First video of ‘murdered’ baby Preston Davey bouncing to ‘Wheels on the Bus’ days after he was adopted by teacher accused of his murder

Jumping up and down with excitement, this 10-month-old Preston Davey is enjoying a nursery rhyme on television, just days after he was adopted by a teacher who allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered him.

In the video, shot by defendant Jamie Varley, 37, the baby boy coos and giggles as characters on the show sing alternative lyrics such as “daddy loves you on the bus” to the tune of the traditional “Wheels on the Bus” children’s song.

The 28-second clip was sent by Varley to her mother Karen Graham on April 10, a week after Preston moved in with her and her boyfriend John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32.

He was released by police after being shown to the jury on the fourth day of the couple’s trial.

Preston Crown Court was told Preston died on July 27, 2023, four months after being taken into care. She was allegedly systematically sexually abused and strangled.

Jurors were told today that arguments, raised voices and an “unusually amount” of “high-pitched and distressed” cries were heard by neighbors living next door to the couple in Blackpool, Lancashire, in the weeks before his death.

Jasmine Nuttall said the walls of their semi-detached property were ‘thin’ and she started hearing the baby crying constantly soon after Preston arrived.

Ms Nuttall, who knew Preston as Elijah (the name Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley gave him), said the couple were ‘friendly’ and ‘nice’ and had ‘no concerns’ about them becoming parents.

However, after the baby’s death, she told police that she ‘wondered’ why the baby was crying ‘so much’.

Former secondary school teacher Jamie Varley, 37, denied a total of 25 charges against him

Varley’s partner John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, denied five charges against him

Text messages seized by police and shown to the court revealed the tension in Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley’s relationship after Preston moved in with them.

‘Elijah cries a lot,’ he said. ‘It was an unusual amount of crying for me and my family.

‘I often thought to myself, ‘Why is the baby crying so much?’ It came to a point when John came and knocked on the door and apologized for Elijah crying.’

Her father Michael, 51, who lives in the same house, said the crying was ‘high pitched’ and ‘he looked distressed’.

‘A one-year-old child should not cry this much,’ he said.

Mr Nuttall described Varley as the ‘more confident’ and ‘full of himself’ of the two men. He said he heard Varley raise his voice to his partner but never the other way around.

But he said he didn’t say anything to the couple because he didn’t want to be the ‘interfering neighbour’.

Miss Nuttall said that shortly after Preston moved into the house, she heard Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley ‘concerning’ the baby and trying to comfort him to calm him down.

But later, in May, he said he heard “loud noises” coming from the next room.

‘I remember hearing Elijah crying and John raising his voice and saying words to the effect of ‘Now stop it.’

‘I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was angry. I remember thinking it was a bit brief compared to what I heard him and Elijah talking about (earlier).’

Ms Nuttall said she sometimes heard men arguing ‘like a normal couple’, but on one occasion the fight was more serious.

Preston Davey died and 40 injured after being abused, jury was told

Court drawing of Jamie Varley (left) and partner John McGowan-Fazakerley (right)

Family photo of tragic Preston Davey, who died aged 13 months in July 2023

Janet Gee is Jamie Varley’s former colleague and friend. He told her he was ‘not doing well’ and complained that the hospital had called the police over Preston’s bruises

‘They were saying to each other, ‘Don’t talk to me like that’ and ‘Don’t raise your voice at me.’

The court heard that the couple’s relationship became strained just days after Preston was placed in their care.

Varley, who works as a textile teacher, took a year off to look after Preston, while McGowan-Fazakerley returned to sales work.

But Preston was sleep deprived, often waking up to ten times a night, and Varley told friends she was struggling with insomnia and was caring for him on her own.

On May 15, Varley, described as ‘dramatic’ and ‘bossy’ in the relationship, sent a text message to McGowan-Fazakerley, pleading with her boyfriend: ‘Can you PLEASE try to come home for your son, I’m struggling and it’s not good here.’

A month later, in another message on the eve of Preston’s first birthday, Varley told McGowan-Fazakerley to ‘fuck off’ after telling her the BA flight to Heathrow had been delayed. She also sent him a link about ‘postpartum depression in adoptive parents’.

Jurors were also told that during the first of Preston’s three visits to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, a ‘panicked’ Varley took him to A&E just after 11am on May 25, nearly two months before the alleged murder.

Pediatric nurse Zoe Hellowell said: ‘Jamie grabbed Preston, he was frantic and held him out to me and said he wasn’t breathing.’

He said he noticed the child was unresponsive and floppy, and also had two bruises on either side of his forehead.

Zoom-in photographs of Preston’s bruises, obtained from photographs taken on the couple’s mobile phone around the same time, were also shown to the court.

Another nurse, Holly Edwards, referred Preston to hospital security, which was then handed over to Lancashire Police.

Dr Siaw Sii Cheng said he remembered the bruises on the boy’s forehead but was told Preston was learning to walk and that this was ‘not an unusual situation’.

He said Varley was ‘upset and crying’ and was consoled by McGowan-Fazakerley.

Another doctor, Dr Ghada Tahraoui, said in a statement that social workers were asked to go to the hospital, but after discussions with security officials, no concerns emerged and the parents’ behavior was appropriate.

Two months later he was notified of Preston’s death.

He added: ‘Preston made an impression on so many of us because he was so sweet and cheerful.’

Jurors were then shown text messages Varley sent shortly afterwards to her colleague and friend Janet Gee.

She told him he was ‘not doing well’ and complained that the hospital had contacted the police about Preston’s bruises but said social workers had ‘fixed them’.

Prosecutor Peter Wright KC said Preston was a ‘happy and healthy’ child when he was placed with the defendants but was ‘routinely subjected to mistreatment, sexual abuse and physical assault’ for four months.

On the evening of July 27, 2023, the court heard, McGowan-Fazakerley arrived home from work to find Varley trying to resuscitate Preston and ‘in a state of panic’.

They took the baby, who had a heart attack, to the hospital, but he could not be saved.

An autopsy found the little boy suffered 40 internal and external injuries, including severe bruising to the back of his throat. A pathologist concluded he suffocated and died from ‘acute upper respiratory tract obstruction’.

Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were arrested later that day.

Varley claimed she bathed Preston when she went away for a short time and returned to find him drowning.

But Mr Wright said the pathology evidence did not support that version of events and the prosecution argued that Preston had suffered two serious sexual assaults by Varley earlier that day which led to his death.

Varley denies murder, sexual assault, assault by penetration, GBH, four counts of cruelty to children, 14 counts of making and taking an indecent photograph of a child and one count of distributing an indecent photograph of a child.

McGowan-Fazakerley denied causing or permitting the death of a child and two counts of cruelty to children.

The two face two additional joint charges of sexual assault and cruelty to a child.

The trial, which is expected to last six to eight weeks, continues.