“NO SENTENCE WILL EVER BE ENOUGH…” Former teacher Jamie Varley has now been handed a whole-life sentence after being convicted of the mu-rd3r of his adopted son
Preston Davey: Teacher will never leave prison for murder and sexual abuse of adopted baby
Teacher Jamie Varley has been sentenced to a whole life order for the murder of his adopted 13-month-old son, Preston Davey. His partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, guilty of allowing his death, has also been jailed. Follow the latest.
Teacher sentenced to whole life order after sexual abuse and murder of adopted baby
We’re ending our live coverage now. Read the full story in this post or scroll down to catch up on proceedings as they happened – as a reminder, there are details in this case that readers may find disturbing:
A teacher has been given a whole life order for the murder and sexual abuse of his adopted baby, Preston Davey.
Jamie Varley, 37, and his partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, were both jailed today at Preston Crown Court.
Varley had been convicted of the murder of his adopted 13-month-old son, Preston, while McGowan-Fazakerley was convicted of allowing the baby’s death and sexual assault.
Varley was given a whole life order – a rare sentence that means he won’t be eligible for parole – and McGowan-Fazakerley was jailed for 25 years.
Preston was born on 16 June 2022 to his biological mother, Sarah Davey.
He was placed into emergency care with foster parents, Paul and Sandra Cooper, for the first nine months of his life.
On 6 January 2023, Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were approved for adoption, eventually taking in baby Preston.
Varley, from Blackpool, told police Preston drowned in a bath in July 2023, but a post-mortem found the baby had suffered 40 injuries.
Here’s what they were found guilty of:
Varley
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;
One of making an indecent photo.
McGowan-Fazakerley
Allowing the death of a child;
Two counts of child cruelty;
One count of sexual assault of a child.
‘You murdered him’
Passing the sentence, Judge Mr Justice Turner said Preston had faced “unremitting abuse” and neglect before being killed by Varley during a sex attack.
Turning to Varley, he 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 V-neck T-shirt, looked gaunt and sat with his hands folded on his lap, looking straight ahead and made no reaction.
He said Varley’s “growing and selfish resentment towards Preston” played a part in his abuse of the youngster and his “professional background as a teacher, together with your charm and easy manner” was used to reassure others that all was well, even when it wasn’t.
‘I’ll never forgive you’
Sarah Davey, Preston’s biological mother, in a victim impact statement read on her behalf, told the court:
“I will never forgive you for what you did to my son and what you stopped him from becoming and achieving in his life.”
Preston’s biological father, also in an impact statement read out on his behalf, told the court he was having “nightmares” after hearing about Preston’s autopsy. He said:
“Preston was my first and only son. The fact that he has been taken away from me has stopped me from having a father-son relationship.”
The government condemned the abusive couple, calling the case “sickening” and them “evil”.
Police said “no sentence will ever be enough”.
‘No checks should be off the table for adoptive parents’ says children’s commissioner for England
Digital checks “are fine” for potential adoptive parents, the children’s commissioner for England has said.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sarah-Jane Mee, after the sentencing of Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley, Rachel de Souza said: “There should have been no stone unturned to make a decision about whether these people could be adoptive parents, and if that means digital records, [then] digital records are fine.”
“There is nothing that I think should be off the table,” she added.
While she stressed that cases like this are “very, very rare”, she said even “one failure is too many, because that child is dead”.
‘So many unanswered questions’
Souza said there were many questions that needed answering, asking why more social worker visits were not organised and why action was not taken after “all these medical visits” (see previous post).
She highlights her data powers – which enable her to compel all public sector organisations in England to provide data relating to children – and reveals she has been in contact with Oldham council.
‘Get on with it’
The children’s commissioner for England says she has two things to say in relation to the government’s Children’s Wellbeing in Schools Act and plans to improve the system for children in care.
First, she tells the government to “come on, get on with it”, criticising long consultation waiting times.
The second thing she says is that no system will be “foolproof”, but that the primacy of any child should be “at the centre of everything, not how much it costs”.
Timeline of Preston Davey’s tragically short life
“You lot are going to think we have been abusing him or something.”
This is what teacher Jamie Varley, 37, told hospital staff just three months after taking over the care of baby Preston Davey.
Varley, a teacher, was today sentenced to a whole life order for the murder of adopted 13-month-old son Preston Davey.
He was also convicted of sexual abuse, including 13 counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child.
He had told police Preston drowned in a bath in July 2023, but a post-mortem found 40 injuries.
John McGowan-Fazakerley, Varley’s partner, has been sentenced to 25 years.
He was found guilty of sexual assault, child cruelty and allowing Preston’s death.
Here’s a timeline of Preston’s short, tragic life – be aware that it contains details readers may find distressing:
2022
16 June 2022: Preston Davey is born four weeks early, weighing 5lb 7oz, to Sarah Davey at Wythenshawe Hospital, south Manchester.
21 June 2022: Five days later, newborn Preston is placed into emergency care with foster parents by Oldham Council via an interim care order, where he remains for the first nine months of his life.
2023
6 January: Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley are approved for adoption by Adoption Now, a company providing services to local councils. The company says Preston needs: “Love, affection, safety and stability.”
13 February: Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley make their first visit to see Preston at his foster parent’s home.
1 April: Preston spends his first night at the defendants’ home in Staining Road, Blackpool, and is formally placed under the care of the defendants.
6 April: Varley texts his sister, a baby sleep trainer, saying: “He’s dead meat today. Didn’t sleep last night after 11.30. Up every, one and a half hours.”
25 May: At 11.10am, Preston is rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, floppy and unresponsive, with Varley reporting a seizure and breathing difficulties. Nursing staff notice bruising to Preston’s head. A medical report states Preston had “unexplained injuries, inconsistent with a version of events given”. Hospital safeguarding are informed and social services and Lancashire Police are called. It’s eventually decided that the bruises to a baby learning to walk are not regarded as suspicious.
30 June: At around 8.25pm, Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley take Preston to Blackpool Victoria Hospital A&E Department, reporting the child has a rash, diarrhoea, vomiting and high temperature. Medics note bruising to Preston’s head, but staff are shown a home video of the child pulling a toy box on to himself while playing, by way of explanation. Varley comments: “You lot are going to think we have been abusing him or something.” It is later discovered the toy box video was filmed 12 days earlier.
6 July: At 10.36am, Varley takes Preston to hospital for the third time with an injury to his left arm sustained, he said, while putting him in his cot the previous evening. After an X-ray, a cast is applied for a fractured elbow. The child’s social worker, who had been in contact with the hospital, texted Varley to say: “Just to reassure you they said they had absolutely no concerns. U absolutely did the right thing.” She visits the home and notes Preston had a “very sad face and a little cry” during her time there.
7 July: Preston is visited at home by Helen Magee, an independent reviewer from Oldham social services. The same week, Varley tells a work colleague he is struggling mentally and having “dark thoughts” about drowning or suffocating Preston.
23 July: Varley takes a series of photos of Preston, stretching over a period of three minutes, 12 seconds. The child, asleep or unconscious, has his head and arms over the top horizontal bar of his cot and his neck resting on it, his body partially suspended and his legs in a “frog-like” position. His tongue is protruding and his lips appear blue.
27 July: At 4.45pm, Varley records a 35-second video on his phone of Preston in “extreme respiratory distress” taking an “agonal gasp” and needing resuscitation. At 6.30pm Preston is rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital in a critical condition; Varley says he found the child submerged in the bath. A team of paramedics, nurses and doctors attempt to resuscitate for 50 minutes but Preston is pronounced dead at 7.18pm.
31 July: A Home Office post-mortem examination concludes Preston’s cause of death as acute upper airway obstruction and rules out drowning. The autopsy also found around 40 external and internal injuries – including bruises to Preston’s forehead, throat, mouth, bladder, bottom and bleeding in the lungs – with some evidence of “forcible penetration” to the child’s “abnormal” anatomy regarded as clinical signs of sexual abuse.
‘Did they scrutinise this couple as well as any couple?’
Joanna Nicolas, a safeguarding and child protection expert, tells Sky News’ Mark Austin that she wants the review into baby Preston’s death to look at scrutiny.
“Did they scrutinise this couple as well as any couple, or anyone who wants to adopt a child, should be?
“Or were they looked at through a slightly different lens because they were a same sex couple, because they were educated, middle class, because he was a teacher, head of year?”
However, Nicolas admits that people can be “completely clear… and they still behave in this unbelievably horrific and sickening way”.
SOURCE: https://news.sky.com/story/couple-jailed-death-adopted-baby-preston-davey-13554376
