Revealed: Social workers at council responsible for murdered adopted baby Preston Davey missed chances to save THREE other children from harm
Social workers at the same council responsible for tragic Preston Davey missed chances to save three other children from harm in recent cases, including another murder.
After secondary school teacher Jamie Varley, 37, was jailed for life for Preston’s sexual abuse and murder, an independent review has resumed.
It will consider evidence including at least eight missed chances to intervene by hospital staff, social workers, police and Varley’s colleagues, revealed in court during the killer adoptive father’s trial.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said ‘questions need to be answered’ over how Varley was able to abuse and kill Preston, while former Home Secretary Jack Straw said police need to consider prosecuting officials involved in the case for possible ‘malfeasance in public office’.
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel De Souza said the murder of 13-month-old Preston Davey was a ‘massive safeguarding failure’ and she will pursue the question of whether it was preventable with ‘that baby’s broken body at the front of my mind’.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said: ‘Did that evil abuser hoodwink people? I want to know whether the correct level of professional curiosity was there.’
Previous safeguarding reviews in Oldham, Greater Manchester, highlighted shortcomings in three recent cases including that of murdered youngster Dylan Scanlon, it can now be revealed.
The five-year-old was beaten and fed a lethal dose of antidepressants by his mother Claire Scanlon on New Year’s Eve, 2021, four years after welfare concerns were first raised.
Less than two weeks before Preston Davey’s death in July 2023, Scanlon, then 39, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 18 years after being convicted of her son’s murder.
A Child Safeguarding Practice Review published last July highlighted a series of opportunities by social services and police to intervene in Dylan’s case – but their response was ‘inadequate’ and ‘ineffective’.
Dylan first came into contact with social services aged one, when he was found crawling alone along a street.
Concerns were later raised on three more occasions, including by a dietician who feared Dylan’s mother ‘did not fully understand’ her son’s health needs as a three-year-old.
When Dylan was about to turn four, an anonymous caller reported Dylan ‘playing alongside rats’ among piles of rubbish outside the family home in Oldham.
But no action was taken after a health visitor said the home conditions were good enough – despite not having visited for three months.
Finally, six months before Dylan’s death, an anonymous caller raised concerns to police, Dylan’s school and social workers, saying he ‘always looks very dirty, unkempt and the house is filthy’.
The concerned local told how Scanlon often forgot to pick Dylan up from school and ‘smoked weed on a daily basis’.
The safeguarding review found Greater Manchester Police and Oldham social services both thought the other was responding – so no action took place in an ‘incredible’ misunderstanding.
In another case, a 13-year-old girl under Oldham Council care was raped and abused after running away from a residential school in September 2023.
She had been moved to the school, 70 miles away, after a series of placements when she was moved between nine foster carers in just over two years.
The girl had been under social services care since she was four and had spent the first four years in a settled foster home with one of her six siblings before arrangements broke down.
After a nine-day search, she was found with one of her sisters at a house where a man was arrested and later convicted of her rape. The girl later disclosed to social workers she had sex with multiple men and had been taking drugs.
The safeguarding review made 11 recommendations, highlighting the failure by officials to consider the impact of the repeated moves between foster homes, separation from her sibling and moving her so far away.
The review acknowledged ‘relentless work’ by professionals to try to keep the girl safe – but found failings in ‘care planning’ by social services and police.
There have been three recent Child Safeguarding Reviews involving Oldham social services over incidents before Preston Davey’s murder
And in January 2023 – just two months before Preston was placed with adoptive parents Varley and his boyfriend John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, in Blackpool, Lancashire – Oldham Safeguarding Children Partnership published a review which revealed failings in the care of another child.
The boy, aged 10, whose mother was a heroin and crack cocaine addict, was admitted to hospital with ‘potentially life-threatening’ neglect which had been missed by experts.
He had been under a care order with Oldham Council for two years before the hospital admission in 2021.
There was a ‘significant history of maternal substance misuse and neglect prior to (the boy’s) birth with older children removed,’ the report said.
It added: ‘Neglect was worsening, there were many indicators known by agencies.’
These included missed dental and ophthalmology, poor school attendance, school staff noticing he had only bread and water in his lunchbox, torn and dirty clothes.
The boy claimed he was physically abused by his mother; he also suffered rapid weight loss, was distressed, emotional and complaining of painful legs and struggling to walk.
He ended up in so much pain in his legs from vitamin deficiency that he flagged down lifts from strangers when his mum forced him to walk to school.
The boy’s hospitalisation was due to ‘malnourishment and vitamin D and severe vitamin C (scurvy) deficiency, all of which are preventable’, the report said.
It made eight recommendations, after finding that ‘regular multi-agency opportunities… could and should’ have led to intervention.
Hundreds of children’s deaths are referred for review each year, with 274 cases in 2024/25, according to the Child Safeguarding Review Practice Panel.
Of those cases, 128, or 47 per cent, involved a child’s death and seven were due to homicide or fatal assault.
The panel’s latest report, published in April, found there were ‘persistent issues including insufficient learning from previous reviews’.Read More
Common criticisms included key information being ‘shared too late or not at all’ between officials, ‘limited understanding of children’s daily lived experience’ and ‘weak risk assessments’.
The number of cases referred for review – typically where there is neglect or a serious incident where a child has been at risk or suffered harm – fell 21pc compared with the previous year.
A relative of one child murdered in the Midlands under the noses of social services, said: ‘Inquiries or case reviews don’t do any good and nothing changes. That people, the agencies who get involved like councils, social services and the police, the government should be accountable.’
Relatives of Dylan Scanlon said they did not wish to comment.
Solicitor Alan Collins, partner at Bolt Burdon Kemp, said: ‘There have been many inquiries in recent years commissioned in the wake of the murders of children by parents and caregivers, but the findings and recommendations tend to tragically gather dust.
‘No doubt Preston’s death could have been avoided, and it will transpire that his adoptive parents were to state the obvious – unsuitable adopters.
‘The common thread in these infanticide and murder cases is that the children were known to social services and often considered at risk but dropped off the radar.
‘My opinion is that the problem lies in the lack of accountability. When it comes to holding the State to account when there is tragedy such as this, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to determine who made the wrong decisions and who failed to act, because the system for decision-making is collective, and you see a blurring of responsibility.
‘Until there is accountability within the system, there will not be a cultural change.
‘Such change is essential because, without it, those with safeguarding responsibilities will continue to allow children to fall by the wayside. When a risk is identified, the child must remain on the radar, and if they do not, then those who allowed this to happen must be able to justify why.’
Government needs to legislate to bring accountability into the system, but I suspect it will be loath to do this because ultimately the buck may stop with politicians.”
The Local Government Association has said social services across the country suffer from chronic underfunding and understaffing – worsened by poor recruitment and staff retention.
An Oldham Council spokesperson said: ‘Oldham’s children’s services work every day with thousands of vulnerable children and families, alongside partners across health, education and the police.
‘The safety and well-being of children is our highest priority, and any case where a child has suffered harm is deeply distressing. Each of the cases referenced has been subject to detailed, independently led review, with important lessons identified and acted upon.
‘The same process of review will now take place in relation to the tragic case of Preston Davey. The review will be published upon completion. Until that time, out of respect for Preston’s family and loved ones, we urge people not to speculate about the facts of this case.’
