A TWISTED teacher today vomited in the dock as he was found guilty of murdering and sexually assaulting a baby boy he was adopting.
Little Preston Davey was routinely ill-treated, sexually abused, physically assaulted and had indecent photos taken of him by Jamie Varley.
Just four months after he was adopted, the 13-month-old was smothered to death by the high school teacher.
Varley, 36, threw up in the dock today as he was unanimously found guilty of murder, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, grievous bodily harm and sexual assault of a child.
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He was also convicted of 13 counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child, one of distributing an indecent photo of a child and one of making an indecent photo.
His boyfriend John McGowan-Fazakerley has been convicted of allowing the death of a child, two counts of child cruelty and one count of the sexual assault of a child.
Preston’s birth mum can now be revealed as killer schoolgirl Sarah Davey, who tortured an OAP to death.
Davey, who had the tot removed under an emergency care order, sobbed in court as the 29 guilty verdicts were returned.
Preston Crown Court heard Preston began living with the couple in their Blackpool home in April 2023 after undergoing an assessment and familiarisation process.
But just days later Varley, who took a year off work as head of year to adopt a child, confessed he was struggling with a lack of sleep due to the baby constantly waking in the night.
On April 6, he texted his sister, a baby sleep trainer: “He’s dead meat today. Didn’t sleep last night after 11.30. Up every, one and a half hours.”
Once in the couple’s care, Preston was taken to hospital three times – once with a fractured left elbow.
In July 2023, the pair were captured on CCTV rushing the “floppy” tot to A&E while Varley begged: “Don’t let him die. Please don’t let him die.”
The “hysterical” dad claimed he had left the baby in the bath while he had a shower and returned three to four minutes later to find him unresponsive.
In reality, the brute had sexually abused Preston before smothering the tot with his hand, fabric or by inserting an object into his mouth.
Medics worked for nearly an hour to resuscitate the baby on July 27, 2023, until a decision was made that further intervention was futile.
Varley then tried to give chest compressions and mouth to mouth resuscitation to Preston, despite the breathing tube being still in place.
When told by doctors that Preston could not be saved, Varley pleaded with them to “kill me” and wailed loudly: “It’s all my fault”.
The teacher, who was wearing a red Jurassic Park T-shirt and tartan pyjama bottoms, was filmed sobbing loudly on the hospital floor.
Nurses and police could be seen trying to comfort Varley as he cried: “I can’t, no, I have done this”.
When one of the hospital staff told him that Preston needs him, he replied: “He doesn’t need me, it’s my fault…please get my mum…this is not happening…please kill me, please kill me.”
Varley eventually went to see and cradle his dead son but was heard saying: “I probably won’t see you again, I’m definitely going to hell.”
He continued to spread a web of lies about Preston drowning but the baby had dry hair, was wearing a nappy, the bath tub was empty and no water was found in his lungs.
Preston’s cause of death was instead given as an acute obstruction of his upper airway.
A post mortem found he had suffered 40 multiple non-accidental, internal and external injuries.
The jury heard some of these injuries showed clinical signs of sexual abuse, including “forcible penetration”.
Preston had been described as a happy, smiley baby before he was placed in the couple’s care.
But after being adopted, he was said to look “blank” – a sign child abuse expert Dr Joanne Gifford described to the jury as “frozen watchfulness”, a trauma and stress response to child abuse.
The court was told Varley’s sexual interest in Preston was evident “within weeks” of his placement and that the teacher treated him as a “plaything”.
McGowan-Fazakerley “shared” his depraved interest, which was shown in indecent images and videos taken of the baby.
Peter Wright KC, prosecuting, said: “Preston’s death was a tragedy waiting to happen. Mr McGowan-Fazakerley knew that but chose to ignore it.”
Police recovered a series of harrowing photos of Preston taken four days before his death, over a period of three minutes 12 seconds while he was being sexually assaulted.
Four days later, Varley recorded another video of Preston in extreme distress, hardly breathing and taking “agonal breaths” as he lay dying.
Varley denied murder, manslaughter, sexual assault of a child under 13, two counts of assault by penetration, grievous bodily harm, five counts of child cruelty and further counts of making, taking and distributing indecent images.
McGowan-Fazakerley pleaded not guilty to causing and allowing the death of a child, three counts of child cruelty and sexual assault of a child under 13.
The evil couple will be sentenced on Thursday.
Karen Tonge, of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “This has been one of the most shocking and horrific cases I have dealt with in my career.
“Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley had a responsibility to care for and protect baby Preston. They violated that responsibility and 13-month-old Preston was abused with sickening ease.
“It is difficult to comprehend how the very people who should have loved him could inflict such sickening physical and sexual harm on an innocent child.
“No child should have to go through what Preston went through in the last four months of his short life and I cannot begin to imagine the toll this has taken on those that loved Preston. My thoughts remain with them all.”
