In a desperate bid to save his own skin, former teacher Jamie Varley has launched a stunning defense in his murder trial, furiously insisting he is completely innocent of abusing and killing his adopted 13-month-old son Preston Davey – and pointing the finger squarely at his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley as the real monster behind the nightmare.

Varley, 37, denies every single charge against him, from murder and sexual assaults to cruelty and making sickening videos of the helpless toddler. In tearful police interviews played to the jury at Preston Crown Court, the accused man breaks down, rejecting the horrific evidence of bruises, fractures, bite marks, and signs of repeated sexual violation found on tiny Preston’s broken body. “He has not been abused. He hasn’t,” Varley insists, claiming the baby bruised easily and that none of the nightmare injuries were his doing.

This is the explosive twist rocking the trial of the two men who were supposed to give little Preston – renamed Elijah in their care – a loving forever home after his time in foster care. Instead, prosecutors say the vulnerable boy endured four months of hell in their Blackpool house before his death on July 27, 2023. But Varley is fighting back hard, maintaining he had nothing to do with the abuse and that any harm came from elsewhere – with his partner in the frame as the one truly responsible.

“I Will Fight You Till the Day I Die”

Footage shown in court captures a defiant and emotional Varley telling detectives he will battle the accusations “till the day I die.” He rejects claims of sexual motivation behind the dozens of indecent images and videos recovered from his phone – many shared with McGowan-Fazakerley – insisting they were innocent family moments, not evidence of perversion.

Varley’s story has remained consistent on one key point: he was the one who “found” Preston in distress after allegedly leaving him alone in the bath for a few minutes. He rushed the unconscious baby to Blackpool Victoria Hospital with his partner, where the tot was pronounced dead despite frantic efforts to save him. In the harrowing aftermath, Varley collapsed in tears at the hospital, wailing “It’s my fault!” and “Kill me!” while cradling the lifeless body and muttering “I’m going to hell.”

Yet now, in his fierce denials, Varley appears to distance himself from any deliberate harm, suggesting his partner – who faces charges of allowing the death and cruelty – bears the real responsibility for what happened to Preston. Prosecutors, however, paint a very different picture, alleging Varley was the primary abuser who subjected the baby to routine torture, sexual assaults, and ultimately murder by airway obstruction, not drowning.

Pathologists and child abuse experts have testified to over 40 injuries: clusters of bruises from gripping and pinching, a fractured arm, a human bite mark on the buttock, internal throat bruising, and clear signs of repeated sexual penetration that left the tiny boy’s anatomy “abnormal.” Expert Dr Joanne Gifford described the sexual abuse injuries as clinical and occurring on more than one occasion.

Varley rejects it all. In police interviews, he claimed he didn’t believe the extent of the bruising and dismissed sexual assault allegations outright. His defense team has even questioned whether some injuries could have been caused during desperate medical attempts to save Preston’s life at the hospital.

The Videos That Prosecutors Say Don’t Lie

Despite Varley’s protests of innocence, jurors have been shown a stomach-churning library of home videos and photos allegedly recovered from the men’s devices. One series captures Preston in his cot days before death, head and arms dangerously draped over the bars, neck strained, fluid dripping from his mouth, lips turning blue – ignored for minutes on end. Another shows the baby in extreme respiratory distress on the floor, gasping agonal breaths with no adult intervention.

A 30-second clip of the screaming infant, previously highlighted in proceedings, captures his raw terror as he is left to cry helplessly. Videos include “jump scare” pranks, prolonged unsupervised bath times, and footage prosecutors say shows “frozen watchfulness” – a classic trauma response in abused children. Crude comments were allegedly exchanged while filming the naked toddler in a paddling pool.

Varley insists these were not evidence of abuse. He told officers Preston was “not a well little boy” but denied any role in harming him. A Snapchat video from the day of death allegedly shows the baby struggling to breathe hours before the hospital dash – footage Varley claimed in interview he couldn’t recall making.

Then there’s the bombshell text: Varley allegedly messaged his partner “Your son’s in hospital. I strangled him” followed by “Jokes.” Prosecutors say it’s no laughing matter.

“It’s My Fault” – Or Is It?

On that fatal afternoon, Varley claims he stepped away briefly while bathing Preston and returned to find him submerged. No water in the lungs, say pathologists – ruling out drowning. Cause of death pointed to upper airway obstruction, consistent with smothering. Prosecutors allege Varley carried out serious sexual assaults that day which contributed to or caused the death.

McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, faces charges including causing or allowing the death and sexual assault. He denies everything alongside his partner. Both men were in what appeared to be a stable relationship when they took in Preston in April 2023 as foster-to-adopt. A foster mum had described the baby as “sweet and bubbly.” Neighbours reported excessive crying and raised voices from the home.

Varley’s defense hammers home his version: he is not the abuser or killer. The real responsibility, his stance implies, lies with his partner or elsewhere – not him. He told police the baby “has not been abused” and rejected the mountain of evidence against him.

System Failure or Calculated Cruelty?

The case has raised disturbing questions about how the couple passed adoption vetting. Preston had prior hospital visits, including one for a fractured arm explained away as an accident. Social workers and doctors had contact, yet the alleged systematic torture continued behind closed doors, captured on the very phones of the men entrusted with his care.

As the trial continues with more distressing evidence, Varley sits in the dock maintaining his total innocence. “I will fight you,” he told officers, vowing to clear his name. His partner faces serious accusations too, but Varley’s narrative seeks to paint himself as the one who tried to save the child – not destroy him.

Little Preston Davey arrived full of life and hope. Four months later, he was gone – his tiny body a map of pain that experts say screams prolonged abuse. One man stands accused of delivering the fatal blows and violations. The other of standing by. Yet Jamie Varley looks jurors in the eye through his testimony and denials and declares: it wasn’t me. My partner is the one responsible. I had nothing to do with harming that baby.

The jury must decide who is telling the truth in this house of horrors. For now, Varley’s cries of innocence echo loudly – a final, frantic attempt to escape the overwhelming evidence prosecutors say proves he turned a defenseless child’s life into pure agony before ending it.

Justice for Preston hangs in the balance as two men point fingers and deny the undeniable horror that unfolded in their home. A sweet boy who deserved love got hell instead – and one of his “dads” is fighting tooth and nail to say it wasn’t his fault.