A happy child became a broken shell in less than four months
In Blackpool, England, a 13-month-old boy named Preston Davey — placed by adoption authorities into what was meant to be a better life — died in July 2023 at the hands of the two men entrusted to raise him. His adoptive father, a teacher named Jamie Varley, was convicted of murder and a cascade of offences against the child; his partner convicted of allowing the death and further cruelty. The case asks a question that haunts every institution designed to protect the vulnerable: how many times must a system encounter a warning before it becomes complicit in the harm it failed to stop.
- A 13-month-old boy endured forty separate injuries and systematic sexual abuse over less than four months in a home that adoption authorities had formally approved as safe.
- Despite three hospital visits where medical staff noted suspicious bruising, and despite social worker contact, no intervention came — the explanations offered were accepted, and Preston was left in danger each time.
- Varley's claim that Preston drowned in the bath collapsed under forensic scrutiny: the child's hair was dry, he wore a nappy, and a post-mortem determined the cause of death was acute airway obstruction caused by objects forced into his mouth.
- After eight weeks of trial and fourteen hours of deliberation, Varley was convicted of murder and dozens of additional offences; his partner convicted of allowing the death, cruelty, and sexual assault — Varley collapsed retching in the dock as the verdicts were read.
- An independent safeguarding review is now examining how the system's multiple points of contact — hospital staff, social workers, the adoption vetting process itself — failed to protect a child who could not protect himself.
Preston Davey was nine months old when adoption authorities placed him with Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley in Blackpool in April 2023. He had spent his earliest months in foster care, described by those who knew him as happy and healthy. By July, he was dead — his small body bearing forty injuries accumulated in less than four months.
Varley, a 37-year-old teacher, and McGowan-Fazakerley, a 32-year-old financial sales manager, had taken time away from work to bring Preston into their home. What followed was systematic sexual abuse, physical assault, and the creation of indecent images of the child. Preston was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital three times in the months before his death, each visit prompting concern from medical staff about suspicious bruising — and each time, the injuries were explained away. Social workers visited. Nothing stopped.
On July 27, Varley brought the unresponsive child to hospital for the last time, claiming Preston had slipped beneath the bathwater while left alone briefly. The account unravelled quickly: Preston's hair was dry, he was wearing a nappy, and he had not swallowed water. A Home Office post-mortem determined the cause of death was acute upper airway obstruction — objects forced into his mouth.
After an eight-week trial at Preston Crown Court, the jury deliberated for fourteen hours. Varley was found guilty of murder, multiple counts of sexual assault and penetration, grievous bodily harm, child cruelty, and thirteen counts of taking indecent images of a child. McGowan-Fazakerley was convicted of allowing the death of a child, child cruelty, and sexual assault. As the verdicts were read, Varley collapsed in the dock, retching and vomiting. His partner showed no visible reaction.
In the public gallery, Preston's birth mother Sarah Davey wept as the guilty verdicts accumulated. Preston's grandmother sobbed throughout. A detective described the child as having been reduced to "a broken shell" by the time he died — a phrase that settled over the courtroom like a verdict of its own.
Oldham Council, which had originally placed Preston in care, called the case "particularly heart-wrenching and disturbing." An independent Child Safeguarding Practice Review is now examining how the system failed to act despite repeated contact with the family. The regional adoption agency that vetted both men maintained it had followed rigorous procedures — though those procedures had not prevented what happened inside that home. Both men are due to be sentenced Thursday. The judge, acknowledging the weight of what the jury had been asked to witness, exempted them from jury service for life.
Preston Davey was nine months old when he arrived at a home in Blackpool in April 2023, placed there by adoption authorities who had approved his new parents as suitable guardians. He had spent his first months in foster care, described by those who knew him as a happy and healthy child. By July, he was dead—killed by the two men who had adopted him, his small body bearing forty separate injuries accumulated over less than four months.
Jamie Varley, a 37-year-old teacher, and John McGowan-Fazakerley, a 32-year-old financial sales manager, had taken time away from work to bring Preston into their home. What followed was systematic sexual abuse, physical assault, and the creation of indecent images and videos of the child. The trial at Preston Crown Court laid bare the trajectory of his suffering: routine ill-treatment punctuated by moments when the system might have intervened but did not.
Preston had been taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital three times in the months before his death. Medical staff noticed suspicious bruising each time. Each time, the injuries were explained away. Social workers visited. No one stopped what was happening. On July 27, Varley brought the unresponsive child to hospital for the last time, claiming he had left Preston in the bath for a couple of minutes and returned to find him submerged. The story did not hold. Preston's hair was dry. He was wearing a nappy. He had not swallowed water. A Home Office post-mortem examination determined the cause of death was acute upper airways obstruction—an object or objects forced into his mouth.
The jury took fourteen hours to reach verdicts after an eight-week trial. Varley was found guilty of murder, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault of a child, thirteen counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child, one count of distributing such material, and one count of making indecent photos. McGowan-Fazakerley was convicted of allowing the death of a child, two counts of child cruelty, and one count of sexual assault of a child. When the verdicts were read, Varley collapsed in the dock, retching and vomiting. McGowan-Fazakerley showed no visible reaction.
Preston's mother, Sarah Davey, now 42, sat in the gallery and wept as the guilty verdicts accumulated. She had her own history with the criminal justice system—imprisoned at fourteen for the murder of a pensioner in 1998, cycling in and out of prison since then. Her mother, Preston's grandmother, sobbed throughout the proceedings. The child they had hoped would have a better life had instead become, in the words of a detective chief inspector, "a broken shell" by the time he died.
Oldham Council, which had placed Preston in care as an infant, acknowledged the case as "particularly heart-wrenching and disturbing." An independent Child Safeguarding Practice Review is underway to examine how the system failed to protect him despite multiple points of contact—hospital visits, social worker involvement, the approval process itself. Adoption Now, the regional adoption agency that vetted Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley, stated it followed "strict and rigorous" assessment procedures, though those procedures had not prevented this outcome. Both men will be sentenced on Thursday. The judge told the jurors that given what they had been asked to witness and decide, they would be exempt from jury service for life.
Notable Quotes
Almost from day one, they set about abusing Preston and making his short life a harrowing tale of misery and pain. For the first nine months of his life Preston was a happy and healthy child but by the end he was a broken shell.— Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fallows
One of the most shocking and horrific cases I have dealt with in my career.— Karen Tonge, Crown Prosecution Service
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
How does a child get to the hospital three times with suspicious injuries and still end up dead in the same home?
The bruises were explained away each time. That's what the trial revealed—medical staff noticed something was wrong, but the explanations seemed plausible enough that no one escalated it into a removal. The system had multiple chances and didn't act.
What made the drowning story fall apart so quickly?
The details didn't match. A child who drowned would have water in his lungs, would have wet hair. Preston's hair was dry. He was in a nappy. The post-mortem showed something had been forced into his airway. It wasn't an accident.
These were approved adopters. How does that happen?
They passed the assessment. The agencies say they follow strict procedures, but clearly those procedures didn't catch what these men were. That's what the safeguarding review is meant to examine—where the vetting process failed, what signs were missed.
What was Preston's life before this?
He was in foster care for his first ten months. Happy and healthy, by all accounts. Then he moved to Blackpool, and in less than four months he was systematically abused, exploited, and killed. The contrast is almost unbearable.
What happens now?
Sentencing on Thursday. But the real reckoning is the review—trying to understand how a child can be in the system, visible to hospitals and social workers, and still not be saved.