Trial hears teacher accused of murdering adopted baby after abuse claims

A 13-month-old boy died after months of alleged sexual and physical abuse in a home that had been signed off by adoption and social-work checks, putting the focus on how a child could suffer so extensively without intervention. Preston Davey was left, the jury heard, at the mercy of his adoptive parents before he was taken unresponsive to Blackpool Victoria Hospital and pronounced dead shortly after arrival on July 27, 2023.

Jamie Varley, 37, a former teacher and former head of year 11 at South Shore Academy in Blackpool, is accused of murdering Preston and of sexual assault of a child under 13, grievous bodily harm, child cruelty and making, taking and distributing indecent images. His partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, faces charges including allowing the death of a child, child cruelty and sexual offences. Prosecutors say the Crown Prosecution Service authorised the case in June 2025, nearly two years after Preston’s death.

The court has been told the evidence points to a pattern of sustained abuse, not a single fatal incident. One post-mortem examination found 40 injuries, later trial evidence said there were 50 separate internal and external injuries, and doctors and prosecutors said Preston had sexual abuse injuries, emotional abuse and physical injuries that could not be explained as accidental. The jury was also shown a video recovered from Varley’s phone that allegedly captured Preston struggling to breathe at 4.45pm on the day he died. Varley is said to have claimed the baby had slipped under bath water and later suffered seizures.

The case has now become as much about safeguarding as about the allegations against two men. Preston’s adoption was supervised by social workers from Oldham Council and Adoption Now, and a social worker identified as Amy Shepherdson visited the home after placement. Reports say there were no concerns before Preston died, and that the adoption had been in place for about four months.

That timeline is what gives the case its wider force. A child placed into a supposedly safe, monitored home died with dozens of injuries, while a former school leader with access to a child and a professional record in education stood accused of conduct the court heard included “dark thoughts” about Preston and the words, “I’m going to hell,” as he cradled the boy after his death. The trial is testing not only the defendants’ accounts, but the limits of the protection system that was supposed to keep Preston safe.