The mother of a murdered 13-month-old baby said she will never forgive the paedophile Salford Quays sales manager and the “sadistic” schoolteacher who caused his death.
John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, and his partner Jamie Varley, 37, sexually assaulted and physically abused Preston Davey after adopting him aged nine months, before his murder following a sex assault by Varley four months later at their Blackpool home.
Both were convicted by a jury on Monday following an eight-week trial at Preston Crown Court, as Varley received a whole life order and was told he will die in jail.
Salford sales manager McGowan-Fazakerley was found guilty of causing or allowing a child’s death, two child cruelty offences and a single sexual assault and was sentenced to 25 years. He will spend two-thirds of that time behind bars.
In the four months he was in their care, Preston was routinely ill-treated, had indecent images and videos taken of him, and was sexually abused and physically assaulted, suffering 40 traumatic injuries, the court previously heard.
Preston had been taken from his mother, Sarah Davey, now 42, by an emergency care order by Oldham Council.
At 14, Ms Davey was jailed for the “unspeakably wicked” murder of a frail pensioner in 1998 and has been in and out of prison since then.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Davey described the day Preston was taken from her as one of the worst of her life.
She said: “I had no choice in that decision. I tried to take some comfort in believing he would be safe, loved, and protected, and he was with his foster parents, Sandra and Paul (Cooper). I trusted them, they and the system trusted you, that trust was completely and unforgivably broken.”
She added: “I will never forgive you for what you did to my son and what you stopped him from becoming and achieving in his life.
“Every single day, I live with the unimaginable pain of wondering what he went through. Those thoughts do not leave me. They are with me when I wake up, and they haunt me when I try to sleep. The reality of how he suffered is something I will carry for the rest of my life.”
Ms Davey said her son was “failed by the very people who were supposed to protect (him)” and called for the seriousness of the crimes to be “fully recognised”.
In his victim impact statement, Preston’s biological father, Gary Nolan, told of his grief at hearing the news of his son’s death.
“Hysterical and crying”, Mr Nolan was admitted to hospital for his own safety and still takes medication to help manage his anxiety and depression.
He said: “Preston was my first and only son. The fact that he has been taken away from me has stopped me from having a father-son relationship.
“I was looking forward to doing the simple things with him, playing football, teaching him how to ride a bike, having him ask me for help, seeing him learn to drive and of course celebrating his birthdays.
“This has deprived my three daughters and me of ever having these opportunities.”
Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were approved for adoption in January 2023 and Preston began living at their home in Blackpool, Lancashire, in April 2023.
Varley was found guilty of murder, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault of a child, 13 counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child, one of distributing an indecent photo of a child to his co-accused, and one of making an indecent photo.
McGowan-Fazakerley was found guilty of allowing the death of a child, two counts of child cruelty and one count of sexual assault of a child.
The trial heard Preston had been taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital three times in the months before his death, on April 27 2023, and was seen by a “battery of professionals” during his life, including multiple social workers, health visitors and medics.
A social services investigation is under way.
McGowan-Fazakerley grew up in Congleton in Cheshire, attended Nottingham Trent University and taught undergraduates at Keele while working towards a PhD left academia to work in financial sales in Salford.
In 2022, he took up a role as a northern sales manager at Salford Quays.
When Varley took a year off work to adopt, his partner, who earned more, continued in his Salford job – but also did the cooking, shopping, laundry and was also a “clean freak”.
After McGowan-Fazakerley left for his work with his briefcase each morning, Preston was left at the mercy of Varley; soon annoyed with childcare, frustrated with a lack of sleep and with a sexual interest in children.
The child had been “thriving”, the court heard.
But in the just under four months he was in their care, he was routinely ill-treated, had indecent images and videos taken of him, and was sexually abused and physically assaulted and the pair of depraved paedophile parents continued to inflict harm which led to his harrowing death.
