Cruel video shows 'evil' teacher deliberately keeping baby boy awake and shouting 'Boo,' days before he sexually assaulted and murdered him

By LIZ HULL, NORTHERN CORRESPONDENT and RICHARD MARSDEN Published: 18:14, 15 June 2026 | Updated: 18:29, 15 June 2026 Clearly exhausted and desperate for sleep, this is murdered baby Preston Davey being deliberately kept awake by his cruel adoptive father on the eve of his first birthday. As Jamie Varley, 37, was today found guilty of the 13-month-old's sexual abuse, neglect and murder, police released a video of him psychologically torturing Preston, six weeks before he died. In the upsetting 43-second clip, filmed on the evening of June 15, hours before Preston turned one, the tot can be seen desperately trying to sleep while Varley plays the soundtrack to the Disney film Moana loudly on the television in the background. As he shuts his eyes, the 'evil' former teacher shouts 'Boo', causing Preston, who is dressed in just a nappy, to startle awake. Varley sent the video to his boyfriend accomplice, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, who was away on a work trip and waiting for a delayed flight home. Preston Crown Court heard Varley was 'sick' of McGowan-Fazakerley being away, and frustrated that he was being left at home to care for the infant alone. The pair bickered in texts, with Varley blaming his partner for catching a late flight, telling him it was his 'f***ing fault, now f*** off.' Later that evening he took out his resentment and frustration on Preston, who died with 40 separate injuries, by sexually assaulting him. Jamie Varley, 37, (left) was found guilty of sexually abusing and murdering Preston and his boyfriend, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, (right) was also convicted of being complicit in his sex abuse and death In the video Preston is sitting up, but appears to be desperately trying to sleep as loud music is played in the background At one stage, Varley shouts 'Boo', causing Preston to startle and open his eyes In another video, taken a few days later, Preston is playing with a large wooden abacus on top of a toy box Preston can be heard crying on the film as the lid of the box tumbles onto his head. Varley says 'oopsie,' before going to his aid Preston died less than six weeks after the home video was filmed. He had been repeatedly sexually abused and murdered Another video found on Varley's mobile phone, taken around 10.30pm and which showed Preston having an apparent seizure, was the aftermath of that attack, police said. In more footage taken a few days later, which was also released today, Varley stands by and continues filming as Preston accidentally pulls a heavy wooden toybox activity abacus onto his head. Varley can be heard saying, 'oopsie,' before going to Preston's aid.  Manipulative Varley played the footage to nurses at Blackpool Victoria Hospital when Preston was admitted on June 30 after they questioned how he had come by bruises on his forehead. But he failed to tell them that, in truth, the video had been taken 12 days earlier and couldn't have caused the injury. Detectives from Lancashire Police said the sex abuse and murder of Preston was 'one of the most harrowing' cases they had ever investigated. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fallows, who led the investigation, said Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley lived their lives on social media and 'were very Instagram-ready.' 'What I mean by that is everything was for show,' he said. 'They tried to present as the perfect family, living in the perfect home, having the perfect lives. 'But if you scratched away at that veneer of respectability, the reality was far removed from a professional, well-to-do couple that lived, in Jamie Varley's words, in a show home.' Varley took hundreds of pictures of Preston after he came to live with the couple, at their semi-detached house, in Blackpool, in April 2023. Preston Davey pictured on April 1, 2023, the morning after his first sleep over at his new adoptive 'daddies' home. He suffered 40 external and internal injuries before he died Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fallows, of Lancashire Police, who led the investigation into Preston's sexual abuse and murder The two men were on trial at Preston Crown Court (pictured) These were presented to show the outside world that Preston was adjusting well to his new life with his new 'daddies.' But alongside images of him playing on swings in the park, or smiling in his high chair, there were darker, indecent photographs on Varley's mobile phone.  These included pictures of Preston being sexually assaulted in his cot, fast asleep with his genitals deliberately exposed and of his injured bottom, which the couple kept as trophies of their sexual abuse. 'They wanted a child as a fashion accessory – a designer baby to fit in with their Instagram lifestyle,' Mr Fallows added. 'The picture they tried to present to the outside world was one of respectability. The truth is far more sinister than that.' Preston was murdered on July 27, 2023, after 'wicked' Varley twice sexually assaulted him, obstructing his breathing with either his hand or by inserting an object, or body part, into his mouth. Just days earlier, he'd tortured the infant by filming him being spun aggressively in a teacup-style roundabout in a local park. Preston appears haunted and dazed in the footage, and one expert said he was displaying signs of 'frozen watchfulness,' a phenomenon frequently found in children who are mistreated. 'You could just see in those photographs a different child that's looking back at the camera,' Mr Fallows said.  'It's really sad to see. He visibly looks like a different child. They have beaten him.  'They have systematically assaulted him, psychologically tortured him.' The senior officer said they found no evidence that the men set out to adopt a baby to abuse - no messages or plan were discovered on their mobile phones or computers - but he said he could not rule it out. 'There has been no evidence of prior attraction to children, no evidence of cruelty or assault of children,' Mr Fallows added. 'The truth of it is, there's only two people who know, and that's Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley.  'People who have followed (the case) and seen the evidence will make up their own minds.' Mr Fallows described Varley as 'a chameleon' - both in his character and appearance, which has also changed dramatically since Preston died.  He has grown his hair long, lost weight and appeared gaunt when he gave evidence in court during the trial.  'He's got the outward persona of a teacher, quite affable, quite popular, the life and soul,' Mr Fallows added.  'But then again, you dig that little bit deeper and you start to see it.  'Jamie Varley is an evil, cruel, manipulative child abuser and murderer.  'We should not give him a second thought.' Instead Mr Fallows said: 'We should remember Preston Davey. 'A little boy who was happy, smiley and had a twinkle in his eye, under the love and care of his foster parents.' Preston Davey died aged just 13 months after being suffocated and sexually assaulted Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were described as an outwardly respectable, middle-class couple living in an immaculate home in Blackpool. But they were found to have carried out what prosecutor Peter Wright KC described as 'a litany of psychological and sexual ill-treatment'. Varley initially put his hand to his mouth as the jury foreman read out the verdicts - before collapsing and being sick in the dock. McGowan-Fazakerley stood motionless in the dock. Mr Wright said that instead of being given a loving home, over the near four-month period he was with the couple, Preston had been used as a 'plaything' to satisfy Varley's desires. As the jury returned its verdicts, Preston's grandmother Debbie Davey called for social workers to be sacked after it emerged there were a string of missed chances to save him from harm. But Mrs Davey added: 'I'm so relieved, I'm happy it's all over.' It can now also be revealed Preston was the son of notorious murderer Sarah Davey, now 42, who as a 14-year-old murdered Lily Lilley, 71. In what was described by a judge as an 'unspeakably wicked' crime, Davey and her friend Lisa Healey, then 15, befriended the grandmother of three and murdered her in her own home in Failsworth, Oldham, in 1998. Ms Lilley was brutally tortured - having shampoo squirted into her eyes, being cut with a knife and having a gag tied so tightly around her mouth that her dentures were forced down her throat. The pair then crammed her lifeless body into a bin and walked it through the streets of Failsworth before throwing it in the Rochdale Canal. After killing her, they made hundreds of calls from her phone and used her pension money to buy crisps and chocolate. Sarah Davey, first released from jail in 2013 but then in and out of prison due to breaking her release conditions, had her first child in 2019. The youngster is being brought up by her mother Debbie Davey, 66. Preston Davey with his mother Sarah Davey, who carried out a horrific crime as a teenager  Lily Lilley, left, was murdered by a teenage Sarah Davey, right, and her friend Lisa Healey Preston was born in June 2022 in Wythenshawe Hospital when Davey was back in prison - and was taken off her by social services just five days later and placed with foster parents. Mrs Davey wanted to formally adopt the boy but pulled out of the process due to a battle against breast cancer. She said social workers involved with the case 'should be sacked', adding: 'Everyone involved with Preston is still working. That is not right.' Following a trial lasting over seven weeks, jurors at Preston Crown Court took 13 hours to find Varley guilty of murder, assault by penetration, sexual assault, causing grievous bodily harm and cruelty. The jury was made up of ten people - six women and four men - after two of its members, one woman and one man, were discharged last week. Varley, head of Year 11 at South Shore Academy in Blackpool, was also convicted of 14 counts of making or taking an indecent image and one count of sharing an indecent image. McGowan-Fazakerley was convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child, cruelty and sexual assault. Mr said Preston had been 'left at (Varley's) mercy and paid with his life' when he died on July 27, 2023. Rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital by Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley - with Varley putting on a theatrical show of hysterics, collapsing and crying 'I'm going to hell' - Preston was pronounced dead after just 50 minutes despite the best efforts of medical staff. Varley claimed Preston had drowned in the bath after he left him momentarily to get changed after having a shower. But suspicions were raised because he wasn't wet and a post-mortem examination found no water in his lungs. Instead, a 'sinister pathology' was revealed, showing he died from 'acute upper airways obstruction', had bruising to his throat and serious internal injuries – as well as over 40 bruises and other injuries. The court heard Varley, alone with Preston, may have sexually assaulted Preston twice that afternoon, causing him to suffocate and have a seizure. The post-mortem found his breathing may have been obstructed previously. Preston had been taken to hospital three times previously, with breathing difficulties on May 25, with an unexplained rash on June 30, when bruising was noted, and on July 6 with a broken elbow due to rough handling – resulting in the GBH charge. The court heard Varley told McGowan-Fazakerley that Preston also had a seizure on June 15, in messages sent to his partner when he was at home with the infant and McGowan-Fazakerley was flying back from a business trip. Mr Wright said: 'The facts of the case point unerringly to the conclusion that Preston had been sexually abused and killed.' On the morning of his death, Preston was 'in good health and uninjured' – taken to Varley's mother's house where he was photographed playing happily on her knee. But the baby later twice went into 'apparent respiratory distress', the first episode filmed on Varley's mobile phone camera, followed by his fatal collapse soon after, the court heard. Preston was driven to hospital when McGowan-Fazakerley returned from work in Manchester. Varley, left, and McGowan-Fazakerley, right, were convicted after a trial of over seven weeks Varley's defence said he had died from choking on vomit caused by cows' milk allergy reflux, that the throat bruise could have been caused by surgical tubing during resuscitation efforts, and he was a 'clumsy' child who bruised easily. The teacher also claimed the naked pictures of Preston, which included one of both of them in the bath together, were 'innocent' and taken because they were 'funny', that he videoed Preston having apparent seizures following medical advice. He added he didn't always take Preston to hospital because medical staff had told him he shouldn't unless the seizure lasted over five minutes. McGowan-Fazakerley claimed he should not be held responsible because he was not at home when any alleged abuse happened and nobody else – including social workers and medical staff – felt anything was wrong. He denied participating in the July 23 assault, saying he was downstairs cooking and his defence argued that despite the presence of DNA it wasn't sufficient to be conclusive. Mr Justice Mark Turner adjourned sentencing until Thursday. Before the verdicts were announced, he reminded everyone present in court, including Preston's birth family and relatives of both defendants, to 'act with dignity whatever the verdicts'. Sarah Davey sobbed and was consoled by her mother as the verdicts were read out, while Varley's mother was also in tears and McGowan-Fazakerley's parents looked shaken. The judge made no comment to either defendant as he ordered them to be taken down to the cells. Oldham Council say no staff have been disciplined or sacked following the infant's death but insist an independent child safeguarding practice review is being carried out and will report in due course. Karen Tonge, Crown Prosecution Service specialist prosecutor, said: 'This has been one of the most shocking and horrific cases I have dealt with in my career. 'Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley had a responsibility to care for and protect baby Preston. They violated that responsibility and 13-month-old Preston was abused with sickening ease. 'It is difficult to comprehend how the very people who should have loved him could inflict such sickening physical and sexual harm on an innocent child. 'No child should have to go through what Preston went through in the last four months of his short life and I cannot begin to imagine the toll this has taken on those that loved Preston. My thoughts remain with them all.' The NSPCC called for better intervention to prevent future tragedies and said it is 'vital' that any recommendations from an inquiry into the case are 'fully acted upon'. A spokesperson for the charity said: 'This is a deeply distressing and heartbreaking case. Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were entrusted with caring for Preston Davey and providing him with a safe, loving childhood. Instead, for the four months he lived with the couple, this little boy was subjected to sexual, physical and emotional abuse, before being murdered by Varley. 'This case will leave many people asking how such a tragedy could have happened. Babies are particularly vulnerable as they are entirely reliant on the adults around them for care and protection, and Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley are responsible for Preston's suffering and death. 'It is vital that any learnings identified for others involved in this little boy's short life are fully acted upon to help protect children in the future. 'Everyone can play a part in keeping children safe, and that sometimes means asking difficult questions and thinking the unthinkable. We all need to challenge things that don't seem right and share our concerns with those who can intervene.' A spokesperson for Oldham Council said: 'The death of any child is a tragedy, but this is a particularly heart-wrenching and disturbing case. 'We are thankful that the perpetrators of the sickening murder and abuse of an innocent child have today been convicted for their crimes. 'An independent Child Safeguarding Practice Review is already underway, which will examine the handling of Preston's safeguarding. 'Our thoughts remain with Preston's family, loved ones, and the many people affected by this case.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. 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