Little Preston Davey was just 13 months old when he died after his adoptive dad Jamie Varley alleged he became submerged in water in the bathtub
A baby boy was left “at the mercy” of his adoptive father who stands accused of murdering and sexually abusing the tot, a jury had heard.
Preston Crown Court has heard how little Preston Davey was alone in the care of Jamie Varley, a teacher, at the time he went into cardiac and respiratory arrest, reports Manchester Evening News.
The 13-month-old suddenly collapsed in an incident “foreseeable and foreseen” by Varley’s partner and co-accused, John McGowan-Fazakerley, the prosecution alleges. Preston was taken to Blackpool Hospital by the pair on July 27, 2023, at 6.20pm but sadly died.
Varley, 37, claimed he had left the youngster alone in the bath when he found him unresponsive at this Blackpool home. Yet a post-mortem exam found no evidence of drowning and more than 40 internal and external injuries consistent with physical and sexual abuse, the prosecution says.
He denies murder – and an alternative charge of manslaughter – and Mr McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, denies causing or allowing Preston’s death.
In his closing speech to the jury on Monday (June 8), Peter Wright KC said Preston’s placement with the defendants was ‘supposed to be the start of a new life together for each of them’, Lancs Live reports.
But less than four months later Preston had died – with his body bearing internal and external injuries consistent with abuse, Mr Wright said.
The prosecutor said Mr Varley’s sexual interest in the little boy was apparent ‘within weeks’, as demonstrated by photos and videos which the prosecution says amount to indecent images.
He said Mr McGowan-Fazakerley was ‘all too aware’ and had taken part in a sexual assault on Preston four days before he died.
On July 24, Preston was left alone in a bath for 14 minutes in footage captured on Mr Varley’s phone, and there were further episodes of physical and psychological abuse, the prosecution says.
“Preston’s death was a tragedy waiting to happen”, Mr Wright told the jury.
“Mr McGowan-Fazakerley knew that and chose to ignore it. Mr Varley knew it was an ever-increasing risk, and by 27 July, he knew it was a virtual certainty, but carried on regardless.”
The prosecutor said Mr McGowan-Fazakerley was ‘confronted with exactly the circumstances he should have foreseen’ on July 27, 2023.
“By then it was too late, and as Preston lay dying, he (Mr Varley) needed an explanation – and the charade that then followed was conducted.”
Mr Varley claimed he had left Preston alone in the bath and found him submerged in the water. But a post-mortem found no evidence of drowning and more than 40 internal and external injuries consistent with physical and sexual abuse, the prosecution says.
“Was his death the result of some terrible accident, his injuries the result of efforts to save his life rather than some more sinister pathology or did his body internally and externally tell a very different tale?” Mr Wright KC asked.
“One of physical and sexual abuse shortly before his death of acute upper airways obstruction at the hands of Mr Varley in what should have been, his home, a place of safety – not one of danger.”
He said the abuse of Preston on July 27 was ‘the final act in a litany of physical and psychological ill treatment that had become an all too regular, depressingly common aspect of his short life, punctuated as it was with episodes of physical and sexual assault.’
The prosecutor said it was ‘inconceivable’ that Mr Varley would confide in a colleague that he was struggling with dark thoughts of drowning or suffocating the baby – but not reveal these thoughts to his partner.
He said Mr McGowan-Fazakerley’s failure to act amounted to a ‘dereliction of his duty.’ “Preston was at the mercy of Jamie Varley’s attention on the afternoon of July 27”, Mr Wright said. “He paid for it with his life.
“Each of these defendants failed this little boy in the way that is set out in this indictment and accordingly we invite you to find each of them guilty.”
Mr Varley, 37, is accused of murder; manslaughter; sexual assault of a child under 13; inflicting grievous bodily harm; five counts of child cruelty; and further counts of making, taking and distributing indecent images.
Mr McGowan-Fazakerley is accused of causing or allowing the death of a child; two counts of child cruelty; and sexual assault of a child under 13.
Both men deny all the charges against them. The trial continues.
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