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

There has been a decline in families cleared for adoption, which predates any new measures after what happened to Preston Davey

https://news.sky.com/story/worrying-decline-in-families-approved-to-adopt-a-child-charity-warns-13569576

What this really boils down to is shagging around and having babies and then moving into someone else. Where is the stability.

A baby, a tiddler can't even expect their natural parents to be together anymore

You rarely see this happening where a mum and dad are married to each other.

Most of these cases involve a young woman whose had a baby with someone, they've lasted 5 mins, sometimes not even that, and then she's moved into someone else. She's introduced them to her babies, Often letting someone she hardly knows move in . Then the problem starts, she either doesn't do anything about it or she joins in and doesn't protect the child . She's more than likely inadequate herself, often drink and drug taking are involved.

Feckin Scum. Isn't this the truth?
Until we crack all this it will keep happening Society and Morals have gone in the dustbin.
These sorts of people wouldn't even understand how people used to meet, get married, then plan for children etc and stay together.

Well sadly this isn't the case because as quoted up thread the majority of abuse of children is by the biological father.

What does seem to be an ongoing issue is the number of women, and not the tabloid archetype of feckless young mother, who seem to accept that men being violent is "normal".

So both for those in a casual relationship and those in an ongoing one, seem to or are unable to end their relationship with a man if he is violent.

Nope it's nearly always a step parent or mum's boyfriend/partner.

These are not the stats that you can find online.

So, looking at it through the lens of household stability: children in intact, married two-parent biological families face the lowest statistical risk, while households involving family transition, separation, and non-biological live-in partners see a sharp increase in those risk factors.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19657136/

'Data were collected from all 17 Dutch child protective services (CPS) agencies on 13,538 cases of certified child maltreatment in 2005. Family composition of the maltreated children was compared to a large national representative sample of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (NKPS). Larger families, one-parent families, and families with a stepparent showed elevated risks for child maltreatment. Adoptive families, however, showed significantly less child maltreatment than expected. '

The trouble is that, as the NSPCC details, so much abuse is unreported, for various reasons. It's hard to know how accurate stats actually are.