Teacher who murdered and sexually abused his adopted baby son to die behind bars as mum makes emotional statement
Preston Davey was routinely ill-treated, had indecent images and videos taken of him, and was sexually abused and physically assaulted.
A teacher will die in jail for the murder and sexual abuse of his adopted baby son. Teacher Jamie Varley, 37, has been sentenced to a whole life order for the murder and sexual abuse of his adopted baby, Preston Davey.
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Jamie Varley, 37, a former head of year, has been given a whole life sentence for the killing of Preston Davey during sexual abuse in July 2023.
His partner, 32-year-old sales manager John McGowan-Fazakerley, who was complicit in Preston's death, was sentenced to 25 years.
In the four months he was in their care, Preston was routinely ill-treated, had indecent images and videos taken of him, and was sexually abused and physically assaulted, suffering 40 traumatic injuries.
Preston had been taken from his mother, Sarah Davey, now 42, by an emergency care order by Oldham Council.
Ms Davey, when she was 14, had been jailed for the “unspeakably wicked” murder of a frail pensioner in 1998 and had been in and out of prison since then.
Read more: Teacher guilty of sexual abuse and murder of 13-month-old adopted baby boy
Passing sentence Mr Justice Turner said 13-month-old Preston Davey had faced "unremitting abuse” and neglect before being killed by Jamie Varley during a sex attack
Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were approved for adoption in January 2023 and Preston began living at their home in Blackpool in April 2023.
Following an eight-week trial, both men were convicted by a jury at Preston Crown Court on Monday.
Varley, who took a year off from his job as a high school head of year for the adoption, 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.
The trial heard Preston had been taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital three times in the months before his death, on April 27 2023, and was seen by a “battery of professionals” during his life, including multiple social workers, health visitors and medics.
A social services investigation is underway.
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 and police stood down.
Preston had also been seen by multiple social workers and teachers, colleagues of Varley, who took a year off work as head of year and design and technology teacher at South Shore Academy in Blackpool.
But on July 27 2023, Varley rushed Preston to the hospital a final time, unresponsive.
He claimed to have left the child in the bath for a couple of minutes and returned to find him submerged.
Medics worked in vain for 50 minutes to save his life.
Meanwhile, Varley gave a "performance" of a grieving parent that one senior doctor described as unlike she had ever seen before.
It was also noted that Preston’s hair was dry, he had a nappy in place, and he did not appear to have swallowed any water.
Addressing Varley, Judge Turner said: “It was you who did this. You murdered him.
“A whole life order is a sentence of last resort for cases of the most extreme gravity.
"This is a case of the most extreme gravity. You must stay in prison for the rest of your life. You will never be eligible for parole."
Varley, wearing a purple vee-neck T-shirt, looked gaunt and sat with his hands folded on his lap, looking straight ahead and made no reaction.
A Home Office post-mortem ruled out drowning as the cause of death, and the examination found around 40 non-accidental, internal and external injuries.
They included multiple clusters of ‘finger tip’ bruises on his head, face and limbs, slap marks on his leg, and a human bite mark on the baby’s right buttock.
Preston also had injuries to his mouth, throat and bottom, with parts of his anatomy “abnormal” and the injuries consistent with “forcible penetration” and sexual abuse.
The cause of Preston’s death was found to be acute upper airways obstruction by an object or objects inserted into his mouth.
Earlier in an emotional statement, Preston's birth mum Sarah Davey said: “Preston was innocent. He was defenceless. He relied entirely on you - the adults responsible for him - to love him, care for him, and keep him safe.
“Instead, you caused him suffering. You took away his chance to grow up, to go to school, to make friends, to live a full life. You took everything from him.”
Preston was born to Davey in June 2022 while she was in and out of prison after being convicted of the killing of a pensioner when she was 14 years old.
She said she would “never forgive” the two men for what they did to her son and what they “stopped him from becoming and achieving in his life”.
A government spokesperson said: “This is a sickening case of evil abusers exploiting a vulnerable child. The public rightly demand answers about what went wrong and we can assure them we will make sure anyone responsible for negligence faces consequences.
“This is exactly why this government has brought in the most far-reaching child protection reforms in a generation, including with a new law, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, which requires social workers, health professionals and the police to work together better to protect vulnerable children at risk of abuse. We are also introducing a new Child Protection Authority in England to oversee the national picture.”
“An independent review has been commissioned by the local authorities and the independent national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel will work with them to get to the bottom of this horrifying case. The reviewer will publish their findings as soon as possible.”