The jury in the trial of a teacher accused of sexually abusing and murdering a 13-month-old baby boy he was in the process of adopting has been formally discharged, with a fresh panel expected to be sworn in on Monday to hear the case from the beginning.
The discharge of the six men and six women came on the fourth day of proceedings at Preston Crown Court, when Mr Justice Mark Turner told the jury that “circumstances have arisen which make it impossible for this trial to continue.” The reason for the discharge cannot be reported for legal reasons. The judge was careful to make clear that no criticism was attached to the jury, telling them: “I commend your obvious attention and concentration you’ve exercised over the last few days and you’ve performed your duty. I’m afraid I’m left with no reasonable alternative — with a heavy heart I discharge you from this trial.”
Jamie Varley, 37, a secondary school teacher, and his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, a sales representative, were on trial accused of sexually abusing baby Preston Davey, who had been placed in their care in Blackpool, Lancashire, in April 2023 when he was almost ten months old. Varley additionally faces a charge of murder.
The prosecution had alleged that over the four months Preston spent with the couple before his death in July 2023, he was “routinely ill-treated, sexually abused and physically assaulted.” The pair had passed what was described as a “robust” vetting process conducted by Oldham Council, with social workers expressing no concerns about their suitability as prospective parents.
During that period, Preston was taken to hospital on three separate occasions, including once with a fractured arm. On each occasion, the couple provided explanations for the child’s injuries that satisfied medical staff, with no safeguarding referrals made. On the evening of 27 July 2023, McGowan-Fazakerley returned from work to find Varley attempting to resuscitate the infant. They drove Preston, who was in cardiac arrest, to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, where he could not be saved.
A post-mortem examination found 40 internal and external injuries, including severe bruising to the back of the throat. A pathologist concluded Preston had been smothered and died from an acute upper airway obstruction. Prosecutor Peter Wright KC told the court the evidence pointed to Preston having been subjected to two serious sexual assaults by Varley earlier that day, which caused his death. Varley claimed he had briefly left the child during a bath and returned to find him in difficulty — an account the prosecution said was not supported by the pathological evidence.
Varley denies murder, sexual assault, assault by penetration, grievous bodily harm, four counts of child cruelty, 14 counts of making and taking indecent images of a child and one charge of distributing an indecent image. McGowan-Fazakerley denies causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child cruelty. Both face additional joint charges of sexual assault and child cruelty.
The retrial is expected to begin with a new jury on Monday and had originally been estimated to run for between six and eight weeks.
