Baby boy ‘sexually abused and murdered’ by teacher who was adopting him had human bite mark on his body in the weeks before he died, court hears

A baby boy who was allegedly sexually abused and murdered by a teacher who adopted him with his boyfriend had human bite marks on his body six weeks before he died, the court heard.

Preston Davey was nine months old when he was placed in the care of Jamie Varley, 37, and John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, in April 2023.

The couple successfully applied to adopt the child, but less than four months later the child died.

The baby was ‘regularly mistreated, sexually abused and physically assaulted’ before she was strangled, Preston Crown Court was told.

An autopsy revealed he suffered 40 separate injuries before he died, including severe bruising to the back of his throat.

On Wednesday, the jury was shown a photo of the little boy standing naked in a kiddie pool in June 2023.

The pathologist who performed the autopsy in Preston, Dr. Alison Armour said a “purple-brownish” circular bruise was clearly visible on her right hip, with “spared” or “unaffected” skin in the centre.

“In my opinion, this most likely represents a human bite mark,” the expert said.

‘Size, shape, central preservation all match human bite mark.’

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

The court heard the photo was taken on sales representative McGowan-Fazakerley’s mobile phone just before 7pm on June 12, about six weeks before Preston died.

When asked by Peter Wright KC, prosecuting, whether the bruise, which he estimated to be just under 3.5cm in diameter, was caused by Preston falling on the floor, a Lego piece or another toy, Dr. Armor replied: ‘No, this is not consistent with the fall or the offer you just made to me.’

The expert was also shown a series of photographs of Preston taken by textile teacher Varley for three minutes and 12 seconds on the afternoon of July 23, four days before he died.

The court heard that in the photographs the baby appeared to be asleep or ‘unresponsive’, with her arms partially hanging over the top railing of her cot.

Asked about Preston’s position, Dr Armor said: ‘It’s very unsafe and, in my opinion, dangerous.’

Mr Wright said: ‘This may be obvious but what risk is there to Preston and his health?’

Dr Armor replied: ‘Partial removal… ultimately led to his death. ‘His neck is completely in contact with the top rail of the bed… which will hinder his ability to breathe.’

He said some later footage showed Preston’s tongue sticking out and both his tongue and lips appearing blue, indicating he was being deprived of oxygen.

‘It’s a very long time for a child to be in such an unsafe position,’ he added.

Pathologist Dr. Alison Armor denied that Preston’s cause of death was asphyxiation and instead told the jury she thought he died of “acute upper respiratory tract obstruction.”

The court found that Preston died as a result of the abuse he was subjected to and that 40 people were injured.

Preston is pictured in his cot. He died at the age of 13 months, less than four months after he was placed in the care of Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley.

CCTV at Blackpool Victoria Hospital shows a paramedic carrying Preston inside on July 27, 2023. Jamie Varley and partner John McGowan-Fazakerley follow closely behind

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.

Dr Armor was also shown a video of Preston lying in bed and struggling to breathe at the couple’s home in Blackpool, Lancashire.

The prosecution alleges Preston was sexually assaulted by Varley at 4.45pm on July 27, shortly before the clip was filmed, just hours before the baby was taken to hospital and pronounced dead.

Dr Armor agreed with Mr Wright that Preston was ‘very unwell’ in the video and his breathing was ‘abnormal’.

He said he appeared to be taking only 14 breaths per minute; This rate was half that of a normal baby his age.

The jury was told McGowan-Fazakerley arrived home from work less than two hours later at around 6.25pm ​​to find Varley trying to resuscitate Preston and ‘panicking’.

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

But Dr Armour, who has been a qualified pathologist for almost 40 years, told the jury there was no water in Preston’s stomach or lungs and there was no evidence to support drowning as the cause of death.

Instead, he said Preston likely died of asphyxiation or ‘acute upper respiratory tract obstruction’.

Dr Armor said when examining Preston’s body he found ‘very unusual’ bruising on the pharynx or the back wall of his throat that he had never seen before.

Although he could not rule out the possibility that the bruising was caused by asphyxiation (someone blocking the nose and mouth with a hand or soft object), the pathologist said this would be ‘unusual’.

“So in my opinion that eliminates the other cause of inserting an object into the mouth and obstructing the upper respiratory tract,” he added.

‘There were no injuries to the teeth, tongue, palette or cheeks, indicating that the object did not have sharp edges.’

Dr Armor said small pin-sized haemorrhages, or burst blood vessels, on Preston’s lips, windpipe and lungs were also evidence that he had drowned.

He added that the bruise on Preston’s bottom was also not normal for a child his age and increased the possibility of him being attacked.

Dr Armor also insisted the bruises on Preston’s throat and other internal bruises he discovered, including to Preston’s bladder, were ‘very recent’. He said it occurred ‘a few hours’ after his death, but most importantly it occurred while he was still alive.

He rejected Varley’s claims that paramedics at Blackpool Victoria Hospital may have caused a throat injury when trying to insert a tube during resuscitation attempts, saying Preston had no heartbeat or circulation at the time, meaning bruising was not possible.

Dr Armor said some of the marks on Preston’s legs and back were typical childhood bruises and could have been accidental, but most of the others were not.

He described these as ‘fingertip’ bruises; this was consistent with Preston being deliberately ‘grabbed, prodded, prodded or squeezed’.

The expert also told the jury that five linear bruises on the baby’s upper left thigh were consistent with him being spanked by hand.

The trial continues.