Former teacher guilty of sexually abusing and murdering baby boy he wanted to adopt - CPS

[IwantToRetire]

Distressing content
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A former teacher has been found guilty of sexually abusing and murdering a baby boy that he planned to adopt.

Jamie Varley, 37, was convicted at Preston Crown Court of murder, child cruelty, sexual offences and indecent images relating to 13-month-old Preston Davey.

John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was convicted of allowing the death of a child, child cruelty and sexual assault.

Varley was in the process of adopting baby Preston (also known as Elijah) with his partner McGowan-Fazakerley. Just four months after being placed with the couple, Preston was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital unconscious and in cardiac arrest. Sadly, Preston could not be saved.

Varley tried falsely claiming that Preston had accidentally drowned in a bath, but prosecutors were able to prove that his injuries were consistent with his airways being obstructed.

The evidence presented by the prosecution proved that in the final months of Preston’s life, he was routinely ill-treated, sexually abused and physically assaulted – suffering more than 40 separate injuries.

CPS statement continues at https://www.cps.gov.uk/north-west/news/former-teacher-guilty-sexually-abusing-and-murdering-baby-boy-he-wanted-adopt

More from a BBC report - also distressing:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyp77l79e9o

I thought there was a thread about this, but cant find one. But sorry if a duplicate.

I really only wanted to post out of respect for this poor baby and the horror of his short life.

RIP

@NormasArsethat is exactly what I said in my reply to the OP, that everyone was a baby once and they don't deserve any pity. I thought the MN world had gone mad on the other thread, calling for no violence towards them in prison, thank God I found this thread!

What really pees me off is that there are really decent, hard working and extremely law abiding couples - both straight and gay - who would literally have given their right arm to adopt this gorgeous little boy and yet he was given to these "Specimens". (I won't label them animals as I am an animal lover and animals would behave like this.)

God bless you Preston! This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you. 😥

As for the " Other two", I strongly suspect they will be dealt with accordingly once inside. (Similar to Ian Watkins.) 😡

I have been following the case since news first broke and I’m so relieved about the guilty verdict as the medical evidence seemed to point overwhelmingly in one direction.

It’s utterly sickening and makes me despair of what some men will do for their own gratification.

I am concerned about what is being said about the other thread. For fairly obvious reasons I dont go on the parenting thread.

But have, on the basis of my being on FWR had often recommend mumsnet to mothers who for any number of reasons want to be able to talk with other about being a mother, to get help and support.

I now wonder if I should.

To be fair someone on the other thread did explain how thankless a task it would be for the prison officers to police all this rough justice and I had to see the point. They have to work with the system they have in place. However the death penalty would take these people out of the system - but that will never happen!

Sorry if I’ve missed something obvious but I really don’t understand this. Whats concerning about the other thread? For the most part it’s a respectful discussion about this case.

It is hardly a sign of madness to not encourage torture and violence. Apart from anything else the perpetrators are not exactly going to be upstanding citizens!

I'm not on that thread.

My reponse is based on what has been said about it on this thread.

So your comment gives it a different slant from the others posted so far.

@followtheswallowyes, you said exactly the same thing to me on the other thread. I cannot read about what happened to that poor baby and not hate the monsters who caused him so much suffering with every fibre of my being. In a case like this I'm proud to be part of the "baying mob" calling for every day of their miserable lives to be a living hell. RIP Preston.

Its truly shocking what those animals did to defenceless baby Preston.

My thoughts are also with Prestons initial foster parents. It must be soul destroying to hear what was done to him after he left the love and comfort they had given him

My thoughts are with Prestons biological Mother.

I dont want to take away from Prestons day of justice but so many saw red flags and said nothing and sadly its another example of a child sacrificed so that a responsible adult won't risk being accused of being homophobic / racist / etc etc.

I read about this a while back. I could hardly believe what I was reading, that poor innocent baby. These men are pure evil, I hope they get the same torturous treatment in prison. They should be locked up for life.

I said I hoped the thread wouldn’t fill up with descriptions of what people wanted doing to the men convicted, which I don’t think is unreasonable tbh.

I know we’ve discussed it on the other thread, but the red flags are only red in hindsight. It’s really difficult to say exactly what would have ensured this didn’t happen.

@IwantToRetire i wasn’t sure what the ‘fairly obvious reasons’ why you didn’t go on the parenting thread were, sorry?

They will be scared every day in prison and I don’t think that they’ll last long in there.

I’ve seen and heard some wicked things in my life but this is truly one of the worst.
May Preston Davey Rest In Peace ✝️

If we brought back the death penalty for paedos like these we wouldn’t have to waste money and put prison officers’ safety at risk trying to keep them alive. I hope they die scared, tortured by someone bigger than them.

I can't understand how the abuse was missed time and time again. Over 20 years ago dh and I adopted a little boy via our local county council and we were constantly checked up on all through the adoption process. We were given our own social worker and had regular visits and meetings held in our home. Our son was 3 when we adopted him and would have spoken up if he hadn't been happy but poor Preston didn't have the ability to. Like others, I think people were frightened to speak up about the suspected abuse in case they were accused of being homophobic and poor Preston has paid for it with his life.

TBH I haven't seen much on this on MN the last year or so. I don't really look at the Parenting topic very often. So far as I can see it has only been discussed on the Parenting thread and FWR when I think it should be much more widely discussed. It's not a niche topic and I think as a society we should be more aware of these issues. We need open honest discussions.

The red flags were obvious, and if it had been Preston’s bio mum and som random guy, there’d have been questions asked and things done. But the red flags were dismissed because they were professional men and because the half-witted social workers were falling over themselves to coo over two men looking after a baby. Yes, that sounds harsh of me but I bet it’s true.

There was another case a while ago which shared features with this, and some idiot had written about what a great job ‘dad’ was doing - just before ‘dad’ killed their adopted child.

It’s sickening to look at Preston’s dear little face smiling and to think about what these men did.

I think society has been groomed to see gay dads as "lovely". But they are still MEN.

Im not claiming to be an expert but don't think hindsight was needed here. I have seen multiple reports where Preston was taken to hospital 3 separate occasions and bruising was noticed on all 3 visits by different people. At least one report to police was made. Newly adoptive parents with multiple reports of bruising on a baby, that had never been in hospital, never mind the bruising, should have triggered a safeguarding response but didn't. Skin colour and sexual orientation shouldn't influence what happens.

I have just seen this news in The Guardian and felt physically sick.

I had to stop reading, the poor little boy.

Horrific

The foster mum raised concerns at least twice in those 115 days.

Unfortunately they weren't specific enough for social workers to do anything about it. She said she felt they were hiding something and she had a gut feeling that something wasn't right, but had no more than that.

I'd still like to think that would be sufficient for the social workers to take a closer look though - particularly when there was very strong evidence of abuse.

The 'safeguarding lead' in a school thing is not uncommon and has come up in a few cases recently. Just a new way for some abusers to try to make themselves untouchable/immune from questioning, among other things (and I suppose, see for themselves where the gaps may be). Ugh, the pair of them make me utterly sick, but very glad the jury came to a unanimous decision. Such a harrowing case to sit through.

I'm heartbroken for Preston's foster mother. She knew something was up, tried to flag it and was handwaved away. I'm sure the serious case review will throw up some key recommendations; Manchester Evening News is saying there were 9 specific points in the timeline where it looks like something could have been done and wasn't, but we'll see. As is so often the case, much is to do with people picking up the pattern and joining the dots properly.

No doubt a lot of us on this thread have seen this before, but there is an excellent (if not very pleasant) US book by Anna Salter called Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists and Other Sex Offenders which is quite eye opening about the planning so many pdfs do, what they look for, and the lengths they'll go to, sometimes over years, to get access.

Sorry, didn't mean to be obscure. I am not a parent myself.