Preston Elijah court case TW: sa, physical abuse and child death

[scarfonthestairs]

I just want to say first im using an old name on here to show i am a mom who's adopted my son years ago.

I've got myself obsessed with this awful case to the point im following the court reports. I know I meed to work on this.

But im just reading the defence now and some of the things he says sound so familar. Like his family being his only social circle, not having a huge amount of knowledge of how to deal with the baby and feeling like he'd got post adoption depression.

I am not saying at all that he is innocent but he answers things so well. But then sok of the evidence is just awful. I guess what I'm trying to say is do you think he could be innocent? I just dont get why you'd go through all of the adoption process to then do that to the poor little baby.

Sorry I know I'm brain blurting.

I just dont understand if he is guilty how he managed to get through the process, how tje hospital admissions and the schools worries about him didnt ring any alarm bells. It actually makes me feel quite sick

I feel the exact same. Most of the things he’s saying sounds realistic. He has the right answer for everything. I am in two minds. We all take pics of our kids in the bath etc, he took videos of baby struggling to breathe for future evidence, spinning him around not realising it was cruel, he was a first time parent probably didn’t know how far he’d gone. The fact they have so many happy videos, the fact they never mentioned any of the abuse via text. I don’t know what to think

Child abuse in adoption happens. That's not knocking adopted parents. Yes he passed all the assessments. That's in no way a foolproof catch all. It's naive to believe or think differently.

Taken from the bbc website:

In the just under four months the child was in their care, he had been routinely ill-treated, had indecent images and videos taken of him, was sexually abused and physically assaulted, and suffered 40 traumatic injuries, Preston Crown Court has heard. @MyNavySeal that's hardly innocent or cutesy photos or videos. That's concrete proof of abuse.

He was a high school teacher who confided to a colleague:

During the visit, a month before the child's death, Varley had "unburdened" himself about not "bonding" with Preston and struggling with the demands of looking after a baby.
This included having "dark thoughts" towards the child, who he had renamed Elijah, during the adoption process, Wright told the jury.
"He disclosed to her that he had harmful thoughts towards Elijah and had thoughts of drowning him or of suffocating him but that he would never carry them out," Wright said.

Varley told the woman he had disclosed this as part of welfare checks involving his employer and social workers involved in the adoption of Preston.
It was only after the child's death that the former work colleague approached police with the information, the court heard.

There were bruises and grazes to his head, face and mouth, upper limbs, chest, back and left thigh.
Preston also had injuries to his mouth, throat and bottom.
There was no evidence to support natural disease or drowning as the cause of death and the internal injuries were caused shortly before death.
The post-mortem gave the cause of his death to be acute upper airways obstruction, a result either of a smothering most likely with a hand or soft fabric or by the insertion of an object or objects into his mouth.
Wright told jurors both defendants had a "sexual interest" in the child and while Varley is accused of being responsible for the murder, his co-accused could and should have protected the child and stopped the sexual assaults and cruelty which were becoming increasingly serious

This guy had an excellent understanding of child welfare, safeguarding training and had a position which would in most assessor's opinions be a fantastic fit as an adopted parent. The colleague he confided in should have made a call straight after their conversation. They could have saved that child's life. I believe they are criminally at fault for failure to report as they to would have had safeguarding training.

Revolting case entirely.

It’s an awful case, that poor baby. Thinking of @ForDearSwancomment about how on paper he looked ideal, I wonder what impact that had on the assessing social worker? The assessment process is intrusive but the “halo effect” is well known whereby someone ascribes positive attributes to a person based on limited positive impression.

It takes a very skilled worker to dig under that very professional, knowledgeable persona to see where the cracks are, but that’s the job. Abusers are very very good at appearing credible which is why the assessment process needs to be robust, which prospective adopters really push back against.

I agree some of what he was saying sounds par for the course in early placement, there needed to be much fuller exploration of how he was coping, what supports he was drawing on. Observation of parent and child in early placement is so important but this was a baby only just placed so lack of connection, withdrawal etc could reasonably be explained by that rather than something wrong with the placement.

It’s a difficult one but no, I don’t think he or his partner are innocent. No one causes that level of injury to a baby by accident or by being an inexperienced parent, and certainly no one sexually abuses a baby without know that’s exactly what they’re doing. Abusers will go a long way to achieve their ends.

Thank you everyone for your replies.
I dont think the assessments are a way to get rid of all potentially abusive people @ForDearSwan .
I think I struggle with the thought of that poor baby being killed in that way (penis in mouth) its just something I cant bare to think about.

If he is guilty once more its "in plain sight" isnt it? A teacher, head of year, caring uncle, adoptive father. He had so many chances to abuse because he went through all of those hoops to get to this.
@MyNavySeal thats it entirely he has an answer for everything and so puts that doubt there. But then the bruises. And how he went to sleep hung over the cot. Does any baby do that?

I know these are brain blunts. I just have no-one else to discuss it with and cant get it out of my mind

He's obviously guilty. The reason he knows what to say on the stand is the exact same reason he passed all the adoption assessments. Psychopaths are known to be highly skilled at turning on the charm and knowing just what to say. Many abusers devote their whole lives to targeting children. They will spend years getting into the perfect situation, or training for careers that give them access to vulnerable children. They often spend years grooming not just children, but all the adults around them.

I also cannot stop reading about and listening to podcasts about this case. There does seem so much evidence against one of the dads - the injuries mainly - but it is so hard to get your head around how someone could do this, immediately upon a baby being placed with him for adoption - that it sows a seed of doubt in your mind. I don't think his partner knew what was happening although he must have been complicit in covering up or changing stories about some of the physical injuries for fear of the adoption going wrong.

If the partner 'covered up' or 'changed stories' it means he absolutely knew something was criminally wrong. He's as guilty as him for allowing/covering up or helping his partner.

Children unfortunately die at the hands of abusive parents, its not often, but it happens. Why on earth does this child's death have some of you ringing your hands so much? Doesn't make much sense tbh. Adopted parents aren't infallible, this happens, probably as often or rarely as biological parents abusing or worse, their children.

I wonder if with John vardys (?) Answers it's to make it seem not 100% whether it was one man or the other so the most serious accusations cant be without a doubt. Especially with him saying him and the other man are still together. I wonder if the other man (I'm sorry I cant remember his name and dont want to call him the Dad) will give evidence?
There are so many failings by people not reporting things. And I know he looked on paper like a good understanding person (safeguarding, works in a school etc) but ultimately I think it stands at the point of them being approved for adoption. Years ago when we were in the pathway to adoption their were people on their who we recognised as not being suitable. By the mast part of the course which was a few months later, 2 families had been weeded out not right and they were the ones we'd thought the same about.

I know it’s a very minor point in the grand scheme of things - and I won’t go into the allegations of abuse as it is an ongoing court case and so could be considered as prejudice - but I was struck by the fact that the couple changed the baby’s name. Anyone who has completed their training and who has understood the importance to children of their identities knows that this is not necessarily advisable.