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A sadistic high school teacher who murdered his adopted baby son used his charm and professional reputation to hide his “gratuitous” sexual and physical abuse of the 13-month-old.
Preston Davey was repeatedly taken to hospital with suspicious bruising in the months after he was adopted by Jamie Varley, a textiles teacher and head of year 11, and his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley, a financial sales manager.
Despite being seen by a “battery of professionals” during his short life, no one recognised or put a stop to the horrific abuse. Preston was eventually killed in July 2023 following a fatal sexual assault at the hands of Varley.
A judge found the killer’s profession and “easy manner” had helped to reassure professionals that he was fit to be parent.
Handing him a rare whole life order on Thursday, Mr Justice Turner said Varley, 37, had started his campaign of abuse amid simmering “selfish resentment” towards Preston for disrupting his sleep and impacting his relationship with McGowan-Fazakerley.
“You, Varley, soon began to complain to friends and work colleagues that you and McGowan-Fazakerley were losing sleep and it was having an impact upon your relationship,” the judge said.
“I am sure that your growing and selfish resentment towards Preston played at least some part in your motivation for treating him so badly in the weeks which followed.
“I do not doubt that your professional background as a teacher together with your charm and easy manner did much to reassure the social workers and health professionals that all was well when it clearly was not.”
McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was jailed for 25 years at Preston Crown Court for sexual assault and allowing the baby’s death.
The couple met on Canal Street in Manchester’s gay village in late 2018. Within six months, McGowan-Fazakerley had moved to Blackpool and in 2020 the couple bought a £220,000 three-bed semi-detached house on the outskirts of the resort, complete with marble floors and chandeliers.
Varley was described in court as a self-confessed “Drama Queen” while McGowan-Fazakerley, reserved and level-headed, was the “Steady Eddie” in their relationship.
According to their neighbours, the would often hear Varley shouting at his partner. But he was well regarded at the high school where he was promoted to a designated safeguarding lead with a significant pastoral role.
The couple were approved for adoption in February 2022 and matched with Preston, who was nine months old when he moved in with them.
But for the four short months he was in their care, he was subjected to a horrific campaign of sexual, physical and mental abuse.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fallows, who led the murder investigation for Lancashire Police, said the case had “truly shocked the nation”.
“Jamie Varley is an evil and monstrous individual who sexually, physically and mentally abused a vulnerable baby for his own sadistic pleasure,” he said.
“I struggle to imagine the horror that Preston endured in his short life.
“This has been one of the most challenging investigations our force major investigation team has ever undertaken, and the most extreme example of sordid and wicked behaviour by two completely remorseless human beings.”
The trial heard that for the first nine months of his life, Preston was “perfectly happy and healthy” as he was cared for by experienced foster parents Sandra and Paul Cooper.
Preston had been removed from his mother, Sarah Davey, now 42, by an emergency care order by Oldham Council and placed into foster care at five days old.
When she was aged 14, Ms Davey was jailed for the “unspeakably wicked” murder of a frail pensioner in 1998 and had been in and out of prison since then.
At first, Ms Cooper thought Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley would make ideal parents for Preston, but she had a “gut feeling” something was wrong after he had spent a month with his new family.
Varley had taken a year off teaching but confessed to a colleague he had “dark thoughts” of suffocating or drowning Preston.
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.
When he rushed Preston to hospital in cardiac arrest on 27 July 2023, Varley told medics he had left him unattended in the bath and returned to find him submerged. But medics did not find any water in his lungs and his hair was dry.
In hospital, Varley gave a “performance” of a grieving parent that one senior doctor described as unlike she had ever seen before.
The Home Office post-mortem examination uncovered 40 non-accidental, internal and external injuries, concluding Preston’s death was caused by acute upper airways obstruction by an object or objects inserted into his mouth.
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 following an eight-week trial at Preston Crown Court.
McGowan-Fazakerley was found guilty of allowing the death of a child, two counts of child cruelty and one count of sexual assault of a child.
