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. 😭

You can just click on YANBU and it will change your vote.

Preston had the most beautiful face prior to living with those bastards. Breaks my heart. I hope they are tortured in prison. I want to read about that.

They did. That’s been proven in a court of law. I truly believe the social workers looked more at the baby’s surroundings than at the baby himself. I’ve just read an article where the house was described as “instagram ready” ie clean and tidy and owned by a pair of professionals. Also, how odd to be so pristine when you’ve got a year-old baby. As we know, that house and its appearance hid the sins of the devils that lived in it.

Absolutely horrific on every level.
May Preston rest in eternal peace.

I don’t think their sexuality was anything to do with this case. It was because they’re sick, twisted psychos who deserve everything they’re going to suffer in prison. There are many cases of straight parents abusing or allowing their partners to abuse their children.

Quite recently, a teacher of my brother was charged with paedophile offences. My brother was amazed, he ran residential field trips, never put a foot out of place as far as he knew, yet several victims from the school have now come forward. I’m going to assume he was another who never went so far that he was reported or he frightened the boys so much that they never reported him.

The medics concluded that his injuries were accidental. Of course that needs looking at again, but it doesn't automatically mean that there was evidence available that they should have picked up on. I don't know why you seem to think I'm saying no one is to blame, I'm saying we don't know. And that if faults are found, it's not automatic that those faults would have meant his death was preventable. As much as we'd like things to be that simple, and that easy to prevent.

You're wrong that the police dismissed his injuries though. As the injuries weren't deemed to be suspicious, the police weren't notified. Their first contact, and the chance to investigate, was the day he died.

These 2 men were dirty pedos. They where in a pedo-ring on the dark web and was also abusing there dog, the police found some devices where they where torturing and uploading pics and videos of that poor little boy on the dark web

And most off these pedos work in schools and around children: they’re the last people you would exspect to be pedos

I was following the trail through the live reporting, it’s really hard to get your head around and I’ve been thinking about that poor baby a lot. It was the same for Star Hobson and Authur Labinjo-Hughes, those cases tortured my mind for a long time. It’s just so devastating that these things happen and you feel so helpless as you learn what the poor children have endured and that no one helped them 😢

That sounds interesting, can you link the article?

Are you saying it’s unreasonable for social workers to consider that a clean and tidy house and two adults in good jobs with no criminal record might be good parents?

You might remember that, in previous cases, social workers have been heavily criticised for failing to take into account a messy house, or the lack of education or work history of parents, or others who lived in the home.

If there were mistakes, these will be uncovered in the SCR, but there does seem to be a determination to blame social workers without any actual evidence that they should have done things differently. It’s hard to see how a child attending hospital could be sent home so readily, but once medical professionals have said ‘it could be accidental’ it’s quite hard for a social worker to argue otherwise. On the face of it, these men were accomplished and determined liars, just like many child murderers before them.

'Instagram ready' is how a representative of the police described the couples home when speaking about the case after the couple were found guilty.
It has no relation to how social workers assessed the couple, either as part of the approval process or once Preston was moved to live with them.

I do wonder if the Social Workers felt as these men were gay they felt they couldnt challenge.

A friend of mine is white and married to a man from Africa. They wanted to adopt a baby within the UK and the social worker told them they had some advantage in being put forward BECAUSE they were from different cultures.

In the end they didnt adopt but she did tell me she felt that they were seen as more desirable because of their backgrounds

Ian Watkins was murdered in prison and there was another child killer that had the same outcome recently.

I'm highly hopeful the same fate will await those two vile individuals.

Perhaps your friend could have probed that a bit more and they would have learned that there are a disproportionate number of children from ethnic minority backgrounds in the care system, and a disproportionate number of white adopters/foster carers. Some panels don’t feel it’s in a child’s best interest to place ethnic minority children with white couples, so your friends would have been considered for a wider pool of children.

Oh ok but I do feel that social workers ‘felt’ they’d be decent parents.

They would be desirable because of the number of mixed race children waiting for adoption and the lack of prospective adopters who reflect a child's heritage. Not because social workers think people from different races makes them better parents.

Been thinking about this today as well. Like PP I was immediately reminded of Poppy Worthington, the heart breaks in two for all these children failed so completely. The jury have been excused from further duty for life, I can't imagine how traumatised they must be.

You can see why it’s reasonable to consider they’d be good parents though, can’t you? On the face of it, they have a stable relationship and home, good jobs and have been through multiple vetting processes to do them. Regardless of how anyone ‘felt’ the couple still went through the same assessment and vetting processes as any other adopters. Unless we find out that they somehow bypassed that, then what’s wrong with anyone using their judgement and forming an opinion (as you have done here?)

From what we've heard so far, the social workers had evidence they would be decent parents - no criminal records, good character references, one had a successful career in a school and had plenty of childcare experience from looking after children within his own family. The other was a successful businessman. Both carers require a certain level of day to day competency, social skills, executive functioning. Even if social workers were impressed with the house, you can't really determine that a person would make a bad parent because they had nice furniture. As someone else said earlier in the thread, people with these thoughts don't tend to do around telling them to people, especially not social workers.

Honestly, we have a 14 month GS and I got upset and cried at this, that poor darling boy, saw a clip today that also broke my heart.
EVIl does not describe it, I hope that both men live a really long life in prison constantly attacked by prisoners

As the injuries weren't deemed to be suspicious, the police weren't notified.

This is the part that is bothering me though. First time at A&E with 'breathing difficulties', there was unexplained bruising to face so social services were called and the police, it was decided that it was accidental. Fair enough.

Second visit to A&E for rash and diarhea, more unexplained bruising on his head, medics were shown a video of him pulling a toy box onto himself as explanation and accepted it (turns out the video was 2 weeks previous). This I have issue with, second lot of 'bruising' and because he was left unattended enough to pull something heavy on to his head.. he isn't being properly cared for.

One week later and third visit, baby sustains a fractured elbow being put in his cot.. What the fuck? This should have been intervention right here, but instead:

The child's social worker, Amy Shepherdson, who had been in contact with the hospital, texted Varley to say: "Just to reassure you they said they had absolutely no concerns. U absolutely did the right thing."
She visits the home and notes Preston had a "very sad face and a little cry".

At 9.43pm on 11 May 2023, McGowan-Fazakerley made a 999 call to the emergency services, however this call was abandoned after four seconds. Before the call ended, Varley could be heard stating “put it down”.

When police re-called the number, a male answered and stated that he had called 999 in error and had and meant to the non-emergency number of 111. McGowan-Fazakerley called 111 from Jamie Varley’s parents’ house at 10.16pm, stating that Preston had breathing problems and an inability to hold his head properly.

An out of hours call within two hours was arranged, but McGowan-Fazakerley never answered the call or sought medical attention for Preston. And the following day, neither McGowan-Fazakerley or Varley mentioned any health problems to the health visitor.

Presumably, this is the first time the abuse had serious medical consequences, but within two weeks he was taken to A&E for exactly the same issue, fucking monsters the pair of them.

Thanks for your post about the reality of child protection social work, @Runningswanker . It's not a job I could do in a million years. I used to work on the same team as the child protection solicitors, and I couldn't do their job, either.

Some of the stuff that went across their desks was harrowing beyond belief, and they often had to explain to frontline staff that there wasn't yet enough evidence to remove a child.

My heart breaks for little Preston. Poor little fellow, I can't allow myself to dwell on the tortures these two miscreants inflicted on him. Objects forced down his tiny throat, you don't have to be a forensic scientist to work out what that was.
Sadly these miscreants will not be tortured in prison, because they will be kept well apart from the general population.
Lack of consequences is partly why crimes like this happen. We have become too civilised.
These two miscreants should be in the general prison population. The horrors that would be infected on them before their inevitable deaths would serve as societies warning.