Baby was sexually abused before being killed by man adopting him, court told

Jamie Varley, the teacher, 37, and his partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, were in the process of adopting Preston Davey.

Varley is facing a charge of murder along with 25 other charges relating to sexual and physical mistreatment of the baby. McGowan-Fazakerley has been charged with allowing the death of a child and four other offences.

On the first day of their trial at Preston crown court, Peter Wright KC, prosecuting, said the Blackpool couple were “in a seemingly stable and loving relationship”.

But the evidence would show, he said, that they were “wholly unsuited to the role of adoptive parents”.

“Sadly, this fact only became so patently obvious when, for Preston Davey, it was too late,” he added.

Wright said it was “a highly emotionally charged case”. “It is inevitable that it will provoke strong feelings in anyone who hears the details of this case,” he said.

The baby was placed with the couple in April 2023, aged nine months. Four months later he was taken by them to an A&E department suffering from cardiac arrest.

Despite the efforts of medical staff, the baby died. A postmortem gave his cause of death as acute upper airways obstruction, a result either of a smothering, most likely with a hand or soft fabric, or by the insertion of an object or objects into his mouth.

Wright said: “As terrible as it is, this tragedy 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 proposed adoptive parents.

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

Wright said the jury would hear evidence that in the care of the defendants, Preston, “in the final months of his brief life … was routinely ill-treated, sexually abused and physically assaulted”.

He told jurors to “steel themselves” as images were shown on screen of the child after he had been sexually assaulted.

Varley had also taken a number of images and videos of the abuse, the jury was told.

The prosecutor said the jury would see videos from Varley’s phone including one of the seemingly unattended baby “slithering and sliding” round in a bath for 14 minutes while Varley “never once intervened and just recorded it … not even speaking”.

The jury heard that at the time of his death, Preston was found to have sustained about 40 traumatic injuries. His injuries included 30 external bruises.

Wright said the baby had bruises on his thigh that medical experts said were “consistent with a slap with an open hand”. There were bruises to the forehead consistent “with a gripping of the little boy’s head”.

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 of distributing an indecent photo of a child to his co-accused, and one of making an indecent photo.

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

The trial continues.