WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT: Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley gave the outward impression of being devoted parents to their adopted son Preston Davey. Then the sick truth came to light
From the outside, it appeared as though Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley could provide the sort of secure, nurturing home baby Preston Davey so desperately needed.
Their social media pages were filled with photographs of the adorable tot, with his sweet curls and beautiful smile. But the “Instagram-ready” image of family life turned out to be nothing more than a sick facade.
Behind the doors of their semi-detached home in Blackpool, baby Preston was subjected to physical, sexual and emotional torture. After months of abuse, the tragic tot died on July 27 2023, at just 13 months old.
In a gruelling trial, jurors found Varley was found guilty of murder, assault by penetration, sexual assault, causing grievous bodily harm and cruelty. His ex-partner 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.
Now serious questions are being asked on how Preston was failed at every turn during his short life, and how the depraved acts of his evil carers went unnoticed.
Preston’s adoptive parents were quite different in background and temperament, and may have seemed like an unlikely pairing when they first crossed paths in a bar in Manchester’s Gay Village. But they turned out to be a match made in hell.
Varley grew up in a poor area of Blackpool, and is one of five children born to a working-class family. McGowan-Fazakerley, meanwhile, enjoyed a more privileged upbringing.
An only child, the Congleton-raised 32-year-old was afforded a private education at Macclesfield’s Kings School, and went on to study up to PhD level at Keele University. A lucrative career in sales then followed, with McGowan-Fazakerley rising to become an operational manager at a finance company.
Varley, 37, also excelled in his career despite challenges posed by his severe dyslexia. Initially employed as a technician, Varley rose to become a design and technology teacher and later head of Year 11 at Blackpool’s South Shore Academy after earning his teaching qualifications.
By his own admission, “sassy” and “dramatic”, Varley would later tell Preston Crown Court how his “whole life just changed” after meeting the quieter McGowan-Fazakerley. He said: “I had always thought about having kids, I wanted to be a teacher, a daddy, just never thought it was possible once I realised I was a gay man. John was everything I had ever asked for in a relationship.”
It wasn’t long before the two men moved in together, setting up home in the Lancashire village of Staining, close to Blackpool. They welcomed a pet dog named Maximus, and, from early on in the relationship, discussed the possibility of starting a family of their own.
Then, after attending a family wedding where the couple’s child was present, they decided to take a leap. McGowan-Fazakerley said: “I’ve always wanted children, and Jamie’s always wanted children. It just fitted. Careers were in the right place, we were in that house, we were settled – it felt like the right time.”
By late 2021, McGowan-Fazakerley began making enquiries with the adoption agency, Adoption Now, with the vetting process finding nothing in his or Varley’s seemingly respectable personal histories that sent alarm bells ringing. In January 2023, the couple were approved as adoptive parents, and on April 1 of that same year, “sweet and bubbly” Preston, then nine months old, was brought home to live with them.
The baby had been born to murderer Sarah Davey, now 42, who, as a 14-year-old, tortured and killed 71-year-old Lily Lilley, alongside her then 15-year-old friend Lisa Healey. Despite this haunting family history, Preston was described as a “happy” and “perfectly healthy baby” when he was delivered into the care of McGowan-Fazakerley and Varley, who presented as model parents.
While on the witness stand, Varley attempted to paint a picture of domestic bliss, telling the court: “That little boy, our little boy, had a brilliant life with us.” He talked about their weekly “dancing Fridays” where the trio would dance, laugh and “be silly” together. But the perfect image presented on social media was a far cry from the resentment and cruelty brewing behind closed doors.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fallows, who led the investigation, spoke of how Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley “were very Instagram-ready”, documenting their lives on social media in a carefully curated manner. He explained: “What I mean by that is everything was for show. They tried to present as the perfect family, living in the perfect home, having the perfect lives.
“But if you scratched away at that veneer of respectability, the reality was far removed from a professional, well-to-do couple that lived, in Jamie Varley’s words, in a show home.”
Varley took a year off work to care for Preston, while McGowan-Fazakerley continued to work long hours, often involving a lengthy commute to the office in Salford Quays. He told the court: “I lived on the M6.”
The court heard how Varley, who claimed he had dreamed of becoming “a teacher, a daddy with a Jeep who lived on a farm”, struggled as a new parent with a baby who woke frequently throughout the night. He told a friend that he was having “dark thoughts” about Preston, who the couple had renamed Elijah.
Peter Wright KC, prosecuting, said: “[Varley] was worried about ‘Elijah’ in respect of his not sleeping and that he was not ‘bonding’ with him as he had hoped. He disclosed to her that he had harmful thoughts towards Elijah and had thoughts of drowning him or suffocating him but that he would never carry them out.
“The witness tried to reassure him that such thoughts were capable of rational explanation and that sometimes as a parent you have thoughts of ‘worse case scenarios’.”
Varley told her he had disclosed his thoughts to his employers and social workers involved in the adoption process. Mr Wright said: “She dismissed the exchange from her thoughts until it was discovered that Preston had died. Later she revealed it to the police.”
“Sick” of McGowan-Fazakerley being away from the family home, Varley’s frustrations are evidenced in texts blaming his partner for catching a late return flight following a work trip, snapping that it was his ‘f***ing fault, now f*** off.’
Jurors heard that Varley’s sickening sexual interest in Preston was “shared” by McGowan-Fazakerley and became evident “within weeks” of him being brought into their home.
Varley’s phone contained hundreds of harrowing videos and images that laid Preston’s torment bare. One image showed the youngster playing naked in a paddling pool around two weeks before his death, with what Home Office pathologist Dr Armour described as a human bite mark on the right side of his bottom.
She said the mark on his body was a round, circular bruise, turning slightly purple and around 3.5cm in diameter. “The size, configuration, which means the shape, are all consistent with a human bite mark,” she confirmed.
Another video from Varley’s phone showed Preston in his cot, along with two toy teddy bears, four days before his death. The video and images stretch over a period of three minutes and 12 seconds, with the child’s head and arms over the top horizontal bar of his cot and his neck resting on the bar.
His body was partially suspended, his legs in a ‘frog like’ position and the child seemingly asleep or unconscious. “This is very unsafe and in my view dangerous,” Dr Armour said. “He’s got his neck in contact with that cot railing. That’s going to inhibit your ability to breathe.” The prosecution claimed the images were “trophies of a sexual encounter”.
In one still photograph, Preston’s head was in a slightly different position with fluid coming from his mouth. Dr Armour continued: “Preston’s tongue is protruding, its blue and also his lips appear blue, consistent with a lack of oxygen in the blood.”
The trial was told that Varley recorded Preston playing with his genitals for his “own sexual gratification” and also photographed him asleep with his private parts exposed.
Dr Joanne Gifford, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s clinical lead, referred jurors to footage they’d seen, including of Preston being “jump scared” when Varley shouts “Boo!” to him while he falls asleep. The child sexual abuse expert, who reviewed evidence in this case, said: “They are hard videos to watch. They are a child having unpleasant experiences.”
On July 27, 2023, Preston was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, having suffered a collapse and cardiac arrest. Tragically, medics could do nothing to revive him. Varley claimed his adopted son had accidentally drowned in the bath while left alone briefly, despite the fact that the baby was dry, wearing a nappy, and did not appear to have any water in his lungs. Police later determined that there was no water in the bath in question.
A post-mortem examination, which ruled out drowning, found 40 external and internal trauma injuries to Preston’s body, consistent with “forcible penetration” and sexual abuse. A pathologist concluded that the cause of death was acute upper airways obstruction by either smothering or an object or objects being inserted into his mouth.
McGowan-Fazakerley turned on his now ex-partner in court, attempting to claim he’d been deceived by Varley, and that his trust had been “misplaced”. He said: “I feel as if, to put it in this way, Preston’s life is like an iceberg, and there’s things under the water I did not know about.”
After 13 hours of deliberation by a jury, Varley was found guilty of murder and other harrowing charges. The child killer collapsed to his knees as the verdict was handed down and vomited.
McGowan-Fazakerley, who was convicted of allowing Preston’s death, plus three counts of child cruelty and one count of the sexual assault of a child, didn’t react.
Describing Varley as “a chameleon”, DCI Fallows said: “He’s got the outward persona of a teacher, quite affable, quite popular, the life and soul. But then again, you dig that little bit deeper, and you start to see it. Jamie Varley is an evil, cruel, manipulative child abuser and murderer. We should not give him a second thought.”
He added: “We should remember Preston Davey. A little boy who was happy, smiley and had a twinkle in his eye, under the love and care of his foster parents.”
If you’ve been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999
Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com
