New charges against Hamilton man at centre of W5 investigation

Hamilton police arrested Bryan Hayward on May 16. (Undated photo)

Warning – this story contains graphic details

A Hamilton man arrested last year after a W5 investigation exposed an online network of men who secretly drug and videotape their intimate partners is now facing new charges in another province.

Bryan Hayward, 37, already faces 60 charges in connection with alleged crimes against more than a dozen women in Ontario. Now police in Calgary have laid additional criminal charges connected to an incident that predates the Hamilton case by a decade.

Calgary police Staff Sergeant Tom Hanson revealed the new allegations in an exclusive interview with W5. “Bryan James Hayward… was charged with sexual assault and choking with intent in relation to an incident that occurred in January of 2015 in Calgary, Alberta.”

The charges have not been tested in court.

Alleged violence in Calgary

The newly filed charges relate to when Hayward lived in Calgary with his then-wife Chelsea Davies in 2014 and 2015. Davies first went public with her account in W5’s documentary Sleeping With the Enemy, describing the night she says she awoke to Hayward choking her. “I woke up to him strangling me. He wouldn’t stop. He had my arms pinned down with his knees. He did not stop until I pretended to pass out.”

In the W5 interview, Davies detailed what she claims happened in the hours leading up to the attack. “I got a headache. He gave me what I thought was a Tylenol or Advil. I immediately got tired. I woke up to him strangling me.

“He did not stop until I pretended to pass out. I managed not to gasp for air for long enough for him to get off me and I was able to get away. I went to the kitchen, got a knife. I checked on my daughter. And I chased him out of the house.”

Davies did not report the incident at the time. “Out of the fear of how victims are often not believed. There’s no proof.”

A decade later, new police action

After Hayward’s arrest in Hamilton in May, Davies contacted Calgary Police to report the historic allegation. She says she is seeking justice for herself, and, potentially, for other women who may have crossed paths with Hayward during their time in Alberta.

“We lived in Calgary from around April 2014 to May 2015. There could be women out there who do not know what happened to them.”

Calgary Staff Sgt. Hanson says investigators hope the announcement encourages anyone with information to come forward. “There is a possibility that there may be other victims. When they see stories like this, it gives them reassurance that there is a possibility…that their complaint will be thoroughly investigated.”

He added that Alberta has no statute of limitations on sexual assault. “We take these offenses very seriously. … We want victims to feel like they have re-attained some element of control in their lives.”

No charges yet in child drugging

Hayward remains behind bars in Hamilton and has not yet entered a plea on any of the charges against him. His ex wife Chelsea has been pressuring Hamilton Police to lay charges in connection with the alleged drugging of their 11-year-old daughter in 2023.

A hospital toxicology report shows she tested positive for a sedative, benzodiazepine, following a visit with her father. So far, charges in that case have not been laid.

Information gathered during W5’s documentary was also shared with police in Geneva Switzerland, leading to the arrest of a second man on charges of rape and sexual coercion involving alleged crimes against his wife.