Teacher facing life sentence for murder and sex abuse of adopted baby he treated as his 'plaything'

In the four months he was in the couple's care, Preston Davey was routinely ill-treated, had indecent images and videos taken of him, and was sexually abused and physically assaulted, suffering 40 traumatic injuries. Jamie Varley, 37, who has been found guilty of the murder and sexual abuse of 13-month-old baby Preston Davey. Picture: Alamy A high school teacher is facing a mandatory life sentence later on Thursday for the murder of an adopted 13-month-old baby he sexually abused and treated as his “plaything”. Jamie Varley, 37, adopted Preston Davey at nine months old with his partner, financial sales manager John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32.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 boyRead more: Teacher accused of sexually abusing and murdering adopted baby told medics ‘I effing killed him', court hears Preston Davey was adopted at nine months old. Picture: Alamy Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were approved for adoption in January 2023 and Preston began living at their home in Blackpool, Lancashire, 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.Mr Justice Turner will pass sentence on Thursday morning. John 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. Picture: Alamy 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.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.

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