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.

• Warning: The following court evidence 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.

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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 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.

Lancashire Police

Varley stood in the dock and put his hands to his face in shock as the guilty verdicts were read out, before collapsing to his knees, wretching 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," he said.

"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.

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

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