Former Teacher Faces Trial Over Alleged Abuse and Death of Adopted Infant

A former U.K. high school teacher is on trial, accused of sexually assaulting and smothering to death a 13-month-old boy he had adopted with his partner.

Jamie Varley, 37, has been charged with the child’s death, along with 25 additional charges related to alleged sexual and physical abuse. His partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, is accused of causing or allowing the death of the child and four other offenses.

The child, Preston Davey, died at Blackpool Victoria Hospital in July 2023 after sustaining more than 40 traumatic injuries, including a fractured arm over a four-month period, a jury at Preston Crown Court was told.

The couple have denied any wrongdoing, according to the BBC.

Preston Davey was adopted by Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley when he was just nine months old.

On July 27, 2023, he was taken to the hospital’s emergency department unconscious. He was in cardiac arrest and died within an hour.

Prosecutors alleged that the child had been a “perfectly healthy boy” before he was adopted by the defendants in April and began living at their home on Staining Road in Blackpool. However, he had to be admitted to the hospital with injuries three times in the next four months.

Before his death, the child was allegedly mistreated and repeatedly sexually assaulted by the defendants. “This is inevitably a highly emotionally charged case. It’s a terrible case because it involves the death of a very, very young child,” prosecutor Peter Wright said.

“It is inevitable that it will provoke strong feelings in anyone who hears the details,” he added.

A post-mortem examination found that Preston Davey’s cause of death was acute upper airway obstruction as a result of smothering.

Peter Wright told the BBC that the child’s death was “not the result of some dreadful yet unforeseen accident or natural phenomenon.”

“The evidence gathered during the investigation into his untimely death revealed a much more sinister pathology. We say the evidence demonstrates that he was murdered by one of the people entrusted with his wellbeing; one of his adoptive parents,” he said.

“We say the person responsible for killing Preston Davey was the defendant, Jamie Varley.”

Wright told the jury that on the day the child died, Varley sexually assaulted him, causing internal injuries, while home alone with the child, as McGowan-Fazakerley had been at work.

Investigators reportedly discovered videos on Jamie Varley’s mobile phone, recorded on the day the child died, showing the boy lying on a bed with obvious signs of respiratory arrest. However, he did not seek medical help.

Several more images and videos depicting months of abuse were found on his phone. The defendants appeared to be a happy, stable couple, but that was far from the truth, Peter Wright said.

Varley denies murder, manslaughter, 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 count of distributing an indecent photo of a child to his co-accused, and one count of making an indecent photo.

John McGowan-Fazakerley denies allowing the death of a child, three counts of child cruelty, and one count of sexual assault of a child.

The trial continues at Preston Crown Court in Lancashire.