A 37-year-old teacher and his partner have been found guilty of the murder of a 13-month-old boy they adopted. The investigation, led by DCI Andy Fellows, revealed a disturbing picture of abuse and a sinister plot to cover it up.
Veteran crime reporters Caroline Cheetham and Liz Hull interview DCI Andy Fellows, the officer who led the investigation into Jamie Varley and his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley.
Jamie Varley, a 37-year-old teacher and trained child safeguarding lead, was found guilty of the sexual abuse and murder of 13-month-old Preston Davey. His partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was found guilty of allowing the death of a child, cruelty, and sexual assault. An investigation into the pair began on 27 July 2023, when baby Preston arrived at Blackpool Victoria Hospital unconscious and in cardiac arrest.
Det Chief Insp Fellows told the Daily Mail podcast that Jamie Varley's demeanour and story immediately 'raised a level of suspicion' at the hospital. He said that while it's impossible to know what Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley's intentions were when they adopted Preston, he felt much of their excitement was 'for show'. Despite the tireless efforts of doctors to save the infant, Preston was pronounced dead shortly after, and Lancashire police were called to investigate the tragedy.
It was at the hospital that Varley's demeanour and story immediately 'raised a level of suspicion', Det Chief Insp Fellows told the Daily Mail podcast. He said: 'Uniformed officers attended what was, as you can imagine, a fraught scene.
'We saw during the trial body-worn video of Jamie marching around, which was described as a pantomime-esque performance. 'It was very, very dramatic. While no two people act the same during such a horrific occurrence... It was odd.
'The officers captured, which later became key evidence, Jamie making some in-depth remarks about how Preston died. He said he'd left him in the bath for a short time and that he drowned.
'Varley nailed his colours to the mast very early. I think it's fair to say that right from the outset, there was a level of suspicion because Preston was not wet - and it was a very short period of travel time from their home address to Blackpool Victoria hospital.
'Hospital staff, although Preston was declared deceased relatively quickly, worked really hard to revive him and they did not find any evidence of water coming out through CPR. ' On the night of Preston's death, Varley was arrested on suspicion of neglect. This soon switched to a murder charge after a pathologist discovered slap marks and internal injuries to the infant's airways, anus, bladder, and bowel.
John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was found guilty of sexual assault and being complicit in Preston's death, while secondary school teacher Jamie Varley, 37, was convicted of sex abuse and murder. When the damning evidence was presented to Varley, Det Chief Insp Fellows said a very different side to the teacher emerged.
'We got a very different Varley as time progressed', he said. 'His attitude changed, he became more aggressive in his tone, more defensive. 'He trained himself to appear as a respectable teacher, a safeguarding lead, an all-round responsible nice guy, who made a relaxed error of judgement. 'The reality was far more sinister.
He was thinking on his feet to cover up that reality, that Preston had been systematically abused, both physically, sexually, and psychologically over a four-month period, culminating in a really tragic, needless death. Fellows said that while it's impossible to know what Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley's intentions truly were when they adopted Preston, he felt much of their excitement at being parents was 'for show'.
He argued that when you look at posts the couple made online and pair the dates with private text messages and videos discovered on Varley's phone, a disturbing picture of abuse emerges from within days of Preston's arrival.
'I think as a couple, they were very Instagram ready', Fellows said. 'What I mean by that is that everything was for show, you can just scratch away that veneer of respectability when you look at the text messages in conjunction with when photographs were taken. 'I think the evidence suggests that there were things that irked Varley - in terms of John's behaviour, him not being at home - and Preston not sleeping.
It does raise the spectre of this being a punishment.
'Whatever it is, it's abuse, both sexual, physical, and psychological. It's wicked and cruel.
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