As guilty verdicts were returned at Preston Crown Court on Monday, the teacher convicted of sexually abusing and murdering his adopted baby son collapsed to the floor in the dock. Jamie Varley, 37, a former head of year and textiles teacher at Blackpool's South Shore Academy, covered his mouth and appeared to retch as jurors found him guilty of murder, child cruelty, causing grievous bodily harm and sexual abuse. Each verdict was delivered in turn.
Beside him, his partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, stared straight ahead as he too was convicted on every charge he was accused of. After the jury left the courtroom, he adjusted the cuffs of his jacket and walked from the dock without showing any visible emotion.
As jurors returned following almost two days of deliberations, the trial judge, Mr Justice Turner, urged those in the packed courtroom to remain composed. But the child's birth mother, Sarah Davey, was overcome with emotion, sobbing as the foreman delivered verdict after verdict. She was comforted by her mother, Debra Davey, who sat beside her in the public gallery.
Speaking outside court, Debra, 66, said: "I'm just relieved it's all over." Both defendants' parents were also present in court for the verdicts. Varley's mother wept from her seat, while McGowan-Fazakerley's parents, who had attended every day of the trial, looked shell-shocked.
Over the course of the six-and-a-half-week trial, jurors heard how Preston was placed in the care of the two men after being taken from his birth mother at just five days old. Following nine happy months in foster care, he was sent to live with the depraved paedophiles at their property on Staining Road, Blackpool. Over a four-month period, Preston's life deteriorated as he was subjected to horrific physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Four days before his death, both men subjected the innocent baby to a harrowing sexual assault, after which trophy photographs were taken documenting what they had done. These images, along with other photographs retrieved from Varley's phone, proved crucial in securing the conviction of both men - and delivering justice for little baby Preston.
The pair will be sentenced on Thursday, June 18.
