Teacher Convicted of Murdering and Sexually Abusing Baby He Was in the Process of Adopting

A secondary school teacher has been convicted of the sexual abuse and murder of a baby boy he and his partner were in the process of adopting.

Jamie Varley, 37, now faces a life sentence over the death of 13-month-old Preston Davey, who died after suffocating during the abuse.

Varley’s partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, a sales manager at a finance firm, was also found guilty of offences including causing or allowing Preston’s death and taking part in the sexual assault.

Prosecutors described the case as among the most shocking and disturbing they had ever encountered.

Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley had presented themselves as a respectable middle-class couple and lived in a well-kept home in Blackpool.

But the court heard they were responsible for what prosecutor Peter Wright KC called “a litany of psychological and sexual ill-treatment.”

Varley initially put his hand to his mouth as the jury foreman read out the verdicts – before collapsing and being sick in the dock. 

McGowan-Fazakerley stood motionless in the dock. 

Mr Wright said that instead of being given a loving home, over the near four-month period he was with the couple, Preston had been used as a ‘plaything’ to satisfy Varley’s desires.

As the jury returned its verdicts, Preston’s grandmother Debbie Davey called for social workers to be sacked after it emerged there were a string of missed chances to save him from harm.

But Mrs Davey added: ‘I’m so relieved, I’m happy it’s all over.’ 

It can now also be revealed Preston was the son of notorious murderer Sarah Davey, now 42, who as a 14-year-old murdered Lily Lilley, 71.

In what was described by a judge as an ‘unspeakably wicked’ crime, Davey and her friend Lisa Healey, then 15, befriended the grandmother of three and murdered her in her own home in Failsworth, Oldham, in 1998.

Ms Lilley was brutally tortured – having shampoo squirted into her eyes, being cut with a knife and having a gag tied so tightly around her mouth that her dentures were forced down her throat.

The pair then crammed her lifeless body into a bin and walked it through the streets of Failsworth before throwing it in the Rochdale Canal.

After killing her, they made hundreds of calls from her phone and used her pension money to buy crisps and chocolate.

Sarah Davey, first released from jail in 2013 but then in and out of prison due to breaking her release conditions, had her first child in 2019. The youngster is being brought up by her mother Debbie Davey, 66.

Preston was born in June 2022 in Wythenshawe Hospital when Davey was back in prison – and was taken off her by social services just five days later and placed with foster parents.

Mrs Davey wanted to formally adopt the boy but pulled out of the process due to a battle against breast cancer.

She said social workers involved with the case ‘should be sacked’, adding: ‘Everyone involved with Preston is still working. That is not right.’

Following a trial lasting over seven weeks, jurors at Preston Crown Court took 13 hours to find Varley guilty of murder, assault by penetration, sexual assault, causing grievous bodily harm and cruelty. 

The jury was made up of ten people – six women and four men – after two of its members, one woman and one man, were discharged last week.  

Varley, head of Year 11 at South Shore Academy in Blackpool, was also convicted of 14 counts of making or taking an indecent image and one count of sharing an indecent image.

McGowan-Fazakerley was convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child, cruelty and sexual assault. 

Mr Wright said Preston had been ‘left at (Varley’s) mercy and paid with his life’ when he died on July 27, 2023.

Rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital by Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley – with Varley putting on a theatrical show of hysterics, collapsing and crying ‘I’m going to hell’ – Preston was pronounced dead after just 50 minutes despite the best efforts of medical staff.

Varley claimed Preston had drowned in the bath after he left him momentarily to get changed after having a shower.

But suspicions were raised because he wasn’t wet and a post-mortem examination found no water in his lungs.

Instead, a ‘sinister pathology’ was revealed, showing he died from ‘acute upper airways obstruction’, had bruising to his throat and serious internal injuries – as well as over 40 bruises and other injuries.

The court heard Varley, alone with Preston, may have sexually assaulted Preston twice that afternoon, causing him to suffocate and have a seizure. The post-mortem found his breathing may have been obstructed previously.

Preston had been taken to hospital three times previously, with breathing difficulties on May 25, with an unexplained rash on June 30, when bruising was noted, and on July 6 with a broken elbow due to rough handling – resulting in the GBH charge.

The court heard Varley told McGowan-Fazakerley that Preston also had a seizure on June 15, in messages sent to his partner when he was at home with the infant and McGowan-Fazakerley was flying back from a business trip.

Mr Wright said: ‘The facts of the case point unerringly to the conclusion that Preston had been sexually abused and killed.’

On the morning of his death, Preston was ‘in good health and uninjured’ – taken to Varley’s mother’s house where he was photographed playing happily on her knee.

But the baby later twice went into ‘apparent respiratory distress’, the first episode filmed on Varley’s mobile phone camera, followed by his fatal collapse soon after, the court heard.

Preston was driven to hospital when McGowan-Fazakerley returned from work in Manchester.

Mr Wright accused Varley of initially ‘taking out annoyance’ he felt towards his partner through rough treatment of Preston, which became sexual abuse.

McGowan-Fazakerley knew the ‘glaringly obvious’ risk to Preston from Varley, ‘which he had chosen to ignore’, Mr Wright said.

He later joined in with the sexual abuse, with the pair jointly participating in a sickening assault on July 23, when Preston was placed standing with his arms draped over cot bars and photographs were taken.

Each man acted either as ‘abuser or encourager’ posing ‘immediate and blindingly obvious’ danger, Mr Wright added.

Varley took pictures of Preston naked and of him in the bath with him, plus photographs of injuries which the court heard were ‘trophies’.

Varley’s defence said he had died from choking on vomit caused by cows’ milk allergy reflux, that the throat bruise could have been caused by surgical tubing during resuscitation efforts, and he was a ‘clumsy’ child who bruised easily.

The teacher also claimed the naked pictures of Preston, which included one of both of them in the bath together, were ‘innocent’ and taken because they were ‘funny’, that he videoed Preston having apparent seizures following medical advice.

He added he didn’t always take Preston to hospital because medical staff had told him he shouldn’t unless the seizure lasted over five minutes.

McGowan-Fazakerley claimed he should not be held responsible because he was not at home when any alleged abuse happened and nobody else – including social workers and medical staff – felt anything was wrong.

He denied participating in the July 23 assault, saying he was downstairs cooking and his defence argued that despite the presence of DNA it wasn’t sufficient to be conclusive.

Mr Justice Mark Turner adjourned sentencing until Thursday.

Before the verdicts were announced, he reminded everyone present in court, including Preston’s birth family and relatives of both defendants, to ‘act with dignity whatever the verdicts’.

Sarah Davey sobbed and was consoled by her mother as the verdicts were read out, while Varley’s mother was also in tears and McGowan-Fazakerley’s parents looked shaken. 

The judge made no comment to either defendant as he ordered them to be taken down to the cells. 

Oldham Council say no staff have been disciplined or sacked following the infant’s death but insist an independent child safeguarding practice review is being carried out and will report in due course. 

Karen Tonge, Crown Prosecution Service specialist prosecutor, 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.’

The NSPCC called for better intervention to prevent future tragedies and said it is ‘vital’ that any recommendations from an inquiry into the case are ‘fully acted upon’.

A spokesperson for the charity 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.’

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.

‘An independent Child Safeguarding Practice Review is already underway, which will examine the handling of Preston’s safeguarding.

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

The trust which runs Blackpool Victoria Hospital said it would ‘review’ all evidence heard at the trial of Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley and ‘consider’ whether changes are needed ‘to strengthen safeguarding processes’.

Maggie Oldham, Chief Executive of Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, said: ‘The appalling murder of Preston Davey has shocked us all and our thoughts remain with Preston’s family and all the people affected by these terrible crimes.

‘We are working closely with other agencies and are continuously improving our child safeguarding. We are committed to encouraging colleagues to speak up about anything they are not comfortable with or concerned about.

‘We will now consider carefully all the evidence heard at the trial to identify if any further improvements are necessary, beyond the safeguards already in place.’