What began as a distraught adoptive father’s tearful account of a momentary lapse in the bathroom quickly unravelled into one of Britain’s most disturbing child murder cases in decades. Jamie Varley told police he had left 13-month-old Preston Davey alone in the bath for just two or three minutes on 27 July 2023 before returning to find the little boy submerged. The story sounded plausible enough at first glance for a tired new parent. Yet the post-mortem examination told an entirely different and far darker story. Preston had not drowned. He was completely dry, with no water in his lungs or stomach. Instead, forensic experts documented 40 separate external and internal injuries inflicted over the preceding four months, including fractures, extensive bruising, and trauma consistent with repeated Sєxual abuse.

The cause of death was airway obstruction following a final Sєxual ᴀssault. Varley, a 37-year-old former secondary school teacher from Blackpool who had once held a designated safeguarding lead role, now faces the rest of his life in prison under a whole-life order. His partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was sentenced to 25 years for allowing the child’s death, multiple counts of child cruelty, and Sєxual ᴀssault of a child. The case has exposed catastrophic failures by social workers, hospital staff, and adoption authorities who had multiple opportunities to intervene but sent the baby back into the home each time. Preston had been taken into care by Oldham Council just five days after his birth on 16 June 2022 because of his mother’s criminal history. He spent his first nine months with foster carers before being placed with Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley in April 2023 with a view to adoption.

Within weeks the injuries began. Cluster bruising appeared on his head. He suffered unexplained seizures and breathing difficulties. On 25 May he was rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital floppy and unresponsive. Staff noted bruising inconsistent with the explanation given, yet after discussion the injuries were deemed non-suspicious for a baby learning to walk. Social services and police were informed but no further action followed. Less than five weeks later, on 30 June, the couple returned with Preston suffering a rash, vomiting and high temperature. More head bruising was observed. This time Varley showed staff an old home video of a toy box falling on the child — footage later proven to have been recorded 12 days earlier. Again, concerns were not escalated. On 6 July Preston arrived with a fractured left elbow. The social worker ᴀssigned to the case, Amy Shepherdson, was reᴀssured by hospital staff that there were “absolutely no concerns” and texted Varley to say he had “done the right thing”. She visited the home the same day and recorded that Preston had “a very sad face and a little cry”, yet no alarm was raised. An independent reviewer from Oldham visited on 7 July. Around the same period Varley confided to a work colleague that he was experiencing “dark thoughts” about drowning or suffocating the baby. Nothing was done.

Throughout this period Varley maintained an Instagram presence portraying the perfect family life, complete with a celebratory “Chosen Shower” when Preston arrived and a mural he painted of “Preston Elijah”. Behind the curated images the reality was one of escalating sadistic abuse. Court evidence showed Varley treated the infant as his personal plaything, subjecting him to repeated physical ᴀssaults and Sєxual violations that left lasting internal damage. He even took and distributed indecent pH๏τographs and videos of the child. When Preston finally stopped breathing on 27 July, Varley recorded a 35-second video of the baby in extreme respiratory distress before calling for help. At hospital, resuscitation attempts lasted nearly an hour. Preston was pronounced ᴅᴇᴀᴅ at 19:18. In police interviews Varley insisted he would “fight you to the day I die” to prove his innocence. The eight-week trial at Preston Crown Court dismantled every lie. Forensic pathology, medical timelines, digital evidence and witness testimony left the jury in no doubt. Varley was convicted of murder, two counts of ᴀssault by penetration, multiple child cruelty offences, Sєxual ᴀssault of a child and numerous indecent image charges. McGowan-Fazakerley was convicted on related counts. Sentencing judge described the abuse as “sadistic” and “prolonged”.

The whole-life order means Varley will die behind bars. The case has prompted two MPs — Chris Webb for Blackpool South and Andrew Snowden for Fylde — to demand a full public inquiry into how a baby with such obvious warning signs was failed at every turn. A local child safeguarding practice review has resumed. Questions remain about whether Varley’s status as a teacher and former safeguarding lead created unconscious bias among professionals. Preston’s short life — from emergency removal at five days old to a supposedly better adoptive home to a violent death four months later — stands as a devastating indictment of systems meant to protect the most vulnerable. The 40 injuries documented by pathologists represent not just individual acts of cruelty but a sustained campaign of terror against a defenceless child who had already endured so much instability. Every professional who saw the bruises, the fractures, the sad expression and the cluster of unexplained medical episodes had a chance to change his fate. None did. The full horrifying truth, laid bare in court, is that Preston’s death was not an accident. It was the predictable end point of months of ignored abuse by the very people entrusted with his life.