Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley found guilty at Prestton Crown Court.

Guilty was the verdict of a jury in the trial of a Blackpool teacher accused of the murder of a baby he was trying to adopt.

Jamie Varley, 37, has been found guilty at Preston Crown Court of the murder of 13-month-old Preston Davey after subjecting him to months of sexual, phyiscal and emotional abuse.

Ex-South Shore Academy teacher Jamie Varley with his partner and co-accused John McGowan-Fazakerley. inset little Preston Davey who died at blackpool Victoria Hospital on July 72, 2023 | Iconic Media

placeholder image — Ex-South Shore Academy teacher Jamie Varley with his partner and co-accused John McGowan-Fazakerley. inset little Preston Davey who died at blackpool Victoria Hospital on July 72, 2023 | Iconic Media

The former South Shore Academy teacher Varley, of Chandlers Way, Grimsargh and formerly of Staining Road, Staining has been 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, 32, also of of Chandlers Way, Grimsargh and formerly of Staining Road, Staining has been found guilty of allowing the death of a child, three counts of child cruelty and one count of the sexual assault of a child.

The pair will now be sentenced on Thursday.

John McGowan-Fazakerley (top right), the man accused of causing or allowing the death of 13-month-old Preston Davey (inset) told the jury at Preston Crown Court he has split with co-accused and ex-South Shore Academy teacher Jamie Varley (bottom right) and his trust in him to care for their son-to-be adopted son was ‘misplaced’. Also pictured is police searching the couple's home in Staining Road, Staining | Iconic Media

Little Preston Davey had been been placed with the couple at their home in Staining Road, Staining in April 2023 by adoption 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 hospital visits, little 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 who was pronounced dead.

The court heard Varley told medical staff he had left the child in the bath for two or three minutes and returned to find him submerged.

But prosecutors allege 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 to the child’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 object placed in his mouth.