A teacher who treated his adopted baby son as a ‘plaything’ has been found guilty of his murder amid a campaign of sexual, physical and emotional abuse.
Preston Davey was just nine months old when he was placed with Jamie Varley, 37, and ex-public schoolboy and financial sales manager John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, at their home in Blackpool in April 2023.
He had been removed from his mother, Sarah Davey, now 42, by an emergency care order by Oldham Council. Ms Davey, then aged only 14, had been jailed for the murder of a pensioner in 1998 and in and out of prison since then.
Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were approved for adoption by Adoption Now, a company providing services to local councils. The agency said Preston needed ‘love, affection, safety and stability’. But less than four months later he was dead.
The couple had rushed him into Blackpool Victoria Hospital on July 27 collapsed and in extreme respiratory distress.
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Varley, a secondary school head of year, appeared distraught, blaming himself for leaving Preston unattended in the bath where he slipped from his seat and drowned.
But jurors at Preston Crown Court heard his account of events and the hysterical reaction to them was all a complete charade.
Peter Wright KC, prosecuting, told them the injuries to Preston’s body ‘told a very different tale’, revealing ‘a much more sinister pathology’.
‘In the final months of his brief life, we say he was routinely ill-treated, sexually abused and physically assaulted,’ he said.
A postmortem examination showed Preston had sustained around 40 traumatic injuries in the 16 weeks he had been in Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley’s care.
They included at least 30 external bruises and a healing fracture to his left upper arm which was deemed non-accidental in nature.
But the infant had also suffered deep bruising to the back of his throat as well as injuries to his bottom, bowel and bladder which jurors heard were caused by sexual assaults.
His cause of death was ruled as acute upper airway obstruction caused by something being forced into his mouth blocking his ability to breathe.
Varley was found guilty of Preston’s murder as well as 25 other charges relating to his abuse following a harrowing eight-week trial.
McGowan-Fazakerley was convicted of allowing his death, three counts of child cruelty and one count of the sexual assault of a child.
Varley stood in the dock and put his hands to his face in shock as the guilty verdicts were read, before collapsing to his knees, retching and vomiting.
His co-accused made no reaction, while McGowan-Fazakerley’s father shook his head.
Preston’s mother and grandmother burst into tears, sobbing throughout as the 29 guilty verdicts were returned.
Mr Justice Turner thanked the jury for their public service, adding: ‘Once you have been discharged from this case, bearing in mind what we have called upon you to do, I’m going to exempt you from the obligation to sit on a jury for life.’
The judge left court without directly addressing the defendants.
Varley, who faces a mandatory life sentence for murder, appeared to be in a trance-like state, a prison officer having to repeat his name to get his attention before he was taken from the dock to the cells.
Mr Wright said Preston’s death was ‘wholly foreseeable and foreseen’ by McGowan-Fazakerley, who knew Varley was not coping with the new responsibility of looking after him and ‘the significant risk of serious harm’ being caused to Preston when left alone in his partner’s sole care.
The jury returning the verdicts was the second to be sworn to hear the case – the first had to be discharged just days in when one member said they found the evidence too distressing.
Most damning of all were grim indecent photos and videos of the abuse of Preston, some of which ‘cannot be unseen’. the trial heard.
It included photos and videos from Varley’s phone showing Preston in various states of undress, often focusing on his genitals.
The court was shown a set of seven photos taken over a three-minute period days before Preston’s death showing him draped over the bars of his cot.
He had been deliberately placed there so he could be sexually assaulted, they heard.
Tests revealed traces of McGowan-Fazakerley’s sperm on the bars of the cot where Preston was propped up.
Preston’s favourite teddy – a monkey named George – could be seen stuffed under his bottom to keep him in place in one of the photos.
Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley claimed the infant was prone to falling asleep in ‘funny’ positions and this was one of them.
The danger of leaving a child partially suspended by the neck in that way was visible on his face, which was pale and with his lips had visibly started turning blue.
Another photo taken by Varley later that same afternoon, July 23, showed Preston’s bottom in an ‘abnormal’ state, which Mr Wright said was a ‘memento’ of another sexual assault.
On the day he died, Varley recorded a Snapchat video at 4.45pm showing Preston lying on the bed struggling for breath.
Child sexual abuse expert Dr Joanne Gifford told the court the clip depicted Preston in ‘extreme respiratory distress’.
She added: ‘Clinically I watched that and I wanted to resuscitate him immediately, he looks terminal in that video.
‘There are parts of not breathing. Gasping. I would describe as agonal gasp.
‘He’s a child in that video who needs to be resuscitated.’
Preston was still wearing the same babygrow he had on in another video recorded only hours earlier showing him happily bouncing on Varley’s mother’s knee.
He was not taken to hospital until McGowan-Fazakerley arrived home around 90 minutes later, by which time it was too late.
It was in that time Varley claimed Preston had recovered enough to be given a bath where he was found submerged after being left unattended for two or three minutes.
But Mr Wright told jurors the whole account was made up and Varley in fact assaulted Preston again.
Timeline of key events in the tragic life of Preston Davey
Baby Preston Davey only lived for four months with the defendants before his death. Here is the timeline of the significant events in his short life.
2022
– June 16
Preston Davey is born four weeks early, weighing 5lb 7oz to Sarah Davey at Wythenshawe Hospital, south Manchester.
– June 21
Five days later he is placed into emergency care with foster parents by Oldham Council via an interim care order, where he remains for the first nine months of his life.
2023
– January 6
Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley are approved for adoption by Adoption Now, a company providing services to local councils. The company says Preston needs: ‘Love, affection, safety and stability.’
– February 13
They make first visit to see Preston at his foster parent’s home.
– April 1
Preston spends his first night at the defendants’ home in Staining Road, Blackpool, and is formally placed under the care of the defendants.
– April 6
Varley texts his sister, a baby sleep trainer, saying: ‘He’s dead meat today. Didn’t sleep last night after 11.30. Up every, one and a half hours.’
– May 25
At 11.10am Preston is rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, floppy and unresponsive, Varley reporting a seizure and breathing difficulties. Nursing staff notice bruising to Preston’s head. A medical report states Preston had ‘unexplained injuries, inconsistent with a version of events given…’
Hospital safeguarding are informed and social services and Lancashire Police called.
Following discussion with medical staff the bruises to a baby learning to walk are not regarded as suspicious.
– June 30
At around 8.25pm, Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley take Preston to Blackpool Victoria Hospital A&E Department, reporting the child has a rash, diarrhoea, vomiting and high temperature.
Medics note bruising to Preston’s head, but staff are shown a home video of the child pulling a toy box on to himself while playing, by way of explanation. Varley comments: ‘You lot are going to think we have been abusing him or something.’
It is later discovered the toy box video was filmed 12 days earlier.
– July 6
At 10.36am Varley takes Preston to hospital for third time with injury to his left arm sustained he said while putting him in his cot the previous evening. After X-ray, a cast is applied for a fractured elbow.
The child’s social worker, Amy Shepherdson, who had been in contact with the hospital, texted Varley to say: ‘Just to reassure you they said they had absolutely no concerns. U absolutely did the right thing.’
She visits the home and notes Preston had a ‘very sad face and a little cry’.
– July 7
Preston is visited at home by Helen Magee, an independent reviewer from Oldham social services.
The same week Varley tells a work colleague he is struggling mentally and having ‘dark thoughts’ about drowning or suffocating Preston.
– July 23
Varley takes a series of photos of Preston, stretching over a period of three minutes, 12 seconds. The child, asleep or unconscious, has his head and arms over the top horizontal bar of his cot and his neck resting on it, his body partially suspended and his legs in a ‘frog-like’ position. His tongue is protruding and his lips appear blue.
– July 27
At 4.45pm, Varley records a 35-second video on his phone of Preston in ‘extreme respiratory distress’ taking an ‘agonal gasp’ and needing resuscitation.
At 6.30pm Preston is rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital in a critical condition, Varley says he found the child submerged in the bath.
A team of paramedics, nurses and doctors attempt to resuscitate for 50 minutes but Preston is pronounced dead at 7.18pm.
– July 31
Home Office post-mortem examination concludes Preston’s cause of death as acute upper airway obstruction and rules out drowning.
The autopsy also found around 40 external and internal injuries including bruises to Preston’s forehead, throat, mouth, bladder, bottom and bleeding in the lungs with some evidence of ‘forcible penetration’ to the child’s ‘abnormal’ anatomy regarded as clinical signs of sexual abuse.
2026
– April 20
Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley go on trial denying all offences.
– June 15
Varley was found guilty of murder, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault of a child, 13 counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child, one of distributing an indecent photo of a child, to his co-accused, and one of making an indecent photo.
McGowan-Fazakerley was found guilty of allowing the death of a child, two counts of child cruelty and one count of the sexual assault of a child.
Analysis of Varley’s phone also revealed evidence of psychological and physical harm to Preston.
A day after the assault in his cot he recorded Preston being left alone in the bath for 14 minutes – a video the jury watched in its entirety.
In it, the tot can be seen flailing, trying to get up and whimpering at being left alone.
There were also recordings of the infant being jerked around while dancing with Varley and being spun in saucer cups so fast his eyes literally rolled back in his head.
‘They are hard videos to watch,’ Dr Gifford said. ‘They are a child having unpleasant experiences.’
Others showed him exhausted and clearly desperate to sleep but being kept awake by Varley, either by playing music excessively loudly – including the soundtrack to the Disney film Moana – or ‘jump scaring’ him by suddenly shouting ‘Boo!’.
Dr Gifford described his response in some of them, staring blankly, not laughing or enjoying the activity, was consistent with a sign of trauma called ‘frozen watchfulness’.
Questioning Varley on the playground videos, Mr Wright said: ‘This little lad was resigned to his fate, and it was obvious on his face.’
Jurors heard it had become apparent within weeks of Preston’s arrival that as well as having an ‘obvious sexual interest’ in him, Varley was struggling as a new parent and it was taking a toll on the relationship.
Detectives recovered evidence that Varley had confessed to a fellow teacher about having ‘dark thoughts’ of suffocating or drowning Preston.
He also sent a text to his sister saying the child was ‘dead meat’ after a sleepless night.
Neighbours told the jury they wondered why they heard the baby crying so much.
Messages between him and McGowan-Fazakerley showed Varley was ‘finding it extremely difficult to cope’ when his parter was away working and he was ‘literally left holding the baby’.
On June 15, the night before Preston’s first birthday, McGowan-Fazakerley was running late because his flight back from London was delayed.
In text messages Varley told him ‘that’s your f***ing fault’ and called him a ‘dick’.
A short while later he messaged that Preston was ill, saying: ‘Think he’s had a seizure.’
Mr Wright pointed out that Preston had never suffered any seizures before being placed with the couple, after which he appeared to experience three in as many months.
Jurors were told they were not the result of any illness or other spontaneous event, but the aftermath of an assault by Varley in which his airways were blocked.
Mr Wright said the tone of the messages showed Varley ‘resented’ his partner and ‘took out his frustrations’ on Preston.
Cross-examining Varley, the prosecutor said: ‘It’s all about you, Mr Varley, isn’t it, and the stress that was placed on you and the disruption to your life and the resentment that it built – that’s what it’s all about.’
Mr Wright said it ‘must have been obvious’ to McGowan-Fazakerley that his partner was struggling and suggested there was no way Varley would have confided to work colleagues and not to him.
Within days of welcoming Preston into their home, Varley was telling colleagues it was ‘exhausting’ getting up during the night and he was ‘really struggling’ with sleep.
By early July, Varley was telling one co-worker he had been confiding in that he was having ‘harmful thoughts’ about Preston.
Giving evidence, the woman described Varley arriving at her house with Preston looking flustered and agitated.
She said: ‘He told me how he was having harmful thoughts towards the baby in terms of drowning or suffocation.
‘He was still agitated at this point. He was very quick to say this was something he was not going to act upon.
‘I believed him, I have children of my own and sometimes your thoughts go to dark places.’
Mr Wright said: ‘Preston’s death was a tragedy waiting to happen. Mr McGowan-Fazakerley knew that but chose to ignore it.’
He added: ‘Mr McGowan-Fazakerley knew that Jamie Varley was struggling to cope mentally with the sole care of Preston.
‘By the morning of July 27, he knew only too starkly the existence of a significant risk of physical harm being caused to Preston by the unlawful act which caused his death by acute upper airways obstruction.
‘The writing was on the wall and had been writ large in the events that had taken place since April.
‘Preston was at the mercy of Jamie Varley’s attention on July 27, and he paid for it with his life.
‘Each of these defendants failed that little boy.’
Varley of was found guilty of murder, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault of a child, 13 counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child, one of distributing an indecent photo of a child, to his co-accused, and one of making an indecent photo.
McGowan-Fazakerley was found guilty of allowing the death of a child, two counts of child cruelty and one count of the sexual assault of a child.
After the verdicts, Karen Tonge, of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: ‘This has been one of the most shocking and horrific cases I have dealt with in my career.
‘Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley had a responsibility to care for and protect baby Preston. They violated that responsibility and 13-month-old Preston was abused with sickening ease.
‘It is difficult to comprehend how the very people who should have loved him could inflict such sickening physical and sexual harm on an innocent child.
‘No child should have to go through what Preston went through in the last four months of his short life and I cannot begin to imagine the toll this has taken on those that loved Preston. My thoughts remain with them all.’
An NSPCC spokesperson said: ‘This is a deeply distressing and heartbreaking case. Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were entrusted with caring for Preston Davey and providing him with a safe, loving childhood. Instead, for the four months he lived with the couple, this little boy was subjected to sexual, physical and emotional abuse, before being murdered by Varley.
‘This case will leave many people asking how such a tragedy could have happened. Babies are particularly vulnerable as they are entirely reliant on the adults around them for care and protection, and Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley are responsible for Preston’s suffering and death.
‘It is vital that any learnings identified for others involved in this little boy’s short life are fully acted upon to help protect children in the future.
‘Everyone can play a part in keeping children safe, and that sometimes means asking difficult questions and thinking the unthinkable. We all need to challenge things that don’t seem right and share our concerns with those who can intervene.
‘Anyone who has concerns about a child’s welfare or safety can call 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk. If a child is in immediate danger, always call the police on 999.’
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