'You will stay in prison for your whole life' Killer teacher Jamie Varley sentenced to life behind bars

Killer teacher Jamie Varley has been told he will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a judge sentenced him to a whole life sentence for murder and 19 years concurrent for sexual offences. He was also sentenced to 10 years concurrent for cruelty.

The ex-South Shore Academy teacher, 37, was sentenced today at Preston Crown Court for the murder of 13-month-old Preston Davey as well as for the months of sexual, physical and emotional abuse he subjected him to.

The judge said: “You will stay in prison for your whole life and will never be eligible for parole.” There was no reaction from Varley upon hearing the sentence.

His now ex-partner and fellow abuser John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was also jailed for 25 years for causing and allowing the death of a child; two counts of child cruelty and sexual assault. He will have to serve a minimum of two-thirds behind bars before being eligible for parole but will remain on licence for the rest of his life.

A total of 370 days (1 year and five days) is to be deducted from each sentence for time served on remand and both will be required to sign the sex offenders register for life.

There was also a court-ordered phone forfeiture, meaning that the judge legally transferred the ownership of both phones to the government. The devices will be destroyed because of images they contain.

With Preston Davey’s mother, a tearful Sarah Davey, in the court for the sentencing, Judge Mr Justice Turner briefly summed up the case, describing the impact of the murder on family and foster carers as 'devastating'.

He said that there was a ‘growing and selfish resentment to Preston because you [Varley] and John McGowan-Fazakerley lost sleep’, adding that the content of pictures and video became increasingly sinister as the weeks went by.

In the courtroom, Varley was looking sombre and gaunt in a maroon t-shirt without any sign of the blonde bob hairstyle he had previously worn. John McGowan-Fazakerley, who displayed a confident demeanour, was dressed in a dark navy suit.

Little Preston Davey had been been placed with the couple at their home in Staining Road, Staining in April 2023 by social workers at Adoption Now, who were working on behalf of Oldham Council.

But after less than four months in their care and after several prior hospital visits, baby Preston was rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital on July 27, 2023 in cardiac arrest. Despite the best efforts of medics who spent more than an hour trying to save the baby he was pronounced dead. Varley told medical staff he had left the child in the bath for two or three minutes and returned to find him submerged. But this was a cover story to explain his sudden death after a sexual assault.

A post-mortem examination found 40 external and internal trauma injuries the youngster’s body, consistent with “forcible penetration” and sexual abuse, and ruled out drowning as a cause of death. Preston’s cause of death was given as acute airway obstruction by an object or objects placed in his mouth. Police found dozens of videos on Varley’s phone documenting the abuse persecutors said he had kept as trophies.

Jailing Varley, of Chandlers Way, Grimsargh and formerly of Staining Road, Staining, who was branded ‘pure evil’ by detectives, to life in prison, Mr Justice Turner said: “

Jailing McGowan-Fazakerley, also of Chandlers Way, Grimsargh and formerly of Staining Road, Staining, who was claimed he had ‘seen and heard no evil’, to 25 years in prison.

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