A teacher accused of murdering a baby told a colleague he had ‘dark thoughts’ of ‘drowning or suffocating the infant’ but said he would never carry them out, a court heard.
Jamie Varley, 37, and his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, were in the process of adopting Preston Davey, aged 13 months, when he died in July 2023.
Varley is accused of a serious sexual assault while alone with the child – who he and his partner had named ‘Elijah’ – and then ‘smothering’ him to death by obstructing his airways.
On the second day of a trial at Preston Crown Court, prosecutor Peter Wright, KC, explained how one of Varley’s former work colleagues went to police after Preston’s death.
The court heard Varley spoke to the ‘close colleague’ after he had visited her with Preston, whose arm was in a plaster cast from breaking his elbow, in early July and appeared ‘on edge’.
Mr McGowan-Fazakerley had arrived and taken Preston with him, leaving Varley alone with the colleague, the court heard.
Mr Wright said: ‘He revealed to her he was struggling mentally. He was worried about “Elijah” in respect of his not sleeping and that he was not ‘bonding’ with him as he had hoped.
‘He disclosed to her that he had harmful thoughts towards Elijah and had thoughts of drowning him or suffocating him but that he would never carry them out.
‘The witness tried to reassure him that such thoughts were capable of rational explanation and that sometimes as a parent you have thoughts of “worse case scenarios”.
Tragic baby Preston Davey, who was aged just 13 months when he died in July 2023
‘She explained it was a protective thing, not something you would carry out.’
Mr Wright told the court the colleague had asked Varley, a head of year at a secondary school in Blackpool, Lancashire, ‘if he had disclosed such thoughts as part of routine welfare checks’ at work.
The prosecutor said: ‘He told her he had told the member of staff responsible for his welfare “everything” and that he had told the social workers involved in the adoption process he was struggling.
‘She dismissed the exchange from her thoughts – until it was discovered that Preston had died. Later, she revealed it to the police.’
Mr Wright said it was ‘inconceivable’ that Varley would have made the admission ‘to his former colleague and not to his partner’.
He said: ‘Jamie Varley does not appear to have been keeping such dark thoughts to himself. ‘Why would he keep such thoughts from the person with whom he shared the care of Preston and yet disclose them to a former work colleague if what he was seeking to do was to unburden himself?’
On the day of Preston’s death, the court heard Varley and his partner had arranged to view a house before McGowan-Fazakerley went to work.
Preston was dropped with Varley’s mother, Mr Wright said. A picture was taken at 2.25pm showing a healthy boy being bounced on his adoptive grandmother’s knee, the court was told.
Having collected Preston and returned home later that afternoon, Varley videoed Preston at 4.45pm – via the Snapchat app on his phone – showing him lying on a double bed wearing a babygrow and struggling to breathe.
Mr Wright told how a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine who viewed the 45-second footage ‘concluded that Preston appeared to have been captured on it while recovering from an episode in which he had not been breathing’.
Jamie Varley, 37, left, with John McGowan Fazakerley, 32, right, at Preston Crown Court
Mr Wright said: ‘The child’s lips bore what are to him the tell-tale signs of cyanosis – a bluish hue caused by respiratory failure.
‘In addition, Preston’s breathing was noticeably laboured. The recording has audio. Varley appears completely silent and at no stage appears physically to go to Preston’s aid’.
Instead, examination of Varley’s phone found he used a calculator app then was focused on ‘the possible sale of a Kayak by his partner to a prospective buyer’, Mr Wright said.
Messages were exchanged between Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley about the sale but there was no mention of Preston, the court heard.
The prosecutor questioned why Varley, who continued to use his phone, did nothing to help Preston until his partner arrived home – when Blackpool Victoria Hospital was less than a mile from their home.
‘We know he (Varley) had his phone, because he was using it to record these events, we know he was in contact with his partner, grandma (Varley’s mother) wasn’t far away. Blackpool Victoria Hospital was somewhere they’d been to before. He knew how far away it was,’ Mr Wright said.
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Teacher, 37, murdered 13-month-old boy he was in process of adopting with his boyfriend, court hears
The prosecution said Preston was then sexually assaulted and smothered within the following two hours after the Snapchat video and before McGowan-Fazakerley returned home and the baby was taken to hospital.
When Preston was pronounced dead 50 minutes after being admitted to Victoria Hospital, Mr Wright said Varley ‘appeared to be inconsolable; refusing to accept that “Elijah” was beyond recovery’ – and ‘blaming himself’, claiming he had left Preston in the bath unsupervised.
But Mr Wright said Varley’s claims amounted to a ‘cover up’, adding: ‘Some things didn’t seem to add up. Preston did not appear wet. His hair was dry.’
The prosecution accused Varley of a ‘calculated charade’ in his behaviour at the hospital, where CCTV showed the teacher in tartan pyjama bottoms rushing from McGowan-Fazakerley’s car carrying Preston in his arms.
‘We say that was all for show,’ Mr Wright said.
The baby was wearing a ‘well placed nappy’ but on examination he was found to have a serious injury, the court was told.
A later post-mortem examination found Preston had died from obstruction of his upper airways.
Pathologist Dr Alison Armour also ‘found multiple injuries both externally and internally that were consistent with non-accidental infliction’, plus ‘bruises and abrasions to the head, face and mouth, upper limbs, chest, back and left thigh’.
Dr Armour said Preston’s significant internal injuries had occurred ‘shortly before death’, probably within ‘a few hours’.
She also found evidence it was ‘not the first time the little boy’s upper respiratory airways had been obstructed’.
Mr Wright told jurors: ‘You can work back how these injuries must have been caused , where he (Preston) was, who he was with.’
Varley, head of year at a secondary school in Blackpool, ‘told a colleague of dark thoughts’
John McGowan-Fazakerley denies charges including causing or allowing the death of a child
In police interviews, both defendants denied ‘any responsibility’ for Preston’s death, with Varley maintaining his claim the baby drowned in the bath.
He also denied having a ‘sexual motivation’ for indecent videos and images of the baby boy found on his phone and shared with McGowan-Fazakerley.
Mr Wright said: ‘The unlawful act that led to Preston’s death was clearly sexual in nature.’
Varley denies murder and 25 other charges including sexual assaults, GBH against Preston by breaking his elbow, cruelty and making indecent images of the baby.
McGowan Fazakerley, a sales rep, has pleaded not guilty to causing or allowing the death of a child, sexually assaulting Preston and cruelty.
The trial continues.
