Baby Preston Davey - Content warning concerns CSA (added by MNHQ)

[Sadmamma35]

I’ve just read about baby Preston Davey and I cannot stop thinking about him. I have a 13-month-old of my own, which is probably why this has hit me so hard — I can really relate and my baby is my everything.
I’m crying as I write this. Why does it hurt so much for a baby I’ve never even met? Has anyone else felt this way?
How do you cope with the negative thoughts that follow when you read something like this? 💙

Surely it is relevant? Are you sure about that @Davinastorys ? I haven’t seen it in any source but possible I missed it.

It was talked about in the justice for Preston davey group a few days ago, I’ve just looked it up and can’t find mention of it anywhere official so it might be fake. I have no idea what people get out of making shit up

I would treat with caution in that case. Of course, I’m not saying it is not true. Just that I would have thought that one of the most damning pieces of evidence so surprised it hasn’t been made much of. It’s pretty much caught red handed if so.

I agree, it wasn’t mentioned in the court!

I heard that they had posted a video of Preston being abused. I was with DH so must have been on the radio as we don’t watch the news together.

I can remember DH making a comment about it at the time. Think it was a couple of weeks ago and only mentioned a couple of times.

What does that mean?

I think it's the video of Preston with music in the background from the film Moana playing loudly.
Varley shouts boo and scares him.
He looks so broken, it's vile.
It was on Blackpool Gazette website but vanished.

That was when the poor baby was shattered and falling asleep wasn’t it? He shouted BOO to wake him up and prevent him from sleeping.

I hope he fucking rots.

That poor baby. Monsters.

Yes, someone else mentioned it already, but he is sitting there half asleep, and Varley does not shout, but suddenly goes “boo”, which wakes him up completely confused and obviously exhausted. I genuinely was not expecting to see that. My motherly instinct would be to cuddle him and stroke his head rather than scare him awake by saying “boo”.

It comes over as quite sadistic, mental torture. Vile man.

100% and the look on that poor little boy’s face broke my heart. That man is an absolute monster

Savannah brockhill used to do that to Star Hobson bloody lunatics

The 'dark web' story was a clickbait hoax.

I can’t express just how evil that is. Sleep deprivation is a used as a torture tactic. To do it to a young child, I just can’t imagine why anyone would think that is ok.

I think if Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley are both sentenced, and it’s a big if, then we can’t expect the same length of sentences as Savannah Brockhill and Frankie Smith received after the murder of Star Hobson simply because they are both men.

It’s an evil thing to do considered with evil intent but isolated could be interpreted as silliness, immaturity, not wanting a danger nap and so on. I’ve definitely stopped mine nodding off. So I’m not sure that will be relevant unless considered against the backdrop of other things (of which I know there are plenty.)

I think that's the hard thing for me about this case. Until the obvious complete smoking guns found after his death, lots of things can be explained away

I saw a big thing about them videoing him being unwell and it being an obvious sign, but it was exactly what we were told to do by the nhs when my nephew was little. The first time he had one my dsis was asked if they recorded it, and we probably all now have recordings of when we thought he was having a seizure aura (that often wasnt). Same with the multiple a+e visits for illness, the falling out with the foster carers etc

Its what worries me about this case, is the ability to detect it somehow

I agree about not wanting children to nap at unwanted times but I never scared my kids awake. I have 3 and I would distract them with a toy/video/play but I have never shouted “boo” at my kids in the way that monster did. And they only had him for such a short period. I adopted my youngest and for the first few months he was treated like fine china. He wasn’t out of my sight and treated with the gentlest, most loving, kindest touch. That baby was so precious it is devastating to think how he must have suffered.

Hi. Your comment is interesting. Are you saying that maybe both won’t be sentenced? I was on a jury in London earlier this year and each charge is written for you to deliberate over together. This case must be like trying to unravel a spiders web. Each charge has to be decided on individually. To get the ten remaining members of the jury to agree on each charge can be hard. Or maybe it won’t be hard but it’s difficult to ignore gut feelings and go purely on the evidence produced in the court.

I think that Varley will be found guilty, well I really hope so. There isn’t a great precedent of men being found guilty of allowing the death of a child though.

The other “parent” has tried to separate himself from any wrongdoing. I don’t know; I can’t work out if he was complicit in the abuse or he genuinely didn’t know (which seems very odd). I’m glad I’m not on that jury for more reasons than one.

Me too. I’m not sure I would have coped with all of the evidence.

And yes he’s tried to separate himself but I honestly can’t see how he’s not complicit.

His text messages to the partner seemed full of love for the baby (who looked a darling). Was he scared of Varley? If so why leave a vulnerable 13 month old with him? Was Varley resentful that he was the full-time parent after having a career? So much to unravel and none of it good.

One of the things the defence summing up mentioned was that the prosecution had been a bit coy about exactly what sexual abuse they were alleging.
I had also thought it was a bit vague about what was actually being alleged but had assumed that was the media or reporting restrictions not wanting to state the grim details, but seems maybe the prosecution weren't clear on what they're actually saying happened?

And the other issue aside from being coy on the sexual allegations against JMF is that as his barrister pointed out, Preston was a very visible child. He has multiple encounters with medics and social workers over his time with them and none of them raised concerns about bruising in his life. The doctor who reviewed him after the broken arm said it was a common injury and had no concerns and neither did the social worker who followed up on it. So JMF’s case is that how was he as a lay person meant to identify that the broken arm and injuries were abusive when the trained professionals couldn’t. Only he knows what he knew and what he didn’t but that argument doesn’t feel like a stretch to me. I’m very glad I’m not on the jury.