To those who encountered Jamie Varley in everyday life, there appeared to be little to suggest the horrifying case that would eventually unfold behind the doors of his Blackpool home.

He was a secondary school teacher. He and his partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, had gone through the formal adoption process. On social media, their lives could appear settled and ordinary.

But the death of 13-month-old Preston Davey exposed a reality completely at odds with that image — and ultimately resulted in one of the most severe sentences available under English law.

Preston was born in June 2022 and entered emergency foster care just days later. For approximately nine months, he lived with foster carers who remembered him as a healthy, happy and sociable baby.

That changed after an adoption panel approved Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley to care for him in March 2023.

Preston spent his first night with the couple at the end of that month. What should have marked the beginning of a permanent family instead became the start of the final four months of his life.

Evidence presented during the lengthy trial at Preston Crown Court revealed that Varley began struggling with parenthood remarkably quickly. Messages sent to friends showed him complaining about Preston and expressing frustration over caring for the child.

Behind closed doors, the situation was far more serious.

Prosecutors established that Preston was subjected to repeated cruelty and physical abuse while living in the couple’s home. Medical evidence later documented approximately 40 injuries.

Then, on July 27, 2023, Preston was rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital in cardiac arrest.

Varley initially maintained that the baby had suffered an accident involving the bath. Medical examinations, however, told investigators a very different story.

Preston had died from acute upper-airway obstruction, and the extent and nature of his injuries were inconsistent with the explanation Varley had provided.

The investigation that followed gradually dismantled the image surrounding the couple.

Digital evidence, medical findings, messages and other material became central to the prosecution’s case. Prosecutors argued that Preston had endured an escalating pattern of mistreatment during the short period he lived with the men.

After a lengthy trial, the jury reached its verdict.

Varley was convicted of Preston’s murder as well as serious assault, child cruelty, sexual offences and offences involving indecent images of the child.

McGowan-Fazakerley was not convicted of murder, but the jury found him guilty of causing or allowing Preston’s death, child cruelty offences and sexual assault.

On June 18, 2026, Varley returned to Preston Crown Court to learn his fate.

The judge imposed a whole life order.

Unlike an ordinary life sentence with a minimum term before parole can be considered, a whole life order means Varley will never become eligible for release. Barring exceptional circumstances, he will spend the remainder of his life in prison.

McGowan-Fazakerley was sentenced to 25 years in prison and must serve two-thirds of that term before he can be considered for release.

Yet the convictions have not ended the questions surrounding Preston’s death.

The case has also placed renewed scrutiny on the systems that were supposed to protect him.

Before entering the couple’s home, Preston had reportedly been thriving in foster care. Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley had undergone an adoption assessment and received approval to become his prospective parents.

Varley’s professional background makes those questions even more troubling. He had worked in education, a profession in which safeguarding children is a fundamental responsibility.

How, then, did a baby who had been described as happy and healthy end up suffering so extensively within months of being placed in an approved home?

That question now extends beyond the two men convicted in court.

The case has prompted examination of the decisions made during Preston’s adoption and of whether warning signs during the months he lived with the couple could have been identified earlier.

For Preston’s family and those who cared for him during his first months, no sentence can undo what happened.

But the whole life order handed to Varley provides one certainty at the conclusion of an extraordinarily disturbing criminal case:

The former teacher convicted of murdering Preston Davey will never be released from prison.

Main Sources: BBC News, Lancashire Police, The Guardian, Sky News, ITV News