Teacher guilty of sexually abusing and murdering adopted baby

A teacher has been found guilty of sexually abusing and murdering the 13-month-old baby boy he adopted with his partner.

Preston Davey died in July 2023 at the hands of Jamie Varley, 37, who took a year off work to adopt him.

Varley, from Blackpool, told police Preston had accidentally drowned in a bath, but a post-mortem examination discovered the child had suffered 40 injuries.

His partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, has been found guilty of sexual assault, child cruelty and allowing the death of a child. The pair will be sentenced on Thursday.

• Warning: This article contains distressing information

Preston was adopted by Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley, a financial sales manager, in April 2023 and in the next four months he suffered sexual abuse and ill-treatment, the trial at Preston Crown Court heard.

Preston was born in June 2022 and taken into care by Oldham Council.

Preston's mother, Sarah Davey, now 42, had been jailed at the age of 14 for the murder of a frail pensioner in 1998 and had been in and out of prison since then.

In court, his mother and grandmother sobbed throughout as the 29 guilty verdicts were returned.

Preston was placed with foster parents at five days old, remaining with them for the first 10 months of his life.

• How adoptive parents' lies unravelled to reveal 'reign of terror'

Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were approved for adoption and Preston began living at their home in Blackpool in April 2023, when he was nine months old.

But in the just under four months he was in their care, he was routinely ill-treated, sexually abused and physically assaulted, suffering 40 traumatic injuries.

He also had indecent images and videos taken of him.

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.

Preston had also been seen by several social workers.

Varley rushed Preston to hospital for a final time on 27 July, unresponsive. He claimed to have left the child in the bath for a couple of minutes and returned to find him submerged.

But the trial heard Preston's hair was dry, he had a nappy on and he did not appear to have swallowed any water.

A Home Office post-mortem examination ruled out drowning as the cause of death, with the cause found to be acute upper airways obstruction by an object or objects inserted into his mouth.

Varley stood in the dock and put his hands to his face as the guilty verdicts were read out, before collapsing to his knees, retching and vomiting.

McGowan-Fazakerley did not react but his father, who was watching from the gallery, shook his head.

Det Ch Insp Andy Fallows said the two men were "pure evil".

"Almost from day one, they set about abusing Preston and making his short life a harrowing tale of misery and pain," he said.

"For the first nine months of his life Preston was a happy and healthy child but by the end he was a broken shell.

"This was due to the sordid and wicked acts of Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley."

Karen Tonge for the Crown Prosecution Service said it was one of the "most shocking and horrific cases I have dealt with in my career".

Following an eight-week trial a jury spent about 14 hours considering the verdicts before returning to court.

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.

A spokesperson for Oldham Council said: "The death of any child is a tragedy, but this is a particularly heart-wrenching and disturbing case.

"We are thankful that the perpetrators of the sickening murder and abuse of an innocent child have today been convicted for their crimes."

They said an independent Child Safeguarding Practice Review was already under way, which would examine the handling of Preston's safeguarding.

"Our thoughts remain with Preston's family, loved ones, and the many people affected by this case."

Regional adoption agency, Adoption Now, said it was a "deeply upsetting case, and our thoughts are with everyone affected by these truly awful crimes".

It said it followed "a strict and rigorous process... in the assessment and approval of adopters".

"An independent Child Safeguarding Practice Review is being completed."

Both defendants will be sentenced on Thursday by Mr Justice Turner.

He thanked jurors and told them, "bearing in mind what we have called upon you to do", they would be exempt from jury service for life.

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