😢 Both Boys Were Placed With Fathers Who Later Kil...

😢 Both Boys Were Placed With Fathers Who Later Killed Them. Both Visited The Same Hospital. Now A Safeguarding Review Has Raised Disturbing Questions About Whether Crucial Warning Signs Were Missed. 🚨

The same hospital that missed critical warning signs before the murder of toddler Preston Davey has been criticised for failing to properly question the father of another young boy who was also killed by his parent just weeks later.

Thirteen-month-old Preston Davey died on 27 July 2023 after suffering sexual and physical abuse at the hands of Jamie Varley, a Blackpool high school teacher. Varley’s subsequent trial and whole-life sentence generated widespread public horror and prompted calls for a full examination of how agencies responded to the child’s injuries in the months before his death. An independent review into those failings is already under way.

Now it has emerged that Blackpool Victoria Hospital, the same facility that treated Preston on three occasions, also saw two-year-old Damion Russell the day before one of Preston’s visits to the accident and emergency department. Damion was murdered by his father, Daniel Hardcastle, in August 2023. A safeguarding practice review published in November found that medics noticed an old bruise on the toddler’s head but did not ask Hardcastle how it had occurred. The Blackpool Safeguarding Children Partnership concluded that this omission fell short of “expected practice.”

Hardcastle had been granted sole custody of Damion only three months before the killing. At his sentencing hearing at Preston Crown Court, a judge described the attack as “horrifically violent.” The little boy, who died from a brain injury, was found “covered in injuries, top to toe and front to back,” including an adult bite mark. Hardcastle received a life sentence with a minimum term of 22 years in July 2024.

Hannah Joy Hocking, a friend of Damion’s biological mother who has been supporting her through the aftermath, said any wider inquiry into safeguarding failures should include both children. “I’ve seen the news articles about Preston recently, and my brain instantly just went into thinking about Damion,” she said. “I think there should be a full inquiry, I completely agree with that and I feel like people need to stand up for these two little boys. I feel like Preston’s getting a lot of attention at the moment and I do feel like Damion got a little bit left behind.”

Both toddlers had recently been removed from foster care and placed with the parents who later killed them. In Preston’s case, Varley had persuaded hospital staff that bruising on the child was accidental by showing them a video on his phone. It was later established that the video had been recorded 12 days earlier and could not account for any fresh injuries. Varley was convicted of murder, rape and a series of other charges and received a whole-life order. His partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, was sentenced to 25 years for allowing the death of a child and sexual offences.

Blackpool’s coroners’ service has the power to examine whether wider systemic factors contributed to the deaths. Damion’s case has already been closed. No decision has yet been made regarding Preston’s. Local MPs Chris Webb (Blackpool South) and Andrew Snowden (Fylde) have called for a public inquiry into possible safeguarding failures linked to Preston Davey’s death.

The trust that operates Blackpool Victoria Hospital said it recognised “the importance of continuing to strengthen practice and provide reassurance to families” using its services. It stated that work was already under way before the review into Damion’s case was published to support staff in the Emergency Department and other areas where children are cared for, ensuring “appropriate examinations take place and staff are confident in asking the right questions.” The trust said it would carefully consider the evidence heard during the trial into Preston Davey’s death.

Chief executive Maggie Oldham said: “Families bringing their children to our hospital can expect our teams to ask questions about any bumps, bruises or other injuries identified, whether recent or older. For babies who are not walking independently, our teams will carry out a full examination while they are in the Emergency Department.”

The two cases share disturbing parallels. Both children were very young. Both had recently been placed with fathers who became their killers. Both passed through the same hospital in the weeks before they died, and in both instances concerns about visible injuries were not pursued with sufficient rigour. In Damion’s case the failure was the absence of any question about an existing bruise. In Preston’s case it was the acceptance of an outdated video as adequate explanation for fresh bruising. The cumulative effect has left campaigners and family supporters arguing that the systems designed to protect vulnerable children did not function as they should.

Public revulsion at the details of Preston’s abuse and murder has kept the case in the headlines and increased pressure for a formal public inquiry. Hocking’s intervention has now placed Damion’s death alongside it, insisting that the two boys should not be separated in any examination of what went wrong. The safeguarding review into Damion’s case has already identified a clear shortfall in hospital practice. The independent review into Preston’s death is expected to examine the actions of multiple agencies. Whether those separate processes will be drawn together into a single, broader inquiry remains an open question.

For the families and friends left behind, the technical language of reviews and expected practice sits uneasily beside the reality of two small children who were killed by the men entrusted with their care. Damion was covered in injuries from head to toe. Preston had been subjected to prolonged physical and sexual abuse. Both had been seen by medical professionals who might have interrupted the sequence of events that followed. In one case a bruise went unexplained. In the other an outdated video was accepted at face value. The hospital has stated that training and procedural improvements were already in motion. Campaigners argue that only a full public examination of both cases will determine whether those changes are sufficient and whether deeper systemic problems remain.

The coroner’s service has closed Damion’s file. Preston’s remains under consideration. Local MPs continue to press for a public inquiry. And the friend who has stood with Damion’s mother continues to insist that the two little boys should be remembered and examined together. The hospital that treated both children in the weeks before their deaths now faces scrutiny on two fronts, and the question of how effectively it, and the wider safeguarding system, protected them has become impossible to ignore.