When schoolboy Alex Rodda received a flirty message from an older man he was flattered and excited. Unaware he was being groomed he thought this would be his first taste of love. Yet just six weeks later he was brutally murdered in a dark wood.

18-year-old Matthew Mason was not openly gay and after grooming 15-year-old Alex on social media he wanted to keep their relationship secret – and knew there was only one way he could really silence his young lover.  Experts observe how social media acted as a catalyst for this dreadful crime and share their views on how the older killer’s grooming of Alex played out.

This story is of one of the most shocking murders in recent years, a tragic tale played out through social media of teenage infatuation and repressed sexuality.