Jonny Humphries
North West

Powerful and distressing statements were delivered this morning in Preston Crown Court from the biological mother and foster parents of Preston Davey.

Preston's birth mother Sarah Davey said she "fell completely in love with him" the moment he was placed in her arms.

But she said the memories she has of baby Preston are "now mixed with pain".

Foster parents Sandra and Paul Cooper said they now fear what will happen in future when children they foster are placed with adoptive parents.

Image source, Handout

On the legal issues facing the judge, we know that a life sentence for Varley is mandatory, but the question remaining is whether it should have a minimum prison term before he can apply for parole or not.

His barrister, Nicholas Johnson KC, urged the judge to stop short of a whole-life order - suggesting Varley had not meant to kill Preston.

Johnson suggested to the court Varley had a "sexual motive". He also pointed to his successful teaching career as personal mitigation.

The court also heard that his partner McGowan-Fazakerley was 'previously of good character’ and had a lack of previous convictions.

Mr Justice Turner has adjourned to consider his sentencing remarks.

Preston was born in June 2022 and taken into care by Oldham Council.

Image source, Handout

Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were approved for adoption by Adoption Now, who provide services to local councils.

The regional adoption agency said it was a "deeply upsetting case, and our thoughts are with everyone affected by these truly awful crimes".

It said it followed "a strict and rigorous process... in the assessment and approval of adopters".

The council launched a safeguarding practice review after Preston's death, which has restarted after it was paused during criminal proceedings.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, help and support is available at the BBC Action Line.

Jonny Humphries
North West

Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel De Souza has told the BBC Preston Davey's murder was a “massive safeguarding failure”.

She promised to pursue the question of whether it was preventable with “that baby’s broken body at the front of my mind”.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme ahead of the sentencing of Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley, she said: "We know that very early into his adoption, and he was only in adoption with his family for four months, very early, he was taken to hospital with bruises.

“The consultant dismissed it. Did they dismiss it because it was a teacher adopter?

“Did that evil abuser hoodwink people under that professional guise?

“The social worker saw him 20 days before he died, I want to know whether the correct level of professional curiosity was there."

Preston Davey's killer begged medics at Blackpool Victoria Hospital to save the 13-month-old's life.

Jamie Varley told medical staff he had left the child in the bath for two or three minutes and returned to find him submerged, but the court heard from police that his account was "wholly inconsistent".

Det Ch Insp Andy Fallows, senior investigating officer, said Varley's behaviour in hospital was "almost like a pantomime".

"We see a very different Jamie Varley at different stages," said Fallows.

"We saw a very different Jamie Varley in the suspect interviews on 25 June 2025 just before he was charged, both in terms of appearance, demeanour and attitude."

Danny Savage
North of England correspondent

Varley’s submissions are brief, with his lawyer asking the judge to consider a minimum term rather than a whole life order.

The judge is now rising and says he will "take his time" to consider the sentence.

In broad terms he says it will likely take him about an hour before he comes back.

He has now adjourned the hearing.

Yunus Mulla
BBC North West Tonight

Johnson KC, defending, reminds the court Jamie Varley was a former teacher at South Shore Academy in Blackpool.

He says his client was "brilliant in his pastoral role and with his students and delayed his adoption to be with his students".

Yunus Mulla
BBC North West Tonight

The court is now hearing from Nicholas Johnson KC, on behalf of Jamie Varley.

Johnson tells the court that whole-life orders should be for "exceptionally serious cases".

He suggests factors in this case should mean a sentence short of a whole life order.

Jamie Varley, he suggested, did not have an "outright intent to kill" but a sexual motive.

Yunus Mulla
BBC North West Tonight

Paul Cooper, Preston's foster dad, continues: "In 2023 we found out about Preston’s death via a social worker.

"This was less than four months after he had left us.

"Since this over the past few years we have had to find out what really happened to Preston in 'dribs and drabs'.

"This has devastated me - fostering Preston felt like he was my own child and to hear the cruel things that happened to him in such a short space of time has emotionally and physically drained me.

"I have found that this has affected me personally - since this I find myself waking up three or four times during the night thinking about Preston.

"Sometimes I can be awake for hours thinking about it.

"I never thought I was an emotional person, however, these past three years I haven't gone through a week without crying, sometimes it might not be anything to do with Preston or this case however, I just become upset over little things."

Image source, Handout

Yunus Mulla
BBC North West Tonight

Preston's foster dad Paul Cooper is now reading his victim impact statement to the court.

"In 2022 myself and Sandra fostered Preston from five days old and brought him up as our own, as we always do with all our foster children.

"Preston was an absolute pleasure to look after, he was the most amazing little boy who lit up the room as you walked into it.

"He was so small and vulnerable you couldn't help but love him immediately.

"Preston's smile was infectious and he brightened up my day from the second he woke up.

"We built a strong bond with him during his time with us.

"We fostered Preston until he was... nearly 10 months old.

"By this time he had developed his little personality and was thriving.

"Saying goodbye to him and handing him over to Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley was extremely difficult.

"However, we believed at the time that this was the best thing for Preston and he was going to a loving family. What happened after this I still cannot bear to think about."

Yunus Mulla
BBC North West Tonight

Sandra Cooper, Preston's foster mum, continues and says she and her husband will struggle when children they foster in future are placed with permanent adoptive parents.

"Paul and I will often watch the videos we took of Preston when he was happy with us laughing and giggling, playing with his toys smiling," she said.

"Preston's face would light up when we looked at him; he was joyful, so content and happy, with sparkly smiling eyes. That is how we want to remember him."

She said she often dreams about Preston and feels he is still alive, but "when I wake up I realise he has died and I go through the trauma again of knowing he has died and how".

"I just want to see his smiling happy face again. I am devastated about his death and I struggle when I think about what pain and torture he has been through before he died."

Yunus Mulla
BBC North West Tonight

Sandra Cooper, Preston's foster mum, is in the witness box and is reading her statement to the court.

Sandra's voice is breaking as she reads her statement.

"We felt we had a duty to other children and could not sit back and enjoy ourselves knowing that other children were being abused, mistreated and could die.

"My husband Paul and I have continued to foster children to protect them. We are doing this for Preston, in his memory.

"Preston's death has changed my perspective on life; things I once felt were important I now feel are not. I realise that life is too short."

Yunus Mulla
BBC North West Tonight

The statement, read out on behalf of Preston's biological father, continues: "I learnt of Preston’s passing from the police, a day I remember so well, it was just awful.

"Two female officers came to see me and informed me that Preston had been killed and that two men had been bailed pending an investigation.

"Due to legal matters a lot of information was withheld from me.

"Upon hearing the news, I remember officers taking hold of me and me blanking out, the next thing I recall is waking up in hospital two days later.

"I am told that I was hysterical and crying and that it was for my own safety that I was taken to the hospital, clearly, I must have been in a bad place mentally.

"Upon being discharged from hospital, I turned to drink, which I knew wasn’t the answer, but I felt anxious about everything.

Image source, Elizabeth Cook

Yunus Mulla
BBC North West Tonight

A statement on behalf of Gary Nolan, Preston's biological father, was read to the court.

He said:"Preston was the son that I never got to meet and now never will.

"Following Preston’s birth and being confirmed as his father I was awaiting an appointment with social services.

"The appointment would have been my opportunity to say ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ to Preston, all within the space of an hour before he was taken away. This is what kept me going and made me feel happy that I would get to meet my son.

"Despite my efforts to push for this meeting, it never took place."

Image source, Handout

Yunus Mulla
BBC North West Tonight

The statement from Sarah Davey continues:

"Preston should be here today. He would be four years old. He should be getting ready to start school, learning, laughing, and living his life.

"Instead, he is forever thirteen months old.

"I am left trying to live a life that no longer makes sense. I carry grief, guilt, and heartbreak every single day.

Yunus Mulla
BBC North West Tonight

Sarah Davey's statement continued: "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."

Yunus Mulla
BBC North West Tonight

Now the court is hearing victim impact statements.

A statement from Preston's birth mother, Sarah Davey, is read to the court on her behalf by Peter Wright KC. She is visibly emotional as her words are spoken by the prosecutor.

Image source, Handout

Yunus Mulla
BBC North West Tonight

The court hears how there were further charges of extreme pornography in relation to Jamie Varley but it was ruled there was no public interest in pursuing these.

The judge agrees that handsets - seized as part of the investigation - that have images shown to the jury will be destroyed.

The trial heard Varley had "hundreds if not thousands" of images and videos, a proportion of which included naked images of Preston and other disturbing and distressing evidence

Danny Savage
North of England correspondent

Prosecutor Peter Wright KC is continuing to talk about statutory sentencing guidelines.

The judge confirms there will be a life sentence (as is standard for murder convictions) but he will have to decide whether it should carry a minimum prison term before Varley can apply for parole, or whether there could be a whole-life order.

He makes the point that the count of murder clearly carries the heaviest weight.

Sentences for all the different charges will be concurrent; e.g. not all added together to give a total.

Wright acknowledges that any aggravating and mitigating factors will be taken into account.