The Tragic Life Of Preston Davey: “Frozen Watchfulness”
5/19/202637 min
In this episode Caroline and Liz have the evidence from a doctor who said in some of the videos on Jamie Varley’s phone, Preston Davey was in life threatening situations. Dr Jo Gifford, an expert in child sex abuse, said Preston showed signs of being mistreated and abused, and there was footage of him before he died which showed several “near misses.”
We also have the evidence from Preston’s foster mum Sandra Cooper who came into court to refute Jamie Varley’s suggestion that the reason Preston was pictured and filmed naked was because she had advised he should be allowed “free willy time.” She said it was categorically untrue and she would view it as a big safeguarding issue.
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Presenter: Caroline Cheetham and Liz Hull
Actors: Sarah Gee, Oliver Sykes, Benny Fiddimore
Editor: Chelsey Ranore
Creative Director: Caroline Cheetham
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
[door opening and closing] The Crime Desk, a resting podcast Welcome to The Trial UK, The Tragic Life of Preston Davey.
Caroline Cheetham· Host0:10
I'm Caroline Cheatham.
Liz Hull· Host0:11
And I'm Liz Hull.
Caroline Cheetham· Host0:13
A quick warning before we get into the detail here, we are talking again about some medical evidence that people may well find distressing. Today, we've got John McGowan, Fazakerley's police interviews, when he said being at the hospital on the day Preston died was hell.
Liz Hull· Host0:31
He said he felt as if he was in a soap opera. But while his partner, Jamie Varley, was running around and screaming like a headless chicken, he simply went into shock.
Caroline Cheetham· Host0:40
Preston's foster mom, Sandra Cooper, was also called back to court to categorically refute the claims that she'd advised the men to allow Preston time to play naked.
Liz Hull· Host0:54
And a child sex abuse expert confirmed his frozen gazes and the injuries he'd suffered indicated he'd been mistreated and sexually assaulted before he died. Welcome to episode six, Frozen Watchfulness.
Caroline Cheetham· Host1:08
We'll be back in a second. [instrumental music] Hi, it's Caroline Cheatham here from The Crime Desk. So we're launching a listener