Jamie Varley has today (Monday 15th June) been found guilty of murdering and sexually abusing a baby boy he was in the process of adopting.
Following a seven-week trial at Preston Crown Court which concluded today, 37-year-old Jamie Varley was also found guilty of seriously assaulting Preston Davey on an earlier occasion, as well as four counts of child cruelty and possessing and distributing indecent images of a child. All those offences related to baby Preston.
His partner John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was found guilty of causing or allowing a child’s death, two child cruelty offences and a single sexual assault.
Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley, then of Chandlers Way, Grimsargh, but now of no fixed address, were charged with the following:
Jamie Varley (left of top photograph)
- Murder
- Two counts of sexual assault of a male child under 13
- Inflicting grievous bodily harm
- Four counts of cruelty to a person under 16
- Ten counts of taking indecent images of a child
- Two counts of possessing indecent images of a child
- One count of distributing an indecent image of a child
John McGowan-Fazakerley (right of top photograph)
- Causing and allowing the death of a child
- Two counts of cruelty to a person under 16
- Sexual assault of a male child under 13.
The jury took just over two days to unanimously find both defendants guilty on all counts.
Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were remanded back into custody to be sentenced at the same court on Thursday 18th June.
DCI Andy Fallows, from our Force Major Investigation Team, said: “It is not often in this job that you encounter pure evil. Anybody who has followed this trial will no doubt understand why I place Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley in that category.
“Almost from day one, they set about abusing Preston and making his short life a harrowing tale of misery and pain. It was this abuse that ultimately led to Preston’s death.
“For the first nine months of his life Preston was a happy and healthy child but by the end he was a broken shell. This was due to the sordid and wicked acts of Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley.
“I would like to thank the team of detectives, uniformed officers and members of police staff who have worked tirelessly to compile the evidence that has resulted today’s guilty verdicts.
“I would also like to thank the jury for their considered verdicts, the Crown Prosecution Service and our counsel Peter Wrights KC and Simon Driver.
“Throughout this trial we have tried to ensure the focus remained on baby Preston Davey, a little boy who was physically, sexually and psychologically abused by two individuals who were supposed to love and care for him. While I understand the focus in the media will go elsewhere, I would ask that Preston is not forgotten in your coverage.”
Preston (pictured below) was born in June 2022 and taken into care by Oldham Council.
The BBC have reported that Preston’s mother, Sarah Davey, now 42, had been jailed at the age of 14 for the murder of a frail pensioner in 1998 and has been in and out of prison since then.
In court, his mother and grandmother sobbed throughout as the 29 guilty verdicts were returned. Preston was placed with foster parents at five days old, remaining with them for the first 10 months of his life.
