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The Trial

The Tragic Life Of Preston Davey: Was Preston bitten and abused?

5/15/202639 min

In this episode Caroline and Liz have the medical evidence which the jury were told were consistent with Preston Davey being bitten and sexually assaulted before he died. A pathologist with 40 years experience said she found evidence that he could have been smothered or he may have died from having something forced into his mouth. She also said he suffered bruises which were not accidental. Preston was 13 months old when he died within four months of being in the care of Jamie Varley and John McGowan Fazakerley who were in the process of adopting him. The prosecution say he was abused and murdered. 

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Presenter: Caroline Cheetham and Liz Hull

Producer: Chelsey Ranore

Editor: Chelsey Ranore

Creative Director: Caroline Cheetham

Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

 

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The Trial series uses actors and some voices generated by AI. Their words are taken as verbatim from the official court transcript.

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Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Speaker 00:00

    [door opening] The Crime Desk, a resting podcast Welcome to The Trial UK, the tragic life of Preston Davey.

  2. Caroline Cheetham· Host0:10

    I'm Caroline Cheatham.

  3. Liz Hull· Host0:12

    And I'm Liz Hull.

  4. Caroline Cheetham· Host0:13

    Today, we've got the medical evidence on how the prosecution say Preston Davey died. He didn't drown, as Jamie Varley's claimed.

  5. Liz Hull· Host0:21

    According to the pathologist who examined him, he could have been smothered either by a hand or something soft, like a pillow, in July 2023.

  6. Caroline Cheetham· Host0:31

    Or he could have been suffocated by having an object forced into his mouth.

  7. Liz Hull· Host0:36

    Preston also had a number of different injuries. Some could be explained as innocent accidents. Others, say the prosecution, were because he was repeatedly assaulted.

  8. Caroline Cheetham· Host0:46

    It's also now emerged that medical experts for both the prosecution and the defense agree that Preston's injuries were consistent with a human bite mark and sexual assault.

  9. Liz Hull· Host1:00

    Welcome to episode six, Was Preston Bitten and Abused?

  10. Caroline Cheetham· Host1:05

    We'll be back in a second.

  11. Unknown speaker1:07

    [Instrumental music playing]

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