In late 2018, Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley crossed paths at a bar in Manchester's Gay Village. The pair immediately struck up a connection, and when McGowan-Fazakerley visited Varley's Blackpool home, he never quite departed.
A Picture-Perfect Life
Twelve months on, they purchased a property together on Staining Road, Blackpool, a spacious three-bedroom semi-detached home boasting marble flooring, bifold doors and chandeliers throughout the bedrooms. They also welcomed a dog into their lives, Maximus, a miniature pinscher, whom they cherished as though he were their own child.
Together they cultivated a life that was thoroughly Insta-worthy; all that remained was a child to complete their seemingly perfect family portrait. Yet beneath this respectable facade lurked a far darker reality. This was one of Britain's most depraved couples, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Contrasting Backgrounds
Their backgrounds could not have been more contrasting. Varley, 37, was one of five siblings raised within a matriarchal family in Blackpool, a tight-knit unit led by their mother, who resided nearby in an area bordering Grange Park, a notorious estate ranked amongst the most deprived in the UK.
McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was an only child, brought up by his devoted parents and grandmother in Congleton, a prosperous market town on the fringes of Cheshire's golden triangle. Having received a private education at Kings School, Macclesfield, he subsequently studied at Keele University, progressing to PhD level before departing to pursue a career in sales.
Thriving Careers
Together, their careers thrived. Despite having severe dyslexia, Varley obtained his teaching qualifications and progressed from technician to teacher within the textiles department at Blackpool's South Shore Academy and eventually became head of year. McGowan-Fazakerley climbed the ladder at the finance company where he worked, ultimately becoming operational manager for the north west, based at offices in Salford Quays.
Discussions about marriage and children arose early in their relationship, but after attending a family wedding at which the couple's child played a part in the festivities, they resolved not to delay any further. McGowan-Fazakerley said: "I've always wanted children and Jamie's always wanted children. It just fitted. Careers were in the right place, we were in that house, we were settled - it felt like the right time."
The Adoption Process
Towards the end of 2021, he began making enquiries with Adoption Now, the agency responsible for delivering adoption services to councils across Greater Manchester and Lancashire. The pair underwent the initial vetting process, which examined their health, finances, family histories and criminal records, with certain training sessions conducted remotely owing to Covid restrictions. Nothing emerged to raise suspicions amongst the authorities about the sinister reality concealed beneath this apparently ideal couple's facade.
The pair paused proceedings to allow Varley to guide his pupils through their GCSEs and support his father, who had been diagnosed with cancer, before progressing to the next stage the following year. This comprised eight in-person meetings with social worker Vicky Readett, alongside VR safeguarding training, and in January 2023 the couple were approved as prospective adopters.
Preston's Arrival
That same month, Oldham Council granted an adoption order for Preston Davey. Born to a convicted killer serving a sentence at HMP Styal, little Preston was a beautiful, lively baby. At just five-days-old he had been taken from his mother and placed into foster care in Oldham. Preston's grandmother, Debra Davey, 66, had hoped to care for her only grandson, but following a cancer diagnosis she was informed she would be unable to look after her daughter's child. She said: "Sarah wanted him right from the start. The plan was I would help her with having him."
Social worker Amy Shepherdson created a profile for Preston on the Adoption Now website. She decided against uploading a photograph, as she wanted prospective adopters to be drawn to his personality, rather than simply his cheeky smile and adorable curly locks. Within weeks, Preston had been matched with Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley, and an informal introduction was arranged at a restaurant in Ashton-under-Lyne. As an outgoing and sociable baby, Preston was perfectly content to be held and fussed over by his new dads-to-be.
In Blackpool, the pair organised a 'Chosen Shower' featuring cake, decorations and a social media-friendly balloon arch. The infant's nursery was furnished in neutral shades and Varley created a mural on the wall, displaying the name 'Preston Elijah' - the name they selected for the little boy. Varley, it was determined, would be Preston's primary carer. He possessed greater experience with children and his employment was structured around the academic calendar. Meanwhile, McGowan-Fazakerley had the capacity to secure substantial bonuses which would enhance their picture-perfect lifestyle.
Warning Signs Ignored
On April 3, 2023, Preston said farewell to his foster mother and was transferred to his new family - but his birth family were unhappy with the arrangement. Debra said: "I told them I didn't agree with it and Sarah knew right from the start. Not because it was two men, she just got a horrible gut feeling about it. She told social services and the foster parents but they just took him. She didn't sign anything."
Tragically, the mother's instinct proved accurate and within four months of being placed with the couple, little Preston was deceased. He was merely 13 months old. During his time in Blackpool, the defenceless little boy was subjected to escalating physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of wicked Varley. Each day, McGowan-Fazakerley collected his briefcase and departed for work, leaving the child he had pledged to safeguard in the hands of a monster.
Varley treated Preston as a plaything for his own gratification, demonstrating virtually no concern for the boy's welfare. Yet his abuse went undetected as Preston's existence became increasingly wretched. Social workers, physicians and healthcare professionals all failed to recognise the warning signs that something was gravely wrong within the immaculate household.
Evidence of Abuse
Photography-obsessed Varley documented everything, and when officers examined the thousands of images and recordings on his camera roll following Preston's death, the harrowing truth came to light. Varley's depraved fixation on the defenceless toddler was first apparent in disturbing photographs taken during a bath with Preston, just weeks after his arrival at Staining Road. As time progressed, increasingly visible bruising appeared across Preston's body including a human bite mark on his bottom.
Recordings revealed Varley's cruel treatment of the young boy that included terrifying him, depriving him of sleep and spinning him so violently on a playground ride that he became cross-eyed. Later footage showed Preston in a state of frozen watchfulness — a trauma response observed in abused infants where they appear subdued and silent, yet acutely alert to their surroundings. Trophy photographs captured four days before his death depicted Preston slumped across the bars of his cot following sexual abuse by both men. An image of his injured bottom provided further evidence of the abuse inflicted upon him that day.
Final Hours
The final footage, captured at 4.45pm on Thursday July 27, 2023, showed Preston fighting for his life after a serious sexual assault by Varley. When McGowan-Fazakerley returned from work at 6.15pm he was confronted with a horrifying scene as the tragedy he could so readily have prevented played out before him. Preston was rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, but it was too late. He was pronounced dead at 7.18pm.
Both men were brought into the room to be present during Preston's final moments. As McGowan-Fazakerley approached the bedside, Varley collapsed to the floor and cried out for his own mother in a desperate attempt to stall for time. It was not long before his fabrications began to fall apart. On the day Preston died, Varley claimed he had left him unattended in the bath seat for just a few minutes while he fetched some clothing, returning to discover Preston partially submerged.
However, doctors found no water in Preston's lungs or stomach as they fought to resuscitate him, and a post-mortem revealed no indication of drowning. Instead, the examination uncovered a catalogue of physical and sexual abuse including a serious sexual assault which had restricted Preston's airways in the hours preceding his death. There were 40 separate non-accidental injuries to Preston's small body, including bruising to his head and torso, his mouth and throat, his bladder, and injuries to his bottom. His elbow had been fractured through forceful twisting, and old blood in his lungs suggested he had been suffocated on at least one prior occasion.
Trial and Conviction
Despite overwhelming scientific evidence, Varley persisted with his falsehoods throughout a three-year investigation and a six-week trial at Preston Crown Court. McGowan-Fazakerley claimed he was oblivious to the danger he was leaving Preston in each time he departed for work. Throughout the investigation, right up until their arrests in June 2025, the pair continued their relationship, cohabiting at a detached property in Grimsargh, near Preston, which they were in the process of purchasing at the time of Preston's death.
They maintained they avoided discussing Preston as it was 'too upsetting', and in the witness box Varley insisted they remained a couple. It was only when McGowan-Fazakerley's defence barrister, Anne Whyte KC, stated that her client reluctantly conceded Varley had committed the offences he stood accused of, that Varley's facade crumbled. Once the jury had vacated the courtroom, Varley stormed out of the witness box, refusing to acknowledge his now former partner, before being taken directly to the cells.
When McGowan-Fazakerley took to the stand to give his evidence, he was remarkably emphatic. He too had been deceived by the performance that had taken in doctors, social workers, teachers and family members — claiming to have had no knowledge of the abuse whatsoever.
Police Statement
DCI Andy Fallows, who headed the murder inquiry, said: "The jury will have seen, at length, segments of the suspect interviews, and the body-worn video capturing Jamie Varley's performance outside Blackpool Victoria, where he's very theatrical. That is a marked difference to the man that is later interviewed on June 25 2025. Difference in attitude, difference in demeanour. I think you see two sides to Jamie Varley throughout viewing those interviews and that body-worn video.
"I think Jamie Varley has sought to deceive right from day one. I think Jamie Varley has tried to control the narrative and it's only through working through these events and piecing them together and looking at them side by side do you really see that he is a manipulative character, or he certainly had tried to be, and ultimately by adopting that approach we've been able to show him for what he is. Even in his evidence under cross examination, you saw more of an obtuse, spiky side to him. He's a man that has claimed to have tried to assist the investigation and give the investigation answers in relation to what happened to Preston, but the reality is far different.
"The reality is he's concealed, he's lied, his account is, or was, wholly inconsistent and disbelievable. Difficult to deal with. The questions were asked, his answers have ultimately been found wanting, in my opinion. McGowan-Fazakerley is a man who, if you like, has seen no evil and heard no evil. He denies any wrongdoing. He did not want to believe some of the evidence that was presented with him. He presented and has presented as a man who works away a long time and wasn't aware of the number of bruises to Preston that we've seen, or the jury have seen, frequently over the days, weeks, and four months that he was in their care.
"He says he was unaware of how these bruises were caused and it is hard to understand how anyone could live in that household with that many injuries to a child of that age who is immobile, is not yet walking, and not know that something very, very sinister is going on. They've tried to present as the perfect family, living in the perfect home, having the perfect lives. Instagram ready, aren't they? Everything's on social media, everything is brilliant, and if you scrape away the veneer of that you come to something that is entirely different. Everything wasn't good within the household. There were clearly arguments, bickering, clearly issues about long hours at work. Jamie struggling as a parent, as any new parent does, but it went further than that. The picture they tried to present to the outside world was one of respectability. The truth is far more sinister and darker than that."
CPS Statement
Karen Tonge for the Crown Prosecution Service said: "This has been one of the most shocking and horrific cases I have dealt with in my career. Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley had a responsibility to care for and protect baby Preston. They violated that responsibility and 13-month-old Preston was abused with sickening ease. It is difficult to comprehend how the very people who should have loved him could inflict such sickening physical and sexual harm on an innocent child. No child should have to go through what Preston went through in the last four months of his short life and I cannot begin to imagine the toll this has taken on those that loved Preston. My thoughts remain with them all."
