Preston Davey death: Baby allegedly murdered by teacher who adopted him suffered sexual abuse injuries, court told

The court heard that a baby allegedly killed by the teacher who adopted him was injured by sexual abuse.

Dr Joanne Gifford told the jury at Preston Crown Court she also found evidence that 13-month-old baby Preston Davey suffered unexplained emotional abuse and physical injuries as accidental.

Preston was born on 16 June 2022 and was immediately taken into care by Oldham Council and placed with foster parents when he was five days old.

In April 2023, the “sweet and cheerful” baby, who was 10 months old, was adopted by high school teacher Jamie Varley (37) and his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley (32), who live at their home in Blackpool.

It is alleged that Preston was continually mistreated, inappropriately photographed and recorded, sexually harassed and physically assaulted during the four months he was adopted.

Both men deny all charges.

Child sexual abuse expert and clinical leader at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Dr. Gifford said he reviewed the evidence in the case and prepared a 173-page report, parts of which were taken to him for comment by prosecutor Peter Wright KC.

The witness said he found approximately 40 trauma wounds, including internal and external lacerations and lacerations, on Preston’s body and “more than 30” bruises on his body.

Jurors were shown videos and photographs of the child’s bruising before and after his death, as well as images of his anatomy, parts of which were described as “abnormal” and caused by “forcible penetration”, according to a Home Office pathologist.

Dr Gifford told jurors: “The injuries are clinical signs of sexual abuse. Multiple incidents.”

Preston had already been taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital three times before his death and the last time he was taken to Accident and Emergency by the defendants at around 6.30pm on 27 July 2023.

Varley told police he left the boy in the bathroom for three or four minutes and returned to find him submerged in water.

Medical teams tried to resuscitate the child for about an hour, but could not save his life.

Ministry of Internal Affairs pathologist Dr. Alison Armor ruled out asphyxiation and concluded that the cause of death was upper respiratory tract obstruction which led to Preston collapsing due to a deliberate act of asphyxiation or an object or objects being inserted into his mouth.

Dr Gifford said he had identified three “near misses” before Preston’s death, in which the boy was in a critical condition.

These segments include a 29-second video from Varley’s phone that shows Preston lying on the floor wearing only a diaper and struggling to breathe.

Dr Gifford was also asked about a video from Varley’s phone taken about 90 minutes before the boy was taken to hospital on the day he died.

In it, Preston is laid out on a bed in a baby yard and struggles to breathe.

Dr Gifford said Preston was in “extreme respiratory distress”.

He added: “I watched this clinically and wanted to resuscitate him immediately, he looks terminal in the video.

“There are parts of not being able to breathe. Panting. I would describe it as agonal panting.

“That’s a child in the video who needs to be resurrected.”

Dr Gifford also said he could identify from photographs of Preston before he died that he had nine bruises on his face and one on his chin, in addition to the 30 injuries identified during the autopsy.

He said a child his age and height learning to walk would generate only “low force” compared to an older child who could hurt himself on a skateboard or bike, for example.

Dr Gifford said the large number of bruises and the fact that they often appeared in clusters and in patterns suggestive of “grab-type” marks were indicative of physical abuse.

Dr. Gifford told the jury it was not “even remotely clinically plausible” that these could have been coincidental.

There was also evidence of emotional abuse, he said.

Preston told the jury that Varley was yelling “Boo!” He referred to a video that showed him “scared” when he shouted. of him falling asleep and other videos of him alone in the bathroom for 14 minutes.

Other videos show him being spun around on a park playground, his eyes rolling back.

“These are difficult videos to watch,” he said, “They are a child going through unpleasant experiences.”

Dr Gifford said the child’s response of staring blankly, not laughing or not enjoying the activity could be consistent with a symptom of trauma called “frozen alertness”.

During the autopsy, Dr. Gifford said he identified 26 injury sites from photographs, including 30 individual bruises both external to the skin and internally beneath the surface.

These included nine bruises on the front of Preston’s head and five on the back.

He added that this was well above the number a baby this age would have and was not consistent with an accident or normal household behavior.

Varley denies murder, manslaughter, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, causing grievous bodily harm, sexual assault of a child, 13 counts of taking an indecent photograph or video of a child, one count of distributing an indecent photograph of a child to other defendants and one count of taking an indecent photograph.

McGowan-Fazakerley denies authorizing the death of a child, three counts of cruelty to children and one count of sexual assault on a child.

The hearing was postponed to Monday next week.