Olivia Colman and David Morrissey join The Gazette's public inquiry call for Preston Davey in letter to PM

High-profile celebrities including Olivia Colman, David Morissey, Carrie Johnson, Ellie Goulding and Nicola Thorp have today joined with The Gazette and Blackpool MP Chris Webb in writing to the Prime Minister calling for a national public inquiry into the 'catastrophic failure' to protect murdered baby Preston Davey.

Backing The Gazette’s and sister paper the Lancashire Post’s petition so far signed by more than 100,000 people, these celebrity campaigners are echoing our calls for Sir Keir Starmer to set up a 'thorough and transparent' public national inquiry into the 'heartbreaking' series of missed opportunities to save 13-month-old Preston.

Calling for urgent action, signatories including the wife of former PM Boris Johnson, global superstar Ellie Goulding, 39, and Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman, 52, say: 'The question that confronts us now is simple: how could this happen?'

The letter is also signed by Sherwood star David Morrissey, an ambassador for domestic violence charity Refuge, and campaigner Paula Hudgell, adoptive mother of Tony Hudgell, who had both legs amputated after abuse by his birth parents as a baby as well high profile campaigner Hetti Barkwood-Nanton, Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge and Laura Trott MP Shadow Education Secretary.

The Letter

Dear Prime Minister,

Preston Davey was a little boy who should be alive today.

He should be growing up surrounded by the love and security every child deserves. Instead, his life was cut brutally short after what appears to have been a catastrophic failure by the very systems that exist to protect vulnerable children. Most heartbreaking of all is the suggestion that there were multiple opportunities to recognise the danger he was in and intervene before it was too late.

We are writing to urge you to establish a full, statutory national public inquiry into Preston’s death and the wider safeguarding failures it may have exposed across the country.

Like so many people across the country, we have been horrified by what has emerged about Preston’s short life and tragic death.

We cannot allow Preston’s death to become another tragedy followed by expressions of regret, promises that lessons will be learned and little meaningful change. Without a thorough examination of what happened, there can be no confidence that the necessary lessons will be learned.

A statutory national public inquiry should establish:

* What warning signs were identified and by whom.

* Whether concerns were appropriately recorded, shared and acted upon.

* Whether communication between agencies was adequate and effective.

* Whether existing safeguarding procedures were followed.

* Whether systemic failures contributed to missed opportunities to protect Preston.

* Whether those failings are being replicated elsewhere in the country.

* What reforms are required to prevent similar tragedies in the future, not just in Oldham but across the country.

This is not about blame for its own sake. It is about accountability and ensuring that vulnerable children are better protected in future.

Your career has been defined by a commitment to justice and protecting the vulnerable. Before entering politics, you spent decades working within the justice system, including as Director of Public Prosecutions.

This is not an issue that can wait. Every day without answers is another day in which lessons that could protect vulnerable children remain unlearned.

At a moment when attention is understandably focused on political events, we hope you will seize the opportunity to make a lasting difference by committing to a full, statutory national public inquiry into Preston’s death and the safeguarding failures it exposed.

Only a statutory national public inquiry has the powers necessary to compel witnesses, obtain all relevant evidence and provide the public with confidence that the full truth has been uncovered.

Preston’s death cannot be viewed as an isolated tragedy. Across our country, vulnerable children continue to suffer abuse, neglect and cruelty behind closed doors. Too often, warning signs are missed, concerns are not joined together and opportunities to intervene are lost.

The central question is whether the failings exposed by Preston’s death are unique to this case or are symptoms of wider weaknesses in our safeguarding system.

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review will examine what happened to Preston. A statutory national public inquiry is needed to determine whether those failings exist elsewhere and what national reforms are required to ensure no other child is failed in the same way.

We would also welcome clarification as to what immediate safeguarding measures have been put in place to protect other children in Oldham while the review is under way. To date, it has not been made publicly clear what additional scrutiny, safeguarding checks or oversight have been introduced across local services. Given the serious concerns raised by Preston’s case, greater transparency is essential to protect children and restore public confidence.

These concerns reinforce the need for a wider national examination. Any safeguarding weaknesses identified in Preston’s case should now be urgently examined across the country to ensure other vulnerable children are not being placed at similar risk.

We must use this horrific crime as a defining moment—one that compels us to confront uncomfortable truths and make lasting changes to the systems designed to protect children.

For Preston, and for every vulnerable child who depends upon us to keep them safe, we must do better.

Yours sincerely,

Paula Hudgell OBE, Ellie Goulding MBE, Carrie Johnson, Olivia Colman CBE, Hetti Barkworth-Nanton CBE, Chris Webb MP, Vanessa Sims (Editor of Blackpool Gazette). Nicola Thorp, David Morrissey, Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge, Laura Trott MP Shadow Education Secretary

Preston Davey deserved better

Preston Davey was just 13-months-old when he was murdered by the man who was in the process of adopting him. The man he came to know as ‘dad’.

In less than four months, little Preston was sexually assaulted, physically and emotionally abused, and left with 40 non-accidental injuries. He was taken to hospital three times. Social workers visited regularly. His abusers even admitted to having dark thoughts about him. And still, nothing stopped it.

Ex-South Shore Academy teacher Jamie Varley, 37, was given a whole life sentence for murder, child cruelty, sexual offences and indecent images relating to Preston. His now ex-partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was jailed for 25 years for allowing the death of a child, child cruelty and sexual assault.

His birth mother Sarah Davey, now 42, was just 14 years old when she and her friend — then known as Lisa Healey — were convicted of torturing 71-year-old widow Lily Lilley of West Street, Failsworth in 1998.

Sarah, who was in prison when she gave birth to Preston, has been released on licence numerous times since her first release in March 2013 but has been recalled for breaching the terms of her licence.

Preston was taken into care by Oldham Council and placed for adoption by regional adoption agency Adoption Now. Blackpool’s children’s services had no involvement in his safeguarding.

But the question that has to be asked - and answered - is how a baby boy in the care of the state could be so badly let down by every system designed to protect him.

What the celebrities and high profile campaigners had to say about Preston Davey

Paula Hudgell said: “We are supporting calling for a public national inquiry into Preston Davey’s death because too many vulnerable children are still being failed, and Tony was one of them.

“For 11 years we fought for Tony — fought for him to be heard, fought for him to be protected, fought for the help and support he so desperately needed — because from the moment he came into our lives, it was clear just how easy it is for children to fall through the cracks of a system that is supposed to keep them safe.

“That is why we have spent years campaigning for stronger protections, including Tony’s Law and a child cruelty register, because children cannot keep paying with their lives for professional failings, missed opportunities and a lack of accountability. But the truth is, much more still needs to change.

“We cannot keep hearing the same empty promise that ‘lessons will be learned’ after every child’s death, while the same failures happen again and again.

“Preston’s death must be a line in the sand. It must force this country to face the reality that safeguarding is still not strong enough, accountability is still not strong enough, and protection for our most vulnerable children is still not strong enough.

“We owe it to Preston, to Tony, and to every child who has been failed, to make sure this stops now.”

Ellie Goulding and Carrie Johnson said: “As mothers of young children, we were horrified by the tragic death of little Preston Davey at the hands of those who were supposed to love and protect him.

“The details of his case are deeply distressing, not least because so many opportunities to intervene appear to have been missed.

“Serious questions remain about how this could have happened and whether similar failings are occurring elsewhere. That’s why we have signed this petition for a public national inquiry.”

Nicola Thorp said: “I, like many, have been haunted by the case of Preston Davey. His fate was not inevitable - far from it. There were multiple opportunities to save him and give him the life all children deserve: one filled with safety and love.

“We should feel duty bound to ensure no child suffers as Preston did, which is why an inquiry into the circumstances leading up to his death are essential.

“The monsters who killed and abused him may be behind bars but there are many questions left unanswered by the authorities who should have protected him. We must fight for Preston as we would fight for our own child.”

Chris Webb, Blackpool MP said: “The public response to baby Preston’s case has been extraordinary and reflects the strength of feeling among a community, which is devastated by the loss of this little boy in such tragic circumstances.

“Almost 100,000 people have now signed the petition calling for an inquiry and campaigners, charities, fellow MPs and high-profile supporters from across the country have joined those calls.

“Together we are now formally writing to the Prime Minister to demand action.

“I have already raised the matter directly with No.10 and personally asked the Prime Minister to establish a public inquiry into the safeguarding failures surrounding Preston's death.

“I have also requested a meeting to discuss the case further.

"This campaign is about serious questions that remain unanswered about how Preston was so catastrophically failed by systems that existed to protect him.

“Preston deserved better, his family deserve answers and every vulnerable child in this country needs lessons to be learnt from this tragedy.

“I will continue working with the Blackpool Gazette, campaigners and supporters across the country until that happens."

The Blackpool Gazette, and the Lancashire Post, backed by Blackpool South MP Chris Webb are leading calls to the government to launch a national inquiry.

Blackpool MP Chris Webb has also raised the matter directly with No.10 and personally asked the Prime Minister to establish a public national inquiry.

We need you to sign this petition and demand the government acts.

Join our calls for a public inquiry by signing our change.org petition here