Preston Davey Trial

[scantysandwich]

Preston was with them for 4 months.

I had a look back through 4 months of photos on my phone to get a sense of the time period and it’s desperately short, it’s nothing, and yet for Preston it must have been hell on earth. The fact he could still show joy bouncing on JV’s mum’s knee the day of his alleged murder breaks my heart.

 

[Emsie]

Thank you for your thoughtful and informative poster @Emsie it's really useful to hear from someone who has become a parent through adoption.

I was quite surprised by how fast they went from initially meeting him to having him stay with them. I've read that 1 to 2 weeks is usual from initial meeting but he seemed to have gone there in about 3 days. I don't think that is due to them being gay and prioritised though. Just bad practice.
I believe that when preparing for adoption the prospective adopters are asked if they would consider a child that may have had exposure to drugs and alcohol in utero as well as disabled children or sibling groups. There's so many things that would have been covered in their adoption assessment that would have explained Jamie's "complaints" about Preston. I wonder if Jamie gave textbook answers from being a safeguarding lead rather than listening to the reality of what being an adoptive parent can be like.

I just finished the podcasts that are covering this case and two things really struck me. Jamie just sits and watches Preston on multiple occasions when the baby has fallen over or is being bothered by their dog or is unable to sit up in the bath. Sometimes he films it.
The other thing is under a spoiler as it's disturbing


Preston was diagnosed with chest infections twice in about 4 weeks. Was this as a result of aspirating liquid? I can't even type the rest of this. But aspiration bronchitis and pneumonia does happen. It's just usually food or inhaled drinks

Our introductions were seven days. Day 1 spend an hour at foster care, day 2 a few hours, day 3 spend a morning and do the morning routine, day 4 spend the evening and do the bedtime, day 5 foster carers bring them to your house for a sleepover, day 6 a break so baby can have goodbyes with foster carers, day 7 collect them and take them home. That's usual for most people I know. Some do do bumps, where adopters turn up at the park or something a few times so baby recognises you.
Our foster carer put our pictures up around him too, at his level, in his cot etc so he was constantly seeing our faces. Prior to introductions we did video calls and although he didn't really interact with us on the calls, he heard our voices. We also sent voicenotes so our voices would be familiar to him. You create a scrapbook as well with photos of your home which foster carers can show them. It is really well thought out to be honest, it's not just swoop in and take them.

 

[2ofeach]

Given the regularity of bruises I'm giving JVs mum the side eye too..... as a more mature woman I expected more of her & when she looks back on those dreadful 4 months she must have had concerns & did absolutely nothing! I hope it haunts her.

 

[sebanna]

The evidence is taking a nasty turn, with the pathologist saying Preston was likely gripped and slapped. Poor baby. The video released of him bouncing to Miss Rachel is heart breaking shows how little and innocent he was.

 

[Ray_of_Sunshine]

Moment teacher who 'sexually assaulted baby' says, 'I killed him'

Jamie Varley, 37, was said have blurted out the comment after racing into the hospital with 13-month-old Preston Davey limp in his arms.

www.dailymail.com

do not click if you don't want to see images of Preston as he is taken to hospital

The size of the fat beast that poor little baby stood no chance.

I think the bare feet thing was a calculated act to appear innocent to the hospital staff to portray that he didn’t even have time to put his shoes on in order to get Preston to A&E like the selfless hero that he is. I suspect that accounts for stripping him down out of the sleep suit as well to keep up the pretence of the bath story he’d concocted. Reality is he deliberately suffocated that baby in the most depraved way not once but twice and filmed him struggling to breathe after the deed was done. He probably did leave him unattended to shower himself. Wash away the evidence of what he’d been up to before doing anything about the dying baby he’d just abused. There was no urgency to seek help until he realised this time Preston’s little body couldn’t take it any longer. One sexual assault too many. They have evidence Preston was sexually assaulted twice the day he died. I just can’t even put into words the pure anger and hatred I feel towards these two.

 

[TheMiceInTheShed]

Footage and photos of Varley being hysterical at the hospital in this article:

Moment teacher accused of 'murdering baby' wailed 'it's my fault'

Jamie Varley, 37, collapsed to the floor and pleaded with hospital doctors to 'kill me' after being told 13-month-old Preston Davey was not going to survive.

www.dailymail.com

Attention-seeking twat!

"Never mind the baby, I'm the important one here! Comfort ME!!!"

 

[Here2BNosey]

The DNA wasn't as bad as I thought. It really does hinge on the postmortem, because a lot of things can be explained away right now. Apart from the photos, but we don't really know what about them is deemed inappropriate. I have naked pictures of my kids as babies, and if their genitals are in them I didn't really care as they were innocent, not for sharing outside the family and not the focus of the picture. He could easily claim he was trying to do one of those baby photoshoots and using the bath as a white backdrop, a lot of those have the baby naked in them. I'm not saying he/they are innocent, but unless the pictures are explicit then is it really enough to prove beyond reasonable doubt at this stage the horrific things they're accused of?

The photos are the smoking gun so far to me. No one takes that many pictures of "their" baby naked. He wasn't a newborn he was a year old, so the naked photoshoots aren't really a thing at that age and even then I have never seen one with the babies genitals visible, a bare bum at most. The way the photos are described this far seems so far outside of normal that to me there's no reasonable explanation for them. Even in terms of the sheer amount of pictures where the baby is unclothed, it's just odd. Lifting a towel to show his privates while he's asleep in a bath with no water, when previous photos showed him covered up. It's not an accidental snap, it's posed that way.

 

[Emsie]

I've just caught up with this thread. Been following the case since it went to trial as I'm a parent by adoption and this has rocked the adoption community. I just wanted to clear up a few misinterpretations on Preston's adoption.
He was removed from his birth mothers care because he was at risk of harm. That's usually drugs / alcohol whilst pregnant. Foster care is temporary and on the basis that she was having contact with Preston there was clearly some hope of returning him. Obviously that didn't happen and the plan for adoption continued. His birth mother had opportunities and support to change and chose not to for whatever reasons.
These two monsters were not "rushed" through because they are gay. Family finding is tough and the needs of the child are paramount. They match parents to children, not children to parents. It's split into two stages and I believe the monsters took a break between stage 1 and 2 so absolutely not rushed at all.
You are allowed to change children's names. Social services don't like it but they can't stop you. Sometimes it's advised in high risk situations. Mine changed my son's name and I'm not a red flag.
Once the child is placed you can't apply for the adoption order for 10 weeks and you need social worker support. It's really common for children not to "settle". Of course, it's all new. I imagine that they were discouraged from applying for the order until Preston showed signs of attachment and settling in. It's honestly ridiculous that they expect this to happen in 10 weeks.
The adoption process is intrusive and hard. But I don't blame at social services door. These two have manipulated and abused the system for their disgusting gain. Overworked, underfunded social services shouldn't take the blame.

 

[AladdinSane]

I wasnt going to follow this trial. It has affected me which doesn't usually happen. However, I keep thinking Preston had no choice. He was abused and killed and this is his story. He deserves it to be heard. And these two, if they are guilty, don't deserve to see the light of day again

 

[teabob]

JV describing Preston as “very needy” makes my blood boil! No compassion whatever. It boggles my mind given his profession. He should have a really good understanding of trauma and adverse childhood experiences. Infant mental health is to be taken seriously. The first 1000 days from conception to 2 years can have a life-long effect on a child’s health and wellbeing. Even a baby who’s not had the challenges Preston experienced can be “needy”. I have no idea how JV passed an assessment to adopt. He must have modified his responses.

Baby’s can experience poor mental health. In my authority there is a specialist team. Sleeping and feeding issues can be an indicator

 

[karmadrama]

I very much doubt a case like this will be open to the public.

Yeah you’re probably right. I feel I should clarify that I didn’t mean I’d love to go and watch it as though this is all just some juicy gossip. What I meant was, I find the criminal justice system fascinating and when I’m invested in cases like this one, I’d love to actually see the perpetrators being brought to justice. I feel my post may have been worded really insensitively and that’s the last thing I want.
Just felt I had to clear that up

 

[ClaraPlum]

Doctors are not stupid!

Unfortunately, through my work alongside medical professionals and social services, I’ve seen more than my fair share of NAI (non accidental injuries). The number of parents or guardians who believe they can talk their way out of these situations, convinced they’re far cleverer than everyone else, is staggering.

The reality is that doctors know exactly what typical childhood injuries look like. Normal bruises tend to appear over bony areas such as knees, elbows, and shins. Bruising to the abdomen, chest, buttocks, or other soft tissue areas is immediately concerning. Likewise, any bruising on a non mobile baby is a major red flag.

I remember one particularly distressing case in which a father had bitten his baby. His explanation was that the baby had somehow rolled onto him while his mouth was open. Aside from the absurdity of that claim, the injury itself told a very different story. If such an accident had occurred, the mark would likely have been faint and relatively straight, with little to no bruising or skin damage. Instead, the baby had deep, curved indentations and significant bruising, showing that the jaw had clamped down with enough force for the back teeth to leave clear impressions. His sheer arrogance was breathtaking. Thankfully baby is no longer in his care.

 

[watermelonvapes]

And I’ve just read this part which I haven’t seen before:
View attachment 3986449
How on earth this type of spitefulness didn’t raise alarm bells I don’t know. I am honestly so concerned by the sheer amount of bloody professionals who were blinded by these two or did see the warning signs but chose not to act on them.

It puts a whole new irony on the social worker saying it was bringing people together who never would have ordinarily met that lady who seems to have dedicated her life to minding babies never deserved to cross paths with those two demonic creatures before we even mention poor Preston. God there's no punishment that'd be enough for them in my eyes

 

[nothinonyou]

By all accounts Varley was a popular guy, seemed to have many friends and had garden parties during the summer and was a well liked teacher as well. This would've helped the adoption process I'd imagine, he'd get glowing character references. Really a wolf in sheep's clothing

 

[nothinonyou]

She said she had never seen injuries to a babies throat like that... Really puts in perspective what was done is actually really rare and unusual even for child abusers

 

[maytoseptember]

God I pity those nurses having to pander to his histrionics. I wonder how many of them saw through it.

 

[Rubyroo160]

That was a really difficult to watch. He is still coming across as a practiced manipulator. It feels like a textbook DARVO move: positioning himself as the victim rather than focusing on Preston and Preston’s care in that moment. He should have wanted all hands on deck, not three-quarters of the hospital staff hovering around him.
I suspect the dramatics were largely intended to make it harder for anyone to question or scrutinise the details of what actually happened.

I thought this too, at the start of the video Preston hadn’t been declared dead yet but JV was still happy to have multiple nurses crowding round him pandering to his histrionics when any other parent would want all those nurses with Preston doing everything possible to save him.

 

[MissTeddy]

The bit about them shouting BOO when Preston had only just fallen asleep broke my heart. Poor little Preston in a strange house just trying to get some rest then they startle him awake on purpose and laugh at him.

 

[Tobodee]

In terms of the video JV recorded of Preston struggling to breathe on the day of his passing, and them both taking so long to get him to hospital, i suspect it wasn’t the first time poor Preston was in that state.

Spoiler: Trigger

That vile pos (or both of them), SA’d him regularly and were more than likely used to seeing him struggle to breathe (I feel sick even typing that).

Only this time, it was a final step too far and he couldn’t recover.

 

[TheMiceInTheShed]

I only hope that the social worker who was sending love heart emojis has been sacked. She was able to be manipulated by the pair if them. And as for sending heart emojis...not professional at all

That sprang out at me, too - she's not a 14 year old writing to her celebrity crush FFS!

I've worked in the NHS - every e-mail, every letter, is a legal document. Phone calls have to be logged and a note kept. One of the surgeons I worked with would tell his student doctors - "Don't put ANYTHING in writing that you wouldn't be happy to see projected in letters a foot high onto a courtroom wall - because one day it WILL happen. Keep it short, keep it accurate, keep it professional." I would imagine SWs are under the same constraints.

Emojis of any type are a total No-No.