A teacher who treated his adopted baby son as a 'plaything' has been found guilty of murdering him 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 John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, at their home in Blackpool in April 2023. Less than four months later, on July 27, the couple were rushing him into Blackpool Victoria Hospital collapsed and in extreme respiratory distress. He died there shortly after.
Varley, a secondary school head of year, appeared distraught, blaming himself for briefly 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. Preston's birth mother wept in the public gallery as the verdicts were returned.
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. It included indecent 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.
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.
Messages between him and McGowan-Fazakerley showed Varley was 'finding it extremely difficult to cope' when his partner 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.'
The pair will be sentenced on a date to be confirmed later.
