As Jamie Varley pleaded with medical staff to save the life of his adopted 13-month-old son, he said: "It's my fault – I left him for literally two minutes while I went and got changed."
This was not an acknowledgment of wrongdoing, but rather the beginning of Varley's network of falsehoods.
The reality behind Varley's months of deception only emerged when his baby Preston Davey died in hospital on 27 July 2023, following months of sexual and physical mistreatment at the hands of the 37-year-old former educator.
Following an eight-week trial at Preston Crown Court, Varley – who had claimed that Preston drowned in the bath – was convicted of murdering him, along with a series of other charges including sexual assault and capturing indecent images of the child he was entrusted to look after.
Varley's partner John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was also found guilty of permitting the death of a child, child cruelty, and sexual abuse.
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For Lancashire Police Det Ch Insp Andy Fallows, who served as the senior investigating officer on the case, Varley's conduct in the hospital was "almost like a pantomime."
"We observe a very different Jamie Varley at various points," Fallows stated.
"The jury has witnessed him on that night [in the hospital], collapsing to the floor... claiming he didn't believe it was true... it seemed very staged.
"We encountered a very different Jamie Varley in the suspect interviews on 25 June 2025 just before he was charged, both in terms of appearance, demeanor, and attitude.
"I believe we saw a different Jamie Varley giving testimony during his trial: uncooperative, completely contradictory, and entirely unconvincing.
"Jamie Varley is a manipulator.
"He has attempted to alter his story, hinder proceedings, and shift blame onto others when the reality was directly before him.
"He inflicted those injuries and he ended Preston Davey's life."
Preston, who had been placed in foster care at five days old, was adopted by Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley nine months later, in April 2023.
After Preston started living at their home in Blackpool, Lancashire, he began experiencing non-accidental "cluster" injuries including bruising, seizures, or respiratory failures, and there was evidence of anatomical abnormalities.
On 27 July 2023, he was rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital by Varley, who had taken a year off from his role as head of year at a secondary school to adopt him.
He informed medical staff that he had left the child in the bath for two or three minutes and returned to find him underwater.
Medics could not revive Preston, and he was declared dead at the hospital.
An autopsy revealed 40 external and internal traumatic injuries on the child's body, some consistent with "forcible penetration" and sexual abuse, ruling out drowning as the cause of death.
"My opinion is that the bath incident never occurred at all, because Preston wasn't wet," Fallows said.
"There was no indication of drowning, no evidence in the autopsy that Preston had ingested water. It was completely inconsistent.
"Preston Davey had been sexually abused, likely twice on that specific day, under truly tragic circumstances. And ultimately, that contributed to his death."
Fallows noted that throughout the trial, the jury was presented with numerous examples of psychological and emotional abuse as well.
He described "keeping a clearly exhausted sleeping baby awake for no reason other than entertainment" and "leaving a baby in a bath for 14 minutes while filming it" among the ways Preston was tormented.
"It was almost like a twisted amusement that Jamie Varley treated Preston as a toy, as his possession. And that poor child endured a reign of terror."
The senior investigating officer stated that while McGowan-Fazakerley, a financial sales manager, was at work on the day Preston died, he had adopted a "hear no evil, see no evil" approach.
"He saw and cared for Preston Davey on a daily basis," Fallows said.
"He must have observed a substantial number of injuries over that four-month period.
"He was aware that Preston had suffered a fractured arm.
"He must have seen bite marks on Preston Davey's buttocks because photographic evidence was captured with his mobile phone.
"He wasn't present that evening, but he should have known."
Evidence indicated that Preston "had a joyful, stable, content life for the first nine months of his life in the care of foster parents who clearly adored him deeply."
Fallows said the police investigation had not examined what "could have or should have been done by other agencies" but concentrated on prosecuting the two men.
In the months before his death, Preston was taken to the hospital three times.
First for a nosebleed and seizure, second for a rash and bruising, and third for a fractured left elbow.
When social workers visited Preston at home, they did not believe he was in danger.
"I am the investigating officer in a murder investigation," Fallows said, when asked whether alarms should have been raised.
"Right now, the focus should be on Preston Davey.
"Those questions will naturally be addressed by others at a later time."
Fallows also stated that the investigation had uncovered no evidence suggesting the men had a sexual interest in children prior to the adoption.
"We examined the backgrounds of both and have not found any evidence to indicate that either of them had a sexual interest in children or any evidence to suggest they had previously mistreated children or were in any way a threat to children," Fallows said.
"In fact, up until the point they became Preston's adoptive parents, they were presented as men of good character.
"Again, the reality was quite different.
"Did Jamie Varley seek out a child to sexually abuse and kill?
"That is not the evidence in this case, and it is not the case we presented.
"I suppose the only person who will ever know that is Jamie Varley, but people may draw their own conclusions after reviewing the evidence in the trial."
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