Teacher stated ‘I’m going to hell’ whereas cradling child he ‘sexually abused and murdered’

Jamie Varley, 37, and his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, are on trial accused of the murder and alleged sexual abuse of 13-month-old adopted baby Preston Davey at Preston Crown Court

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A teacher charged with the sexual abuse and murder of a baby he adopted declared “I’m going to hell” while holding the deceased child, a court was told.

Jamie Varley, 37, uttered the remark in footage shown at Preston Crown Court depicting him cradling 13-month-old Preston Davey in the bereavement suite at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

Video evidence presented to jurors revealed Varley appearing stunned as he blamed himself for leaving the child in the bath. The accused claimed he discovered Preston face down minutes afterwards, but prosecutors contend his version is contradictory following a post-mortem which found the baby had sustained 40 injuries.

Varley was working as a secondary school teacher at the time of Preston’s death. He stands accused of murdering the child, while his partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, is charged with causing or allowing the death, with both defendants facing sexual abuse allegations.

Throughout the four months the baby remained under their care at their Blackpool residence, he was allegedly subjected to systematic mistreatment, had indecent photographs and footage taken of him, endured sexual abuse and suffered physical attacks, reports the Mirror.

The pair had rushed Preston to hospital unconscious following an alleged final sexual assault by Varley at approximately 6.20pm on July 27, 2023. Following attempts by medical staff to revive the child for nearly an hour, a decision was taken that further treatment was pointless and death was declared at 7.20pm. The jury was shown footage of Varley, accompanied by his mother Karen Graham, collapsing onto the hospital floor as medical staff pleaded with him to come to the child’s bedside because they could not revive him and were about to cease resuscitation attempts.

Varley can be heard saying: “I’m done. It’s my fault. No mum, I can’t get up. “It’s my fault. Do not give up on him. This is not happening.

“It’s my fault, I left him for literally two minutes. It’s my fault. I left him. Mum! I can’t, I can’t, this is not happening. Please kill me.”

Further footage showed Varley, barefoot and clad in a Jurassic Park T-shirt and tartan pyjama bottoms, outside the hospital entrance mere minutes after Preston was pronounced dead. Pacing back and forth, Varley said: “It’s not happening. He’s not gone. I’m going to go in there, he’s going to be smiling, he’s going to be laughing. This is not happening. If he’s dead, I can’t live with this.”

In the video, Varley was also asked if he wanted to see Preston, whom he had renamed Elijah. He responded: “No. I don’t deserve to see him. I left him. I can’t, not now please.”

He continued: “I only left the bathroom to get clothes… This can’t happen. He’s got his life ahead of him. I’m not going in, because it’s fine. I’m a teacher, I’m head of year, I’m child protection trained. You don’t leave him in a bath tub. He was in his chair, he was fine. He doesn’t deserve me. I should not have left him… He was giving me cuddles when I put shampoo in his hair.”

Further footage was then displayed of incidents within the bereavement room featuring McGowan-Fazakerley and Varley’s mother. He was persuaded to enter the room.

He kept walking back and forth, and declared: “I don’t want to be in here. He needs to be warm, keep him warm. Elijah wake up. He is going to wake up mum. He’s my baby boy. He’s got to wake up. I need to get out of here.”

The following clip revealed Varley outside, where he stated: “I tried to go in but my mum wouldn’t let me hold him.”

The last video displayed Varley and his co-accused together at just after 11pm, in the bereavement room. Varley is seen holding the child and McGowan-Fazakerley said: “It’s going to be the hardest thing… we’ve got each other.”

Varley is also told not to blame himself and that the death is a “tragic accident”. Varley, still holding the child with his head down, responded: “I probably won’t see you again. I’m definitely going to hell.”

His co-accused continued to try to console him and Varley said: “They’ll be whisking me away for neglect.” Preston was born on June 16, 2022, immediately taken into care by Oldham Council, and placed with foster parents at five days old.

Following an assessment and familiarisation process in early 2023 he was adopted and began living with the defendants on April 1 at their home. Varley took a year’s leave from his roles as head of year and design and technology teacher at South Shore Academy, a local secondary school, to care for the infant, but found himself struggling as a new parent with a baby who regularly disturbed his sleep throughout the night, the court was told.

Varley denies murder, manslaughter, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault of a child, 13 counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child, one of distributing an indecent photo of a child, to his co-accused, and one of making an indecent photo.

McGowan-Fazakerley denies allowing the death of a child, three counts of child cruelty and one count of the sexual assault of a child. The trial was postponed until Thursday morning.