Poor baby Preston didn’t have much of a start in life. His mother Sarah, now 42, was jailed aged 14 for the 1998 torture and murder of a pensioner. Preston was, justifiably, taken from her after birth. Given these unpropitious circumstances, it was the job of the state – here Oldham council – to give him a fair start in life. To begin with, that’s what happened; a decent foster family looked after him.
Preston’s birth grandmother suggested that worries about homophobia may have skewed the judgment of those who were meant to be supervising him
It was when he was given to the care of Jamie Varley, 37, and his boyfriend, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, that he was subjected to sexual torture, fear and pain over the course of four months that ended his life. A post-mortem examination found Preston, who was just 13 months old when he died, suffered more than 40 injuries, including 30 visible bruises and serious internal injuries to his throat and bottom.
During the trial that led to Varley’s conviction for murder and his boyfriend’s, for allowing the death of a child, the jury heard of Preston’s three visits to hospital – including one for bruises, one for a fractured elbow – and two visits by social workers, one of whom noticed he was pale and not quite himself. Varley told a colleague he had dark fantasies about drowning the child, but told him that his social worker was aware of the problem.
