A teacher who claimed his adopted baby had accidentally drowned in a bath has been convicted of sexually assaulting the boy before murdering him.
Jamie Varley, 37, took time off work in order to adopt Preston Davey with his partner, 32-year-old John McGowan-Fazakerley, according to the Lancashire Constabulary in the U.K.
‘For the first nine months of his life, Preston was a happy and healthy child, but by the end he was a broken shell.’
In July 2023, the boy was found dead only 13 months after he was born.
Preston had been placed into emergency foster care just days after he was born and was adopted by Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley when the boy was 9 months old.
Prosecutors said the couple subjected the child to sexual and physical abuse before his death four months later.
Police grew suspicious about Varley’s story about an accidental drowning after a post-mortem examination found 40 injuries on the body of the child. At trial, prosecutors said the boy’s hair was dry, he was wearing a diaper, and there was no evidence he had swallowed any water, the BBC reported.
They found instead that he had died of acute upper airways obstruction, police said, likely from having an object or objects forced in his mouth, the BBC noted. He also suffered a cardiac arrest.
Before he died, Preston suffered regular abuse, even after medical staff noticed suspicious injuries to the boy during the three times he was taken to the same hospital for treatment. The couple was able to explain away the incidents. Social workers had also seen the boy.
Police said indecent photographs and videos of the victim were found on Varley’s phone, and one indecent video had been shared with his husband via Snapchat.
A jury found both men guilty on all counts. Varley was found guilty of murder, sexual assault of a child, taking incident child images, and child cruelty, among others. McGowan-Fazakerley was found guilty of allowing the death of a child, child sex assault, and cruelty to a child.
They will be sentenced Thursday.
Sky News published police camera video of Varley pretending to be distressed after calling police about the boy’s death. He was wearing a Jurassic Park shirt at the time.
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Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fallows described the couple as “pure evil” in comments about the case.
“Almost from day one, they set about abusing Preston and making his short life a harrowing tale of misery and pain,” Fallows said.
“For the first nine months of his life, Preston was a happy and healthy child, but by the end he was a broken shell,” he added. “This was due to the sordid and wicked acts of Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley.”
Officials are reviewing “the handling of Preston’s safeguarding,” the BBC reported.
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