The mother of tragic baby Preston Davey, who was sexually abused and murdered by a teacher who adopted him, is notorious convicted murderer Sarah Davey, who brutally tortured and killed a pensioner, it can now be revealed.
Baby Preston Davey was taken from his mother five days after his birth and eventually handed to adoptive ‘dads’ Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley. The infant died of ‘acute upper airways obstruction’, with the prosecution alleging he had been ‘smothered to death’.
After Jamie Varley, 37, was today convicted by a jury of murdering Preston Davey, the identity of the infant’s birth mother can be reported for the first time.
Grandmother Demands Answers
Davey’s grandmother, Debra Davey, has now demanded answers about how the couple were allowed to adopt baby Preston as ‘alarm bells should have been ringing’. She said the family objected at the time because they had a ‘gut feeling’ about ‘dads’ Varley and his co-defendant, sales manager John McGowan-Fazakerley. Debra said Varley's crime was ‘disgusting’ and that he ‘should never see the light of day again’.
Sarah Davey’s Horrific Past
Sarah Davey, now aged 43, was aged 14 when she and her 15-year-old pal Lisa Healey befriended vulnerable grandmother Lily Lilley, who lived alone, before she invited them into her home on West Street, Failsworth, in 1998. The pair then brutally tortured Lily by squirting shampoo in her eyes, cutting her with a knife and tying a gag round her mouth so tightly that her dentures were forced down her throat. They then crammed her lifeless body into a wheelie bin and walked it through the streets of Failsworth before throwing it in the Rochdale Canal. After killing her, they made hundreds of calls from her phone and used her pension money to buy crisps and chocolate.
Davey was handed a life sentence by a judge in 1999. The judge described the murder as 'unspeakably wicked', handing Davey a minimum term of eight years before she could apply for parole. She was released from Askham Grange women’s prison near York for the first time in March 2013 - just 14 years into her sentence - and lived in a flat in Crumpsall, north Manchester. She posted on Facebook about her new life of freedom and how she partied with friends.
She soon breached her released licence after a routine test found she had cocaine in her system and was recalled to prison. She found it hard to stay out of trouble. Earlier that year she was arrested just yards from the scene of the brutal murder of Lily Lilley. Davey, then 29, was drunk and pounding on the windows and doors of a house in Failsworth when she was arrested for a breach of the peace. But Davey was not returned to prison on that occasion after she was released without charge. Probation bosses decided the incident, in Old Road in November 2013, was not serious enough to put her back inside. However, she would be recalled later that year.
Sarah Davey continued to apply for release and she was freed on at least six further occasions up until November 2021 only to be recalled to prison each time. The Parole Board expressed concern that she had been using a strong opioid, buprenorphine, behind bars although she insisted it was only for pain relief.
Preston’s Birth and Adoption
While out on licence she started a relationship with a man and had a daughter. She became pregnant a second time and another Parole Board hearing had to be postponed as the birth was imminent. Three days later, she gave birth to Preston Davey - on June 16 2022. Baby Preston, the jury was told, was born at Wythenshaw Hospital and stayed with Sarah Davey for five days before being handed to foster carers. Preston’s birth certificate lists Sarah Davey’s usual address at that time as the mother and baby unit at Styal women’s prison in Cheshire and her occupation as hairdresser.
Although allowed access, little Preston was taken into the care of social services in Oldham before being placed with foster carers and then his adoptive ‘dads’ Jamie Varley and his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley. The adoptive dads took the unconscious child from their home to Blackpool Victoria Hospital around 6.20pm on July 27, 2023. Medics worked for nearly an hour to resuscitate the child until a decision was made that further intervention was futile and death was confirmed at 7.20pm. Little Preston Davey had lived for just 13 months.
His birth mother Sarah Davey, again released on licence, was a regular visitor to the trial of the two accused men at Preston Crown Court, although the jurors were never told details about his mother. She was released from jail on March 23, 2024. She regularly posts about Preston on her TikTok account. Sarah Davey was clearly distressed when details of Preston's abuse and murder were laid out in court. As the more harrowing details were revealed, she walked out of the public gallery and was supported by police officers.
Family’s Grief and Anger
Preston’s grandmother, Debra Davey, 66, said her daughter, now 43, was aware the details of her crime would resurface once the verdicts were in, saying: “She’s worried about it all coming out again, but I’ve told her, it’s all about Preston, it isn’t about her.” Speaking about her grandson’s tragic death she said: “I’ve had some bad things happen in my life, but this is by far the worst.”
Debra said they planned for her to care for Preston, but these plans were scuppered when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. “That’s the reason I couldn’t have him. I was diagnosed literally the next day after he was born. They said I couldn’t have him because of that.” When they found out the tot was being adopted by two men she said the family didn’t agree. 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 feeling about it, a gut feeling.”
Debra said when she was told about Preston’s death in July 2023 she was ‘hysterical’. Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were arrested but released on bail as investigations continued. She said: “It went on for two years. I used to argue with them (the police) all the time, ‘why aren’t they in custody?’ It all took such a long time.”
Speaking about Varley, she said: “It’s killing me. It’s disgusting. He should never see the light of day again.” Debra said she couldn’t bear to imagine the things little Preston endured in his short time with Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley. “Varley, he’s not right in the head, he just looks evil, the things he’s done. Things no-one would think of doing, he’s sick in the head,” said Debra. “And McGowan-Fazakerley, of course he knew. You don’t live in the same house as someone and not know what’s going on, especially things like that. I think there’s a lot to come out about him.”
She said social services, the adoption agency and hospital staff all have questions to answer about why Preston’s case wasn’t flagged. “You hope things would change, but it doesn’t, does it. It’s unreal, I can’t take it in really. Alarm bells should have been ringing. When it all happened all we could hear was apologies. But it’s not their grandchild,” said Debra. “We want to know what checks were made. They say everything they did was proper, that they didn’t do anything dishonesty. But it’s all really wrong. I’ve got four granddaughters, he was my only grandson. It’s terrible, I can’t believe he’s gone. I can’t believe Varley pleaded not guilty with all the evidence they had. They should throw away the key.”
