the prosecution said that if the meeting had gone ahead, there was “a real possibility” that Alex Davies “was not going to be the last victim”.
McLachlan argued that Healless’ crimes were planned and pre-meditated, and that he was a “manipulative and cunning young man” who displayed rational thinking throughout his murder plot.
Healless’ defence claimed that his paranoid schizophrenia meant no-one could be sure what was going through his head during and after the murder, and that he was therefore innocent of the crime.
But it took jurors less than an hour to rule Healless had murderous intentions and he was found guilty of Davies’ murder. He will be sentenced later today.
