A secondary school teacher who sexually abused and murdered his adopted baby son will die behind bars. Jamie Varley, 37, and his boyfriend John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, were given nine-month-old Preston Davey to look after at their home in Blackpool with a view to adopting him in April 2023.
Over the next four months, the 'evil' pair subjected the toddler to a campaign of physical, psychological and sexual assaults, eventually leading to his death on July 27. Varley, who treated Preston as his 'plaything', was today given a whole life sentence by Mr Justice Turner, who told him: 'This is a case of the utmost gravity. You will stay in prison for the rest of your life. You will never be eligible for parole.'
Conviction and Sentencing
Varley was convicted of Preston's murder a day before what would have been his fourth birthday earlier this week. He was also found guilty of 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 jailed for 25 years after he was convicted of allowing the death of a child, two counts of child cruelty and one count of the sexual assault of a child.
Background of the Case
Their trial heard Preston 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. In a victim impact statement, Ms Davey described the day Preston was taken from her as one of the worst of her life. She said: 'I had no choice in that decision. I tried to take some comfort in believing he would be safe, loved, and protected, and he was with his foster parents, Sandra and Paul (Cooper), I trusted them, they and the system trusted you, that trust was completely and unforgivably broken.'
Ms Davey added: 'I will never forgive you for what you did to my son and what you stopped him from becoming and achieving in his life. Every single day, I live with the unimaginable pain of wondering what he went through. Those thoughts do not leave me. They are with me when I wake up, and they haunt me when I try to sleep. The reality of how he suffered is something I will carry for the rest of my life.'
Preston's biological dad, Gary Nolan, 43, was serving a 12-month prison sentence for headbutting a tram driver in a racist attack when his son was born. In his victim impact statement, Mr Nolan told of his grief at hearing the news of his son's death. 'Hysterical and crying', Mr Nolan was admitted to hospital for his own safety and still takes medication to help manage his anxiety and depression. He said: 'Preston was my first and only son. The fact that he has been taken away from me has stopped me from having a father-son relationship. I was looking forward to doing the simple things with him, playing football, teaching him how to ride a bike, having him ask me for help, seeing him learn to drive and of course celebrating his birthdays. This has deprived my three daughters and me of ever having these opportunities.'
Foster Parents' Testimony
Sarah Cooper, who fostered Preston alongside her husband Paul, said his death had a 'huge impact' on their lives. She told the court he was going to be the last child they fostered – but they could not retire following his death. Mrs Cooper said: 'We felt we had a duty to other children and could not sit back and enjoy ourselves knowing that other children were being abused, mistreated and could die. My husband Paul and I have continued to foster children to protect them. We are doing this for Preston, in his memory.'
Mr Cooper said: 'As a foster carer, you have to put so much trust in the system and the persons responsible for caring for a child. What happened to Preston has caused me to lose that trust, thus affecting me socially and through being a foster carer. I don't see being a foster carer as an 'employment', more like a vocation. Preston had his whole life ahead of him, one that should have been a happy life with a new family. I will never ever forget him. I cannot express enough the pain that I am going through to even speak about this and the way his life was cut so short. I will never forget you Preston.'
Details of the Abuse
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 trial heard Preston had been taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital three times in the months before his death with suspicious bruises noticed by medical staff, but these were explained away and police stood down.
Preston had also been seen by an array of social workers and teachers, colleagues of Varley, who took a year off work as head of year and design and technology teacher at South Shore Academy in Blackpool. But on July 27, 2023, Varley rushed Preston to hospital a final time, unresponsive. He claimed to have left Preston in the bath for a couple of minutes and returned to find him submerged. Medics worked in vain for 50 minutes to save his life. Varley appeared distraught, blaming himself for leaving Preston unattended as he slipped from his seat and drowned.
But jurors 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.
The jury that found the couple guilty of all charges 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. They 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. 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. Tests also revealed traces of McGowan-Fazakerley's sperm on the bars of the cot where Preston had been positioned.
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 'floundering about, losing his balance in the water' 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,' Child sexual abuse expert Dr Joanne Gifford told the jury.
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'.
On the day he died, Varley recorded a Snapchat video at 4.45pm showing Preston lying on the bed struggling for breath. Dr 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.
Timeline of Key Events
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.
Jurors were shown the body-worn footage from police officers called to the hospital to speak to Varley. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fallows said: 'You can see he was walking around theatrically, threw himself to the floor at one point, very theatrical. I think I referred to it before as a pantomime, and that's very much how it felt, buying himself time to concoct a story to explain what he had done to that little boy.' Mr Fallows added: 'It is not often in this job that you encounter pure evil. Anybody who has followed this trial will no doubt understand why I place Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley in that category. Almost from day one, they set about abusing Preston and making his short life a harrowing tale of misery and pain. It was this abuse that ultimately led to Preston's death. For the first nine months of his life Preston was a happy and healthy child but by the end he was a broken shell.'
