Can’t get over poor baby Preston

[Doximama2]

Not sure this is an AIBU, I never post on here but just feel I want to today. I am a 59 year old nana of 3 gourgous grandchildren including a one year old boy, the whole story in the need the last few weeks and especially this week about poor baby Preston that was tortured, abused and ultimately murdered by his 2 adoptive “fathers” has completely traumatized me. I am recovering from a big surgery 2 weeks ago so feeling emotional but this has really upset me so much that this was able to happen and that no one, not any social services, medics on visits to the hospital - one even with a broken elbow ffs - friends and family of these monsters realised what was happening and that Preston wasn’t a happy one year old. My grandson is always happy and smiling unless he is poorly so how did this go unnoticed? I had to turn the news off Monday when they showed this poor baby trying to sleep and this monster kept making him wake up.

im not naive, I have worked in public service including health and social services which I think is why I can’t comprehend how this was allowed to happen. It just feels like there is so many awful things in the world, and has made me so sad. 😭

I hate that article, it's very much JV did it all, despite JMF abusing little Preston too as he was also convicted of sexual abuse, although JV did the worst of it. He was an absolute coward, he could have reported his partner but he didn't, and he joined in with the abuse. I definitely don't buy he knew nothing about it.

I hate the narrative that JV abused that baby because he was overwhelmed. There's evidence the abuse started very quickly, and you don't do those kinds of awful things to a baby because you're overwhelmed. Shout at them or neglect them, yes. Get so angry you hurt them, no.

It’s easy to express it, we’re not the ones adding years to a prison sentence.

Maybe some people think the loss of freedom for life and spending most of your time in a tiny cell is a worse punishment then being killed relatively quickly by an inmate.

I would imagine these people perhaps voted YABU by accident. No one would ever vote that on here. Poor little Preston. When I think of all the people reading about him, like you OP, and feeling so desperate for him, the world is full of people who care. The system and those awful men let him down, disgustingly. It's so hard to come to terms with it.

Yes. It’s astonishing how often people awaiting trial for killing a child are on bail, rather than in prison. It almost never happens in other murder cases, but suspected child murderers are treated more leniently before trial. And rarely get sentences like this when convicted.

Yes, Preston was handed over on 1st April
and abuse was filmed on 17 April.

The narrative of the overwhelmed dad and Varley’s insinuations about Preston’s possible background health issues (I.e. possible drug issues) were part of the cover up.

This is all nonsense. Murder carries a mandatory life sentence and when the victim is a child this is treated more seriously.

They weren’t charged until 2025.

They were under investigation. That’s why they were free men.

Thank you for the clarification. That’s a bit fucked up… would their phones be seized straight after Preston died? If not they could have destroyed all evidence, surely? Unless they kept the vile videos and photos.

It only said that there was extensive digital work so I can only assume that the videos and texts had been deleted and the police had to recover them.

It’s not though is it? Sentencing law ranks the offence, so a child victim would be an aggravating factor because children are vulnerable, but other factors can be even more aggravating in law:

• sexual motivation,
• torture or sadism,
• abduction,
• multiple victims,
• terrorism,
• abuse of trust or public office,
• extensive planning.

See how Wayne Couzens got a whole life order, but most murderers of children do not. In this case they did because of the sexual and sadistic elements.

And possibly extensive planning? Vile scum 🤮

It is nonsense. Most murderers generally are not released on bail (once charged)

And child murderers are not less likely to get a severe sentence.

Your comment suggests that child murderers are treated more leniently than adult murderers.

Thanks, I’d missed that bit.

I didn’t say they were, I said it was more common that murderers of children were bailed than other types of murder. It’s not common overall by any means and certainly rarer in the last 10 years.

And yes, child murderers frequently get shorter tariffs than other mandatory lifers, due to the sentencing framework. Mostly they are under 30 years, whereas increasingly there are murders of adults that attract sentences above 30 years.

Here’s some examples:

1. Daniel Pelka – 30 years (both defendants, this was exceptionally high at the time)
2. Arthur Labinjo-Hughes – 29 years
3. Finley Boden – 29 and 27 years
4. Star Hobson – 25 years
5. Devaun Rose-Turner – 25 years (both defendants)

Compare with the sentences given to the killers of these adult victims:

1. Sabina Nessa – 36 years
2. Zara Aleena – 33 years
3. Julia James – 37 years
4. Liam Smith - 30 and 33 years
5. Agnes Sina-Inakoju - 32 years

And just today, three more whole life orders for killing an adult. Aggravating factors of course and so it depends on what you consider the most important aaggravating factor, obviously but I think many people agree that murders of children should automatically attract a whole life order.

I would really be interested to know what happened in the 2 years between Preston's murder, and Varley + the other one being arrested. Presumably the injuries the toddler suffered were known about after the autopsy, and also that the injuries were non accidental. So why did it take 2 years for them to actually be arrested for murder and sexual abuse, and remanded in custody?

the news report said for forensics and digital investigations. I’m just guessing that the digital stuff had been deleted so the recovery of this is complicated and with forensics you have to get several opinions ect…it wouldn’t be just one autopsy report.

But ultimately by recovering this evidence, they were able to prove the sexual abuse and the other injuries which meant that a whole life sentence would be more likely.

If he had killed him, in a fit of rage, for example, he could have got a lesser sentence.

But as I said that is pure speculation on my part.

@Allisnotlost1 where is your
data that child murderers are more likely to be bailed than other murderers? I just don’t think this is true because it’s unusual for anyone charged with murder to be bailed at all.

I think your post suggests that child murderers are treated more leniently in general and I don’t think that is true. Everyone receives a life sentence so the years is only when they become eligible for review.

Sure, but two years between the murder and the arrests? I've never heard of arrests following a murder taking so long, and I doubt the evidence was more complicated than a lot of murders. Actually, the more I think about this, the weirder it seems. And I haven't seen any explanation of the length of time this took.

I can't remember what rules changed exactly, but it's much harder than it used to be for the police to detain people. And there are major, major backlogs in the criminal courts that cause a lot of delay for cases coming to trial.

Can someone tell me the cause of death?

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.

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.

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.

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.