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Darren Vickers murdered Jamie Lavis in Greater Manchester in 1997
He then feigned interest in helping Jamie's parents with the search
Vickers is currently serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 1999
New documentary analyses how he gave himself away during the search

By Richard Spillett, Crime Correspondent For Mailonline

Published: 09:03 EST, 8 November 2018 | Updated: 12:45 EST, 8 November 2018

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A bus driver who murdered a young boy then befriended his parents to keep tabs on the police investigation gave himself away in TV interviews, a new documentary reveals.

Darren Vickers befriended, groomed and abused eight-year-old Jamie Lavis before killing him in Openshaw, Greater Manchester in 1997.

The killer - who said he was the last to see Jamie when he gave him a lift on his bus - bizarrely joined the search for the youngster, going on TV and purporting to represent Jamie's shattered parents John and Karen Lavis.

Vickers was eventually jailed for life for Jamie's murdet and ordered to serve 25 years in 1999.

A new documentary, Faking It: Tears Of A Crime, has analysed the statements Vickers made during the search for Jamie to show how he gave himself away.

Darren Vickers (left) murdered Jamie Lavis (right) before taking part in the search for the youngster in a bid to cover his tracks

Body language Cliff Lansley says the killer showed he was lying by repeatedly shaking his head and occasionally shrugging his shoulders when speaking to TV reporters.

Mr Lansley tells the programme: 'The head shake is tiny but its a gift to a body language analyst because those tiny gestures are below consciousness and they leak the contradiction to the statement he is making.'

Language experts meanwhile reveal that Vickers refuses to name Jamie in his statements, or refer to himself, in an apparent bid to distance himself from the crime.

Vickers' case was all the stranger because he successfully ingratiated himself with his victims' parents, presenting himself as someone desperate to help the search.

Jamie's parents even allowed him to move in with them, moving out of their own bed so he could stay there, during the search for their son.

Experts show a strange photo of him with the parents, in which he appears to have supplanted their son in the family. Mr Lansley said: 'He was a viper in the nest.'

Experts commented on a bizarre photos in which the killer posed with his victim's parents as he made himself out to be key in the search to find Jamie

He spoke on TV and radio, pretending to be helping the search, when in fact he was trying to hide his involvement

Police tell the documentary that Vickers was such a skilled manipulator that the parents began to believe his words as much as those of detectives.

With Vickers able to apply for parole in just over five years, police officers from the time use the documentary to urge that he is never released.

Roy Rainford, who was the senior investigating officer on the inquiry, says: 'Darren Vickers should never be released. He will be a danger to children.'

Faking It: Tears Of A Crime will be broadcast on Friday at 10pm on the Investigation Discovery channel (Sky 154, Virgin 170 and BT TV 324).