A teacher in England has been convicted of sexually abusing and killing a 13-month-old boy he had adopted with his partner just months before the child’s death.
Jamie Varley, 37, from Blackpool, was found guilty of murdering Preston Davey in July 2023. Varley had taken a year off work to adopt the infant. His partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, a financial sales manager, was found guilty of sexual assault, child cruelty and allowing the death of a child. The pair are set to be sentenced on Thursday.
Preston was born in June 2022 and placed into care by Oldham Council at five days old. He spent the first ten months of his life with foster parents before Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were approved for adoption. Preston moved into their Blackpool home in April 2023, when he was nine months old.
In the roughly four months he spent in their care, the trial at Preston Crown Court heard, the child was routinely ill-treated, sexually abused and physically assaulted, sustaining 40 traumatic injuries. Indecent images and videos were also taken of him.
Preston had been brought to Blackpool Victoria Hospital three times in the months before his death with suspicious bruising noticed by medical staff, though the injuries were explained away each time. Several social workers had also seen him during this period.
On July 27, Varley rushed an unresponsive Preston to hospital, claiming that he had left the child in the bath briefly and returned to find him submerged.
The trial heard Preston’s hair was dry, he was wearing a nappy and showed no signs of having swallowed water.
A Home Office autopsy ruled out drowning. The cause of death was found to be acute upper airways obstruction caused by an object or objects inserted into his mouth. The examination also uncovered 40 injuries across the child’s body.
Preston’s mother, Sarah Davey, 42 and his grandmother wept throughout as 29 guilty verdicts were returned in court. Davey had been jailed at 14 for the murder of a pensioner in 1998 and had been in and out of prison since.
