Preston Davey Trial

YellowTail · May 9, 2026

lauren96111 said:
It’s awful isn’t it but genuine parents with nothing to hide would be glad staff were doing their job once the upset had subsided. I was so upset in the hospital thinking I was being judged but thinking back now I’m glad they have a protocol. I just don’t understand how Blackpool hospital did nothing.

My eldest son was unwell with bronchitis when he was 7. He was fine. One evening he suddenly wasn’t. I called an ambulance who came out and assessed him as fine. A hour later, I was still worried so drove him to the hospital. Husband stayed at home with the other children. While driving him myself to the hospital (which I worked at) he went into respiratory arrest. This was his first ever hospital visit. Skip a long story short, I was Interrogated MULTIPLE times about how unusual his presentation and symptoms were. He was tubed and transferred to the Evelina. I travelled with him. When I got to the Evelina I was interrogated again and again, I was asked multiple times if I’d ’given him something’. For the first night, I wasn’t allowed to be with him unsupervised! I guess tests showed I hadn’t harmed him, as from then on I feel I was treated with more compassion and respect by the staff.

Not such a long story short, but my point is a first A&E visit in 7 years, and I was under instant suspicion about the severity of his symptoms. Anyway, he’s nearly 26 now, and his only other A&E visit was aged 11 when he went into anaphylactic shock on a school trip to the Eden project! I don’t think he’s seen a GP since then.

YellowTail · May 9, 2026

Not intending to merail, but I remember that I didn’t cry, I didn’t scream or wail even though he was in dire straits. I was quiet and calm and focussed throughout. The tears flowed weeks later. Maybe that is a more ‘normal’ response medics are used to seeing, and why medics remarked on JV’s behaviour at the hospital as being strange.

Ray_of_Sunshine · May 9, 2026

Nelly's mum said:
A few reasons why it is unrealistic, none of which are going to be popular on the thread;
• it is subjecting adopters/fosterers differently to other parents, this is discrimination
• the staff hours and cost for police/social services/whoever to trawl through someone's devices, the criminal justice system can barely function with digital scrutiny as it is
• people have the human right to privacy, there is no legal framework to demand that people who are not charged with a crime or under suspicion of a crime, hand over their devices to be checked
• how could police/social services/whoever be sure the person had handed over all their devices? You can't search people houses for no reason, so they could have other devices they haven't handed over

This is just off the top of my head, I'm no legal
.

You could argue that the whole adoption process treats prospective adopters differently to biological parents from the start though. A huge part of the process already involves additional scrutiny like medicals, home visits, references, enhanced DBS checks etc. I’m not sure why checking digital footprints or hard drives would suddenly be considered uniquely discriminatory.

If someone wants to care for a highly vulnerable child, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for there to be extremely stringent vetting and safeguarding measures. No stone should be left unturned.

I get the practical points you make though! It’s just all such a shame. At the end of the day, all I really care passionately about is safeguarding vulnerable kids from the likes of Jamie and John.

lockdown sux · May 9, 2026

Such a horrendous story. I can’t read the details.
Rest in peace little Preston
Bring back the death penalty.

nothinonyou · May 9, 2026

YellowTail said:
I’ve not seen this before. This is terrible. Surely the social worker would have wondered (at least) if it was in Preston’s best interests to be visited at 6.30 am, not to mention the other looked after children’s interests. The 6.30 am appointment time imposed on the foster parents should have raised alarm bells. Even if Preston was an early riser, surely his morning wake up routine wouldn’t have been completed by that time? Surely, if he was up early enough to have completed his wake up routine, he’d have needed a nap around 8 am. The foster family could have come after that when he was refreshed and could enjoy the visit. How awful for the other vulnerable children, whose sleep needs were disregarded. I’m not pointing fingers at the foster parents here, I realise JV and JMF were calling the shots here and the foster parents had two choice - see him at that time, or they wouldn’t see him at all. How were they allowed to control everyone with what THEY wanted?

I think the ridiculously early time is
1. Hoping the foster parents cancel
2. If Preston is unwell the foster parents will put it down to it being ridiculously early and
3. Their way of saying "I really don't want this meeting to happen so I'll put it at a ridiculous time and hopefully you'll get the message".

Nelly's mum · May 9, 2026

Ray_of_Sunshine said:
At the end of the day, all I really care passionately about is safeguarding vulnerable kids from the likes of Jamie and John.

I hear you
I don't disagree with what you are proposing, but legally it's a minefield and I don't see how checking adopters/fosterers devices could work in practice.

I work in Adult Social Care, my role is adjacent to Children's Services. There's complex legislation and a legal framework that underpins why services work the way they do, introducing checking devices for prospective adopters/fosterers sounds good but I imagine this is not a straightforward solution.

Tanley · May 9, 2026

Tofino said:
And the worst thing is these are all teachers!! Safeguarding children is part of their actual jobs!

This was it:View attachment 3985907

Plus the actual safeguarding lead had to admit in court she said this to Jamie (and I think this was in relation to the elbow fracture so she’s even making excuses for him).

View attachment 3985906

Jesus wept. What would these teachers have done if a parent had told each of them a different story about how their child broke an arm? Do you think they would have raised a safeguarding concern? All their training would have told them to do so. Yet here they all were, feeling more worried about their colleague than a vulnerable, defenceless baby. They were so concerned about their friend JV that they asked for him to have a welfare check I hope none of them can sleep at night.

Lyla001 · May 9, 2026

YellowTail said:
Again a red flag! My friend and her husband were matched to two little girls last spring, it was a long slow introductory process before they were finally placed with them in December. The court still hasn’t signed off on the adoption (my understanding is this can take some time) but the little girls’ foster parents visit them at the home fortnightly, and my friend describes them
as being supportive, loving people who are relieved to see the girls are settling in well. The little girls are both under 5s, they only recently began sleeping through the night, and stopped tantrumming. My friend understood the trauma of the upheaval was expected. I bumped into my friend and girls recently on a walk, and their foster parents were with them. My friend introduced them to me as the girls first family. The foster mum said, you and xx are the parents they were supposed to have, and we will always be here for you all. Preston’s foster family could have been a great support for JV and JMF and more importantly for Preston, if JV and JMF weren’t monsters.

I recall reading something from the foster mum on the M.E.N and the way she spoke about this little boy was clear that he was well loved and nurtured in their family. I can't imagine their pain handing him over to these deviants ,having that gut wrenching feeling something just wasn't right. Not to mention reporting their concerns and being fobbed off. It's just heartbreaking beyond words . I truly hope justice is served, and for those who sat back and watched this play out are held equally responsible.

YellowTail · May 10, 2026

Tanley said:
Jesus wept. What would these teachers have done if a parent had told each of them a different story about how their child broke an arm? Do you think they would have raised a safeguarding concern? All their training would have told them to do so. Yet here they all were, feeling more worried about their colleague than a vulnerable, defenceless baby. They actually asked for their friend Jamie to have a welfare check I hope none of them can sleep at night.

It is terrifying that his professional colleagues, who obviously discussed Preston’s injury amongst themselves to have realised that he told each of them a different story, didn’t individually and jointly raise a self guarding concern. Surely when they each realised that they’d heard a different reason, they talked about it being concerning/worrying/weird/potentially a lie?

Did one of them speak to the head and ask them to check on JV’s welfare, or was that the course of action the head took?

It is unfathomable that the outcome was a welfare check on JV. I am concerned that there are pupils at that school who may have been harmed/at risk of harm from their caregivers, for whom help hasn’t been sought.

What did JV say to the head during the welfare check? Did he lie, or did he repeat his dark thoughts, and the head listened, reassured and then left, check over, no further action?

Preston hadn’t been adopted by the pedals, he was STILL a supposedly looked after child. Who was actually looking out for him!

watermelonvapes · May 10, 2026

PaddyDomino said:
It's interesting you say about complaints because Varley and McGowan did put in a complaint about the foster parents:

View attachment 3985889

Even just this is so saddening to me the image of that poor lady crying all day wondering should she have said or done something differently. Desperately wanting the chance to gently hand over the baby she had raised through all the hard young baby times God love her, I hope she's doing OK

Millais · May 10, 2026

I’ve just binge read this thread and one thing that I noticed is that people who come into contact with Jamie and John seem sort of weirdly, I don’t know, like in awe of them? They’re constantly being coddled by health/social care professionals: the text, the wide eyed ‘bringing together people who would never normally meet’ thing as if they were celebrities or Nobel prize winners and the foster parents should be honoured to meet them, nurses dropping everything to pet their little heads instead of working on Preston, the welfare check on Jamie by his coworkers when it was Preston who was suffering. It’s like everyone thinks they’re so special and interesting when they’re just a fat inbred looking teacher and his drippy wet wipe salesman husband living in Blackpool.

TheMiceInTheShed · May 10, 2026

YellowTail said:
My eldest son was unwell with bronchitis when he was 7. He was fine. One evening he suddenly wasn’t. I called an ambulance who came out and assessed him as fine. A hour later, I was still worried so drove him to the hospital. Husband stayed at home with the other children. While driving him myself to the hospital (which I worked at) he went into respiratory arrest. This was his first ever hospital visit. Skip a long story short, I was Interrogated MULTIPLE times about how unusual his presentation and symptoms were. He was tubed and transferred to the Evelina. I travelled with him. When I got to the Evelina I was interrogated again and again, I was asked multiple times if I’d ’given him something’. For the first night, I wasn’t allowed to be with him unsupervised! I guess tests showed I hadn’t harmed him, as from then on I feel I was treated with more compassion and respect by the staff.

My eldest son was unwell with bronchitis when he was 7 . . . Not such a long story short, but my point is a first A&E visit in 7 years, and I was under instant suspicion about the severity of his symptoms. Anyway, he’s nearly 26 now, and his only other A&E visit was aged 11 when he went into anaphylactic shock on a school trip to the Eden project! I don’t think he’s seen a GP since then.

My eldest son was unwell with bronchitis when he was 7 . . . I was Interrogated MULTIPLE times

And this is the way it should be - upsetting parents is less important than protecting children.

These two POS have been aided and abetted every step of the way! Because they are gay? Because they are "professional"? "Because they are middle-class"? Because they are male? Who knows - what we do know is that because of these factors, or a combination of them, or some other characteristic, almost everybody gave them a free pass to abuse and eventually kill a tiny child. The few people who did express concern, such as the foster parents, were brushed aside.

People were apparently so keen to confirm DEI that they ignored the tragic little life in the centre. The life that SHOULD have have been in the centre of their concern

VeniVidiVicki · May 10, 2026

When my sister broke her leg when she was a baby, social workers questioned my mum extensively. And this was years and years ago. I’m sure ‘lessons will be learned’

Incidentally can we not refer to Preston’s mother as his bio mother? She’s his mother. He didn’t get an adoptive mother.

Emsie · May 10, 2026

Nelly's mum said:
A few reasons why it is unrealistic, none of which are going to be popular on the thread;
• it is subjecting adopters/fosterers differently to other parents, this is discrimination
• the staff hours and cost for police/social services/whoever to trawl through someone's devices, the criminal justice system can barely function with digital scrutiny as it is
• people have the human right to privacy, there is no legal framework to demand that people who are not charged with a crime or under suspicion of a crime, hand over their devices to be checked
• how could police/social services/whoever be sure the person had handed over all their devices? You can't search people houses for no reason, so they could have other devices they haven't handed over

This is just off the top of my head, I'm no legal
.

I agree. Social workers are not digital forensic analysts.
And where do you draw the line? Do we interrogate couples because they might watch porn together?
Send each other images of themselves? I've definitely got images of my kids in the bath or running around the garden naked - just normal funny photos but without context what does that look like?

Upintheair83 · May 10, 2026

watermelonvapes said:
Even just this is so saddening to me the image of that poor lady crying all day wondering should she have said or done something differently. Desperately wanting the chance to gently hand over the baby she had raised through all the hard young baby times God love her, I hope she's doing OK

I keep thinking about her too....she must be completetly broken and traumatised. I can't imagine how she must feel- even though none of it is her fault, she must carry so much guilt. Always thinking 'what if?' And yet she did everything right, and she should never ever blame herself. Its enough to make you go loopy....and it's people like that this lady that we need more of, and yet its enough to stop her fostering again. My heart really breaks for her she obviously loved Preston so much.

Emsie · May 10, 2026

Was the heart emoji social worker Preston's or theirs? Usually, you'd have visits from both. Your own social worker who got you through the process will be checking up on you making sure you're ok and Preston's social worker should be checking on him. My son's would go and see him if he was asleep, and plan to be around at lunchtime etc so she could see him being fed and cared for.
I feel like they are missing a social worker somewhere?

Cinnabun · May 10, 2026

Happytobedivorced said:
Jesus! What a manipulative, self-serving, pathetic excuse for a human being.
This is all to try to deflect and any panic or fear will be cos he knows he’ll be done for this. It’s all for himself. Poor staff. I’d want to step over him and let him crack on.

Absolutely sickening. But it gives me some comfort that this weak, pathetic excuse for a man is going to find life in prison extremely difficult

stickytoffeepud · May 10, 2026

I have a physical disability which means I have very little use of my left arm and hand. When my son was around 6 months old he rolled off the middle of my bed in the split second I had my back turned. Until that point I wasn’t aware he could roll!

We took him to hospital, he was fine but I was asked over and over again what happened. Health visitor appointments were increased and I had a social worker visit me at home. I had PND at the time and was terrified my son would be removed from my care and I did feel judged. I felt like I was being seen as an unfit parent due to being disabled.

it was my mother in law saying ‘they’re just making sure he’s safe’ that pulled me out of that mindset. I wish so much they’d applied the same level of caution to Preston

dorydaryl · May 10, 2026

Cinnabun said:
Absolutely sickening. But it gives me some comfort that this weak, pathetic excuse for a man is going to find life in prison extremely difficult

Here's hoping it's a living Hell every day for the remainder of his miserable little existence.

Happytobedivorced · May 10, 2026

Cinnabun said:
Absolutely sickening. But it gives me some comfort that this weak, pathetic excuse for a man is going to find life in prison extremely difficult

I was thinking just this! He will be a walking target so will live in permanent fear, especially with Watkins and Huntley being in the news lately.

Preston Davey Trial

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