A baby boy allegedly sexually abused and murdered by a teacher who was adopting him with his boyfriend had a human bite mark on his body six weeks before he died, a court has heard.
Preston Davey was aged nine months when he was placed in the care of Jamie Varley, 37, and John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, in April 2023.
The couple had successfully applied to adopt the tot, but less than four months later he was dead.
Preston Crown Court has been told the infant was ‘routinely ill-treated, sexually abused and physically assaulted’ before being smothered.
A post-mortem found he’d suffered 40 separate injuries – including severe bruising to the back of his throat – before he died.
On Wednesday, the jury was shown a photograph of the tot standing naked in a paddling pool, in June 2023.
Pathologist Dr Alison Armour, who carried out the autopsy on Preston, said a ‘purple-brownish’ circular bruise, with a ‘sparing’ or ‘un-involvement’ of skin at the centre, could clearly be seen on his right buttock.
‘It’s my view that this most likely represents a human bite mark,’ the expert said.
‘The size, the shape, the central sparing is all consistent with a human bite mark.’
Preston Davey pictured by his adopted father, Jamie Varley, 37, the morning after his first sleep over at his new adopted ‘daddies’ home. Varley is accused of sexually abusing and murdering Preston
Former secondary school teacher Jamie Varley, 37, denies a total of 25 charges
Varley’s partner John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, has pleaded not guilty to five charges
The image, the court heard, was taken on sales rep McGowan-Fazakerley’s mobile phone just before 7pm on the evening of June 12, around six weeks before Preston died.
Asked by Peter Wright KC, prosecuting, whether the bruise, which she estimated to be just under one and a half inches – or 3.5cm – in diameter, could have been caused by Preston falling onto the floor, or onto a piece of Lego or some other toy, Dr Armour replied: ‘No, it’s inconsistent with a fall or the proposition you’ve just put to me.’
The expert was also shown a series of images of Preston taken by textiles teacher Varley, over a period of three minutes and 12 seconds, on the afternoon of July 23 – four days before he died.
In the photographs, the court heard, the infant appears to be asleep or ‘unresponsive’ and partially suspended, with his arms over the top rail of his cot.
Questioned about Preston’s position, Dr Armour said: ‘This is very unsafe and, in my view, dangerous.’
Mr Wright said: ‘It may be obvious, but what risk here is presented in terms of Preston and his well-being?’
Dr Armour replied: ‘Partial suspension…ultimately leading to his death. His neck is completely in contact with the upper cot railing…that’s going to inhibit his ability to breathe.’
She said that, in some of the later images, Preston’s tongue is protruding and both his tongue and lips appear to be blue, suggesting he was being deprived of oxygen.
‘This is a very prolonged period of time for a child to be in such an unsafe position,’ she added.
Pathologist Dr Alison Armour ruled out drowning as Preston’s cause of death and instead told the jury it was her view that he died of an ‘acute upper airway obstruction’
Preston died after suffering abuse and was found to have 40 injuries, a court heard
Preston pictured in his cot. He died aged 13 months, less than four months after being placed in the care of Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley
CCTV at Blackpool Victoria Hospital showing a paramedic carrying Preston inside on July 27, 2023. Jamie Varley and his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley follow closely behind
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Varley denies murder, sexual assault, assault by penetration, inflicting GBH, four counts of child cruelty, 14 counts of making and taking indecent images of a child, and one charge of distributing an indecent image of a child.
McGowan-Fazakerley denies causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child cruelty.
The pair face two further joint charges of sexual assault and child cruelty.
Dr Armour was also shown a video of Preston lying on a bed at the couple’s home, in Blackpool, Lancashire, and struggling to breathe.
The prosecution allege that Preston had been sexually assaulted by Varley shortly before the clip was filmed, at 4.45pm on July 27 – just a few hours before the infant was rushed to hospital and pronounced dead.
Dr Armour agreed with Mr Wright that Preston was ‘very unwell’ in the video and his breathing was ‘abnormal.’
She said he appeared to be taking just 14 breaths a minute – half the rate of a normal baby of his age.
The jury has been told that, less than two hours later, at around 6.25pm, McGowan-Fazakerley came home from work to find Varley trying to resuscitate Preston and ‘panicking.’
Varley claimed he had been bathing Preston when he nipped away for a short time and returned to find him drowning.
But Dr Armour, who has been a qualified pathologist for almost 40 years, told the jury that no water was found in Preston’s stomach or lungs and there was no evidence to support drowning as a cause of death.
Instead, she said Preston likely died due to smothering or an ‘acute upper airway obstruction.’
Dr Armour said that, during her examination of Preston’s body, she had found ‘most unusual’ bruising to the back wall of his pharynx or throat, the likes of which she had never seen before.
While she could not rule out the possibility that the bruising had been caused by smothering – someone occluding the nose and mouth by a hand or soft object – the pathologist said this would be ‘unusual.’
‘So that leaves the other cause, in my view, of the insertion of an object into the mouth occluding the upper airway,’ she added.
‘There were no injuries to the teeth, the tongue, the palette or the cheeks which would indicate that the object does not have any sharp edges.’
Tiny pin-prick-sized haemorrhages, or burst blood vessels, on Preston’s lips, his windpipe, and his lungs were also evidence of him being asphyxiated, Dr Armour said.
A bruise around Preston’s bottom was also not normal for a child of his age and raised the possibility that he had been assaulted, she added.
Dr Armour also insisted that the bruises to Preston’s throat, and other internal bruises she discovered, including to Preston’s bladder, were ‘very recent.’ They occurred ‘within hours’ of his death but, crucially, while he was still alive, she said.
She dismissed Varley’s claims that medics at Blackpool Victoria Hospital could have caused the throat injury while trying to insert a tube during resuscitation attempts, saying Preston did not have a heartbeat or circulation at this time, meaning bruising was not possible.
Some of the marks on Preston’s legs and back were typical childhood bruises and could have been accidental, Dr Armour said, but many others were not.
She described these as ‘fingertip’ bruises, consistent with Preston being deliberately ‘gripped, prodded, poked or pinched.’
The expert also told the jury that five linear bruises to the top of the baby’s left thigh were consistent with him being slapped by a hand.
The trial continues.
