In early April, Lancashire Police called a press briefing about an upcoming trial. The suspected murder of 13-month-old Preston Davey had been under investigation for almost two years. Two men would soon be in the dock at Preston Crown Court. Jamie Varley, 37, and John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, were in the process of adopting Preston when he collapsed at their home in Blackpool. They took him into Blackpool Victoria Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7.18pm on July 27, 2023. Almost two years later, Varley had been charged with murder, and McGowan-Fazakerley with allowing the death of a child, along with a string of other offences.
Unimaginable horrors revealed in court
Journalists had been invited along to learn more about what to expect from the upcoming proceedings. Nobody was prepared for the horrific details they were about to be told. The death of a child is always a tragedy, but the fact a caregiver had been charged with their murder seemed the ultimate betrayal. As a court reporter of almost 20 years, I have seen my fair share of cases in which innocent babies have lost their lives at the hands of those supposed to protect them at all costs. Every one of those children was let down by someone they should have been able to count on for love and protection. We were about to learn that in the Preston Davey case, there was tragedy at every turn.
Varley, the man charged with the child's murder, had already been identified as a teacher. Working at South Shore Academy in Blackpool, he was a head of year and safeguarding lead in a pastoral role. This man, the lead defendant, had been trusted by thousands of parents to keep their children safe in one of Blackpool's toughest schools. Now, here he was, charged with murdering a vulnerable baby. It seemed almost incomprehensible.
Sinister charges paint a dark picture
McGowan-Fazakerley was charged with causing or allowing the death of a child, a charge often laid on the partners in these types of cases. But it was the other charges that painted a sinister picture of what detectives believed these men had done. Multiple charges of child cruelty. Sexual assault. GBH. Making and taking indecent images. We were being told to think the unthinkable. As it was, Varley faced charges of murder; GBH; sexual assault; cruelty; and taking indecent images of Preston. McGowan-Fazakerley was accused of sexual assault; neglect; and allowing the death of a child.
DCI Andy Fallows, accompanied by members of Lancashire Police's media team, warned us that some of the evidence presented at Preston Crown Court would be hard to hear. It was said that this young baby, who had been thriving in foster care, had been physically, psychologically and sexually abused over a four-month period from being handed over to the adoptive fathers to his death in July 2023.
The defendants in the dock
As the trial date drew nearer, we set to work sourcing images of the men accused of these heinous crimes. The usual trawl of social media was fruitless as they had clearly hidden their profiles in the time they were on bail. Nonetheless, we managed to find a single photo of each - Varley dressed in a collar and tie, a lanyard around his neck, looking the picture of respectability. McGowan-Fazakerley holding a dog on Blackpool beach, with the Tower behind him. All very wholesome. And very much at odds with the allegations against them.
As journalists, it is not our job to decide whether a person is guilty or not guilty - that is a job for the jury. But as humans, faced with the prosecution case and the men before us, it is impossible not to be asking, 'did they?', 'could they?'. Those were the questions on everyone's minds when Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley stepped into the dock in court one at Preston Crown Court. Varley was almost unrecognisable to the man in the photo we had sourced. He had lost weight, grown his hair to collar length and was dressed in a mustard corduroy jacket. On the second day of the trial, he tied his hair back in a man bun and wore a navy suit, but his earlier look had already been immortalised in a court artist's sketch.
McGowan-Fazakerley looked like he was born in a navy suit, looking every bit the businessman with his cropped dark hair and round glasses. It came as no surprise when he later said in evidence he carried a briefcase with him when he left for work each day. It was a jarring picture to the evil monsters depicted by prosecutors Peter Wright KC and Simon Driver. Could there have been a mistake?
Compelling evidence and gut-wrenching truth
The evidence was highly compelling - countless experts had pored over scientific and circumstantial evidence and concluded the same thing. And yet to accept it would mean accepting the gut wrenching truth, that little Preston's final months were marked by neglect, degradation and sadistic abuse - and no one had come to his rescue. Then there was the dynamic between the pair - the only two people in that room who knew the whole truth. Varley looked straight ahead, his face fixed in a forlorn expression, looking like a man who hadn't slept for months. McGowan-Fazakerley turned away from him in the dock, his crossed legs forming a physical barrier between himself and the man he shared a bed with until the day of their arrests last June.
Neither portrayed any emotion as Peter Wright KC set out the case against them. Despite the earlier warnings from DCI Fallows, the evidence was almost unwatchable, unlistenable. Trophy photographs which will never be seen in public were shown to the jury, proving Varley's warped sexual interest in the helpless tot. Some showed injuries no child should ever suffer.
Defendants protest innocence
When it came to the defendants giving evidence, they each took their turn to protest their innocence. They spoke about how their lives had been affected by what had happened, with no empathy towards the little boy who suffered under their roof. Varley was the victim in his own story, his arrogance turning to spikiness under pressure. McGowan-Fazakerley over-explained seemingly mundane events as he sought to keep up the innocent, oblivious partner act.
After six long weeks of harrowing evidence, the barristers were ready to give their closing speeches. In the final week, two jurors were discharged from duty - one due to ill health and the other due to bereavement. The judge, Mr Justice Turner, agreed the panel of 10 could continue to deliberations. On June 11, they retired to think about the case they had been tasked to try. As the clock ticked, members of each of the defendants' families sat in court corridors awaiting the outcome of the trial. Meanwhile, Preston's family members were in a witness room being supported by specially-trained staff.
Verdicts delivered
Then, shortly after 3pm on Monday afternoon (June 15), an announcement rang through the building. "All parties in the trial of Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley, please go to courtroom one." The verdicts were in. Every seat in the public gallery was taken. There were no spare chairs in the press gallery. The tension in the room was palpable. As the court clerk read out each and every charge, the jury foreman gave a single word answer: GUILTY.
Preston's mother sobbed loudly on the front row of the public gallery, comforted by her own mother, Preston's gran. Varley retched and dropped to the dock floor. McGowan-Fazakerley's parents looked shellshocked as he looked straight ahead, blank-faced. It was at that point the true horror of what had happened to little Preston really struck. Emotions, gut feelings and opinions on the defendants aside, the evidence was - as the prosecution said - irrefutable. That poor baby, who had been so happy with his foster carers, had been subjected to the most horrific abuse at the hands of the two people who had been trusted to protect him.
Sentencing and aftermath
On the day of sentencing earlier this week, several members of the jury returned to court to see the men they convicted face justice. Some wiped tears from their eyes as victim impact statements were read from Preston's birth parents and foster carers. It was impossible not to be moved by the words of Sandra and Paul Cooper, who took in Preston - the boy 'you couldn't help but love immediately' - at five days old and gave him love and stability in the nine months before he was adopted. Outside, a wall of waiting cameras stood by to hear statements from DCI Fallows and the people who loved Preston.
Now, as the dust settles on seven weeks of evidence, and Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley begin their sentences, there are questions to be asked about how these monsters slipped under the radar. But this weekend, my thoughts are firmly with the little boy at the centre of it all. Rest in peace, Preston. You didn't deserve this.
