Can’t get over poor baby Preston

That's sent shivers down my spine. But you're absolutely correct.

I know. I wonder how an earth they went from nothing to what they did to this child. It doesn't make sense. I wonder if anything will come out as the children he babysat grow up.

Preston looks a bit like my DS in that picture from the article I posted. I wish I could cuddle him too. There's a special place in hell for people who hurt children in that way.

I wanted to give DS up for adoption after he was born and I'm glad I didn't. Preston's mum didn't have a choice, and I can't help but feel awful for her. She was still his mum and she loved him, I don't care what she's done, no one deserves that.

Please sign this petition. It won’t help baby Preston, but it might help other children ❤️

www.change.org/injurymapping

As a parent and a human it is beyond comprehension.

This is a case where I think death is too good for them (and generally I am against capital punishment)

.I hope those in HMP Wakefield will give him the justice he deserves. Slowly.

I find it extraordinary and extremely disturbing that there was nothing at all in the history of the two men to suggest any prior abuse / inappropriate behaviour around children. I’m imagining they searched for this. It’s the kind of case that shakes your faith in the world.

Someone else on this thread said they want to reach into those photos and pick him up. And I totally relate to that. He’s just a lovely, smiley baby, and you just want to hug him. It’s hard to comprehend that someone could hurt him day after day.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyp77l79e9o

Wouldn't be surprised, there's a bit at the end of this article about it. I think the police think they did (and I think they did) but there's no evidence to support that theory. Evil bastards.

So cocksure even though he was in the wrong. A true sociopath and narcissist.

Yep he's a vile specimen...

Yes, the police videos were awful. Basically threatening the police. If he can get act like that with the police when he must have have known they would find some evidence somehow, then a little one had no hope.

Sounds like they planned to adopt a baby they could use as a sex toy.

@hourglass2 Here's hoping!

Yeah I wondered that....I bet they thought they did, JV comes across an arrogant narcissitic prick in the police videos. I hope he's having a lovely time in HMP Wakefield, he got a rousing welcome from the other inmates apparently :)) right now I hope he's feeling the fear and terror that baby Preston did...

'The internet is forever' is something I see a lot on socials media. Which is why I don't post pictures of DS online.

Thank goodness for people being able to do electronic forensics.

Neither can I, especially as the post mortem was done very soon after his death. That poor child. I can't imagine how much pain he must have been in before he died. The catalogue of injuries is horrendous, and how JV could have inflicted those injuries on a baby and not care about him crying makes me so angry. I don't hate many people, but those two are on the list. I hate people who abuse children.

Yes, I can't watch those either. I've heard about them and it was enough to make me cry. The police dealing with the case and (I assume?) the jurors must have felt awful.

I did watch the video his foster parents shared of Preston laughing though. The police officer in charge of the case said to remember the victim, and I shall always remember that sweet little boy.

Just goes to show that nothing is ever truly deleted once sent, as id imagine they both deleted anything bad off their phones but the police were able to retrieve it. Think a few pedos/pervs been caught that way, huw edwards comes to mind.

Can't believe they were free until 2025, 2 years after poor prestons murder.

You're not wrong. At least there was evidence of the awful things they did, to convict them and guve them long sentences.
I really feel for anyone who saw the worse ones though. I can't even watch the "milder end" ones in the public domain, tearing up just writing this.

I feel awful saying it, but I suppose it's good they filmed it so the evidence was irrefutable. And they still plead not guilty! They may well think even now they didn't do anything wrong, judging from JV's antics when he was found guilty.

Maybe they did think they'd got away with it. I'm very glad they didn't.

I’m not sure about the first attack, but I think 17 April was the date it was first filmed.

I wonder if they thought they had got away with it.

I did read there was evidence to suggest the sexual abuse started on day one, but I don't know how true that is. Still, they didn't wait long.

Oh, the bastard. And they did all this before they'd formally adopted him.

He was asphyxiated while being sexually assaulted.

I can't write it any more plainly than that.

It’s only my experience, I’ve looked for data but nothing is published. It is very rare for anyone on a murder charge to be bailed yes, as I said.

The sentencing framework includes many aggravating factors that often don’t apply to child murder cases. Therefore it is far from rare to see a person convicted of killing an adult get a longer tariff than a person convicted of killing a child. Yes, they are all mandatory life sentences but if you can’t see the difference between 27 years before people eligibility and a whole life tariff, I don’t know what else to tell you.

He reminds me of a little boy who was murdered in Ireland not that long ago. He too was with a foster family and there are lovely photos of him smiling away and happy taken by the foster parents. He was sadly given back to his birth family who murdered him and then dug a hole in a field and buried him in it. Just horrendous for both little boys.

I'm not sure child murderers are "bailed" as such, just that they aren't necessarily charged straight away so are free to carry on with their lives. I was shocked to read that these two had been left to lead normal lives while the investigation was ongoing, I had no idea and I assumed they were remanded awaiting trial. I've just done some reading and there is a time limit on how long an offender can be kept on remand, for murder, it's 182 days from being charged to the trial, if it doesn't commence within that time frame then they are meant to be released on bail.

It seems to be the complex hard-to-prove (and pleading not guilty) cases that they take their time with, there's no point dragging them into court to face charges if they don't have all the evidence to secure a conviction, presumably this was one of those cases where they needed to get it exactly right. Where as other murder cases may have more open and shut evidence to back up a prosecution, including evidence of premeditation (which can lead to longer sentences too).

But it does seem a slap in the face that they were walking round free for two years before facing the consequences of their actions.

I’m in a different country but extracting social media and digital files takes a long time. Partly because of a backlog on the team who do this. I doubt an 18 month to 2 year investigation in the UK is rare.

In this case the police gathered evidence that would not only ensure that they would be found guilty, it found the type of evidence where a whole life order would be more likely.