Teacher accused of sexually abusing and murdering baby boy he was trying to adopt described him as ‘dead meat’ and joked about killing him, court hears

A teacher accused of sexually abusing and murdering a boy he tried to adopt described him as ‘dead meat’ and joked about killing him, a court heard.

Jamie Varley, 37, made the comment in a text message to friends and relatives days after Preston Davey was taken into his care after nine months.

Varley and her boyfriend, 32-year-old John McGowan-Fazakerley, had successfully applied to adopt the baby, who was taken from his biological mother soon after birth.

He died at the age of 13 months on July 27, 2023, just four months after being taken into their care.

In a message to her sister, described as a nanny and baby sleep trainer, Varley admitted the pair were struggling and wrote: ‘She is dead meat.

‘He didn’t sleep after 23.30 last night. ‘I get up every 1.5 hours.’

Four days later he sent video of Preston with his walker to his mother Karen Graham, who replied: ‘Smart boyxxx.’

Varley replied with a witty retort: ​​’That was before he was killed and put to bed.’

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

Preston Crown Court heard Varley and sales agent McGowan-Fazakerley went through ‘robust’ vetting procedures to adopt Preston, who is in the care of Oldham Council, before the baby was officially placed with them on April 3, 2023.

But the couple immediately struggled to care for the little boy, who had a milk allergy and was described by his foster carer Sandra Cooper as one of the ‘worst sleepers’ he had cared for for almost 25 years.

After the child’s first overnight stay at the couple’s home in Blackpool, Lancashire, Varley texted her friend and said: ‘I wanted to put him in the field with the cows after an hour of him refusing his milk and pacifier but he woke up to the sunlight and is as beautiful as ever.’

The next day Varley told another colleague that they were disappointed that Preston was not in his sleep routine because he had been “spoiled” by Miss Cooper, who “smothered” him and “picked him up every time he cried”.

In other texts, Varley, who took time off from her teaching job to look after Preston, described the baby as ‘annoying’, ‘whiny’ and ‘crying day and night’.

“I love him so much but he is killing us,” Varley wrote.

‘When you pick him up he cries, you can only put him down for a few minutes, he cries all night long. ‘He wakes up every 1.5 to 2 hours… He screams when we leave the room.’

The jury was also shown text messages hinting at tensions in the couple’s own relationship just days after Preston came to live with them.

In one, McGowan-Fazakerley told Varley: ‘I can’t keep trying any more. ‘I won’t see you physically anymore, you’re breaking my heart.’

Varley replied: ‘You’re going somewhere else, so we’d better split up.’

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

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.

The baby was hospitalized by the couple on three separate occasions before he died; One of them had a broken arm.

However, while the couple explained the suspicious bruises to the doctors each time, the doctors did not express any safety concerns.

But the jury was told that on the evening of July 27, 2023, McGowan-Fazakerley arrived home from work to find Varley trying to resuscitate Preston and “panicked”.

They took the baby, who had a heart attack, to Blackpool Victoria 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 on suspicion of negligence. 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.