.svg)
In a landmark verdict that has exposed catastrophic failures in the adoption system, a Blackpool teacher has been found guilty of murdering his 13-month-old adopted son after a seven-week trial that laid bare the baby’s final months of unimaginable suffering.
Daily Dazzling Dawn can report that Preston Crown Court heard how Preston Davey, who had been placed with the couple for adoption in April 2023, died from acute upper airways obstruction on July 27 of that year – a direct result of a fatal sexual assault perpetrated by Jamie Varley, 37, a former head of year at South Shore Academy in Blackpool.
Varley collapsed and was physically sick in the dock as the jury foreman delivered the guilty verdict after 14 hours of deliberation. His partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, a finance company sales manager, stood motionless as he too was convicted of causing or allowing the child’s death, alongside charges of cruelty and sexual assault.
The question at the heart of this harrowing case – why a respected educator would systematically destroy the infant he had vowed to protect – has been answered by the prosecution’s evidence, which painted a portrait of a man who used the child solely to gratify his own depraved desires.
Peter Wright KC, prosecuting, told the jury that Preston had been used as a “plaything” to satisfy Varley’s sexual interests from the moment the baby entered the couple’s immaculate home on Staining Road, Blackpool . Rather than the loving environment the adoption process had promised, Preston endured nearly four months of what the court heard was “routine” sexual abuse, physical assault, and psychological torment.
Crucially, the court heard that Varley had explicitly disclosed his dark intentions long before the killing – yet nothing was done to remove Preston from the danger.
Approximately one month before the baby’s death, Varley visited a female work colleague and “unburdened” himself. He told her he had not “bonded” with the child – whom he had renamed Elijah – and disclosed that he was experiencing “dark thoughts” towards the infant. Specifically, Varley admitted to having thoughts of drowning or suffocating the baby, though he claimed he would never act on them .
This disclosure had been made, Varley told the colleague, as part of welfare checks involving his employer and the social workers overseeing the adoption. The colleague only approached police after Preston’s death.
The prosecution argued that Varley’s violence escalated from “taking out annoyance” he felt towards his partner to full-blown sexual abuse. The fatal attack occurred on the afternoon of July 27, 2023, when Varley was alone with Preston. The court heard that Varley may have sexually assaulted the child twice that afternoon, causing him to suffocate and suffer a seizure. The post-mortem examination found no evidence of drowning – contradicting Varley’s theatrical claim that he had left the baby unattended in a bath chair for four minutes. Preston’s hair was dry, and no water was found in his lungs.
McGowan-Fazakerley’s conviction answers the second critical question: what role did the adoptive father play in the tragedy, and why did he not intervene?
The prosecution’s case was that McGowan-Fazakerley was fully aware of the “glaringly obvious” risk Varley posed to Preston but “chose to ignore” it . Far from being an unwitting absentee partner – he worked in Manchester while Varley remained at home – McGowan-Fazakerley was present for key episodes of abuse.
Most damningly, the court heard that on July 23, just four days before Preston’s death, both men jointly participated in a “sickening” sexual assault. The baby was placed standing with his arms draped over the bars of his cot while photographs were taken. Mr Wright told the jury that each man acted either as “abuser or encourager,” posing an “immediate and blindingly obvious” danger to the child .
McGowan-Fazakerley also received messages from Varley on June 15 – while he was flying back from a business trip – informing him that Preston had suffered a seizure. The prosecution argued this was yet another missed opportunity to seek medical intervention .
In his defence, McGowan-Fazakerley claimed he should not be held responsible because he was not at home when most of the alleged abuse occurred. He also argued that no other adults – including social workers and medical staff – had identified anything amiss. His defence further contended that despite the presence of his DNA in relation to the July 23 assault, the evidence was not sufficiently conclusive . The jury rejected these arguments.
The paradox at the centre of this case – why a couple would endure the rigorous adoption process only to destroy the child placed in their care – was addressed implicitly through the prosecution’s characterisation of the defendants as outwardly respectable men concealing profound pathology.
Mr Wright described Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley as “in a seemingly stable and loving relationship,” living in an immaculate home – a facade that successfully deceived social workers from Adoption Now, the north-west England adoption agency, and Oldham Council, which had placed Preston in foster care after his birth.
The evidence suggests that the couple did not want a child in any conventional sense of parenting. Rather, the prosecution argued, Preston was procured as an object – a “plaything” to satisfy Varley’s sexual desires . The adoption process, with its extensive checks and home visits, was effectively exploited by two men whose true intentions were concealed behind a veneer of respectability.
Preston’s biological background adds a tragic layer of context. Daily Dazzling Dawn can reveal that the baby was the son of Sarah Davey, 42, who as a 14-year-old committed what a judge described as an “unspeakably wicked” murder in 1998. Davey and a friend tortured and killed 71-year-old Lily Lilley in Oldham before dumping her body in a bin and throwing it into the Rochdale Canal . Preston was taken from Davey by social services just five days after his birth in June 2022 at Wythenshawe Hospital, while she was serving time in prison.
Preston’s maternal grandmother, Debbie Davey, 66, had wanted to adopt the boy herself but withdrew from the process due to her battle against breast cancer. Following the verdicts, she called for the social workers involved in the case to be sacked, telling journalists: “Everyone involved with Preston is still working. That is not right”.
The catalogue of injuries sustained by Preston in his short life is almost impossible to comprehend. A Home Office post-mortem examination found 40 traumatic injuries, including bruises and grazes to his head, face, mouth, upper limbs, chest, back, and left thigh. He also had injuries to his mouth, throat, and bottom. There was bruising to his forehead consistent with “gripping of the little boy’s head” and bruising to his thigh consistent with an open-handed slap
Yet Preston had been taken to hospital on three separate occasions before his death – each time with injuries that should have raised alarms.
On May 25, he was presented with breathing difficulties. On June 30, he was taken in with an unexplained rash, at which point bruising was noted by medical staff. On July 6, he was brought to hospital with a broken elbow, the result of rough handling – an injury that led to Varley’s grievous bodily harm charge.
The morning of his death – July 27, 2023 – Preston had been taken to Varley’s mother’s house, where he was photographed playing happily on her knee, appearing “in good health and uninjured” . Later that day, while alone with Varley, the baby went into apparent respiratory distress. Varley filmed one episode on his mobile phone but did not seek help. Less than two hours later, at approximately 6.30pm, shortly after McGowan-Fazakerley returned from work, the couple brought Preston to Blackpool Victoria Hospital. He was in cardiac arrest and could not be revived, dying after just 50 minutes.
Mr Justice Mark Turner has adjourned sentencing until Thursday, with Varley facing a mandatory life term. The judge will determine the minimum tariff Varley must serve before becoming eligible for parole – a figure that, given the aggravating factors of extreme sexual violence, breach of trust, and the vulnerability of the victim, is expected to be substantial. McGowan-Fazakerley also faces a significant custodial sentence.
But the legal reckoning extends beyond the dock. Oldham Council has confirmed that no staff members have been disciplined or dismissed in the wake of Preston’s death, though an independent child safeguarding practice review is being conducted and is expected to report in due course . The question of how Varley’s disclosed “dark thoughts” to social workers and his employer failed to trigger any protective action will be central to that inquiry.
For Preston’s grandmother, Debbie Davey, and for a public horrified by the details of this case, the coming weeks will bring not only the closure of sentencing but also the opening of a wider investigation into how the adoption system failed to protect one of the most vulnerable children in its care.
