Tragic Preston Davey's months of torment were caught on camera - 'agonal gasp'

Some of the tragic moments of Preston Davey's torment were caught on camera by the man who was supposed to protect him, including one showing the baby being spun around fast on a park playground, with his eyes rolling back in his head. The tot was just 13 months old when he was killed by his adoptive father, Jamie Varley, who subjected him to a four-month campaign of abuse.

On Monday, Varley was 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. His partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was found guilty of allowing the death of a child, two counts of child cruelty and one count of the sexual assault of a child.

Varley's phone contained hundreds of harrowing videos and images taken at their semi-detached house in Blackpool, the Mirror reports. One image showed the youngster playing naked in a paddling pool around two weeks before his death, with what Home Office pathologist Dr Allison Armour described as a human bite mark on the right side of his bottom.

She said the mark on his body was a round, circular bruise, turning slightly purple and around 3.5cm in diameter. "The size, configuration, which means the shape, are all consistent with a human bite mark," she said during the eight-week trial at Preston Crown Court.

More footage from Varley's phone showed Preston in his cot, along with two toy teddy bears, four days before his death. The video and images stretch over a period of three minutes and 12 seconds, with the child's head and arms over the top horizontal bar of his cot and his neck resting on the bar.

His body was partially suspended, his legs in a 'frog like' position and the child seemingly asleep or unconscious. "This is very unsafe and in my view dangerous," Dr Armour said. "He's got his neck in contact with that cot railing. That's going to inhibit your ability to breathe." The prosecution claimed the images were "trophies of a sexual encounter".

In one still photograph, Preston's head was in a slightly different position with fluid coming from his mouth. Dr Armour continued: "Preston's tongue is protruding, its blue and also his lips appear blue, consistent with a lack of oxygen in the blood."

Police analysis of the couple's phones exposed the true horrors that little Preston had been subjected to in the nearly four months he lived with the couple before his death on July 27, 2023, when he was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital by Varley.

The man claimed to have left the child in the bath for a couple of minutes and returned to find him submerged. Medics worked in vain for 50 minutes to save his life.

A Home Office post-mortem ruled out drowning as the cause of death and the examination found around 40 non-accidental, internal and external injuries.

They included multiple clusters of 'finger tip' bruises on his head, face and limbs, slap marks on his leg, and a human bite mark on the baby's right buttock.

Preston also had injuries to his mouth, throat and bottom, with parts of his anatomy "abnormal" and the injuries consistent with "forcible penetration" and sexual abuse.

The cause of Preston's death was found to be acute upper airways obstruction by an object or objects inserted into his mouth.

Home Office pathologist Dr Alison Armour concluded that Preston had a bruise in his deep throat area, a human bite mark on his bottom and other injuries possibly caused by "forcible penetration". The jury heard during the trial how parts of the child's anatomy were "abnormal".

Dr Joanne Gifford, an expert in child sexual abuse and clinical lead for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, was of the opinion that Preston displayed signs of suffering sexual, physical and emotional abuse.

Despite the fact that Varley, who had been approved for adoption of Preston, was supposed to care for the boy, the videos and images suggest that, in reality, he revelled in terrorising the youngster. In a clip that lasts 14 minutes and 31 seconds, Preston was seen alone in a bath while Varley hid out of sight on the landing, in a supposed bid to "see how he reacts to his own company".

In his police interview, the officer said: "How do you explain that, Jamie? He's slipped, whimpering, I would describe him as distressed. Why not go to comfort him? Have you left him in the bath because you are fed up with him?"