A sales manager today denied sexually assaulting a baby boy he was adopting and leaving him at the mercy of his teacher boyfriend who allegedly went on to murder him.
John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, said he had ‘misplaced his trust’ in Jamie Varley, 37, but insisted neither of them had a ‘sexual interest’ in 13-month-old Preston Davey and he could not have ‘foreseen his death.’
A jury, at Preston Crown Court, has been told that the infant, who was taken into foster care aged five days, was placed with the couple in April 2023, but died four months later before his adoption was finalised.
He had allegedly been systematically physically, psychologically and sexually abused in that time – even visiting hospital three times, including with a broken elbow, but no safeguarding concerns were raised.
A post-mortem found Preston had more than 40 separate injuries, including ‘unusual’ internal bruising to his throat and bladder, that experts have told the court is consistent with sexual abuse.
Peter Wright KC, prosecuting, said that it was the Crown’s case that – four days before Preston’s death, on July 27 2023 – both men sexually abused Preston in his cot at their home, in Blackpool, Lancashire.
He said the attack was a precursor to two fatal assaults, carried out by Varley alone, which caused him to stop breathing and collapse.
After McGowan-Fazakerley returned home from work, the pair took him to hospital but doctors were unable to save him.
Varley claimed Preston drowned when he turned his back for a couple of minutes while he was in the bath, but a pathologist has told the court there was no evidence of drowning and instead the tot died of an acute upper airway obstruction.
Mr Wright said: ‘By that stage all of your worst fears had been realised before your very eyes.’
McGowan-Fazakerley, who confirmed Varley was now his ex-partner, replied: ‘No, what I saw when I came home that day and in the hour afterwards was my entire world collapsing in on itself.’
The court has been shown seven distressing images of Preston, with his arms draped over the top of his cot and his neck resting on the rail, that were taken by Varley on the afternoon of July 23. In the images Preston’s eyes are closed and his lips appear blue.
Experts have told the jury Preston looks unresponsive and in need of resuscitation, but Varley claimed the images were simply taken to record the weird and wonderful positions they sometimes found the infant asleep in.
McGowan-Fazakerley said he had been cooking Sunday lunch that day and he only saw Preston ‘fleetingly’ when Varley called him upstairs.
He said he told Varley to lie Preston down immediately and claimed he never saw the pictures until two years later, when he was formally interviewed by police.
Mr Wright said: ‘You and Mr Varley jointly sexually assaulted that little boy on 23rd July, when he was draped deliberately over the bars of the cot.’
McGowan-Fazakerley replied: ‘No, I’ve never sexually assaulted my child in any way…it’s vile, it’s disgusting, it’s abhorrent and I’m angry at having to say those words.’
Raising his voice under the cross-examination, he insisted: ‘I told Jamie to lie him down, I’m in the middle of cooking, he shouted me upstairs demanding my attention…he can’t just do one simple thing himself.’
The court has heard that Varley was a ‘drama queen’ and the more outgoing of the couple, while McGowan-Fazakerley was the calmer ‘steady Eddie.’
Later that day Varley also took a picture of Preston’s bottom because he thought it was ‘abnormal.’ He claimed he wanted to show it to McGowan-Fazakerley to get his advice and denied it was a momento of their abuse.
But Mr Wright pointed out that McGowan-Fazakerley was in the house at the time the photo was taken and questioned why Varley didn’t simply shout him to look at the baby himself.
Instead he waited 90 minutes to show McGowan-Fazakerley the image when he returned from a short shopping trip, just before 6pm.
Referring to McGowan-Fazakerley’s version of events, Mr Wright said: ‘It’s all a nonsense, isnt it.’
‘No, everything I said is the truth,’ McGowan-Fazakerley replied.
‘You knew that little boy was being sexually abused,’ the barrister added.
McGowan-Fazakerley said: ‘If I thought my son was being assaulted, physically or sexually, that child would have been removed from that property straight away.’
Mr Wright said that, by that afternoon, McGowan-Fazakerley knew Varley had placed Preston in such a position in the cot that obstructed his upper airway and that it was ‘likely to be fatal’ unless someone intervened.
‘The risk to that little boy’s future life was obvious, wasn’t it?’ Mr Wright said.
McGowan-Fazakerley replied: ‘If the risk to my son’s life was obvious and I knew I was going to come home on 27th July…it wouldn’t have happened.’
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, has pleaded not guilty to causing or allowing the death of a child, cruelty and sexual assault.
The trial continues.
