A teacher accused of murdering and sexually abusing a baby told police of his ‘panicked’ struggle to revive the infant after he accidentally fell into the bath, a court heard today.

He later declared: ‘I’m so sorry, it shouldn’t have happened.’ 

In his initial statement to police prior to his arrest, Jamie Varley, 37, said he had put Preston Davey in the bath after he was sick on a visit to Varley’s mother’s house earlier the same day.

Varley said that on returning home, he had a ‘two to three minute’ shower while Preston was in the adjacent bath ‘banging’ a toy drum. He left the room to dry himself and put on his clothes.

He returned to find the baby on his side, ‘half in, half out of the water’, having fallen off his bath chair into ‘two inches’ of bathwater, jurors were told.

Varley said he ‘panicked’ on finding that Preston – who he and co-accused John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, had renamed ‘Elijah’ – was ‘still breathing but looked like he was struggling and groggy’.

The secondary school head of year said he ‘threw’ the chair into the sink and pulled Preston out of the water. He then rubbed Preston’s face and back ‘to see if he had any sick or water in his throat’.

Varley claimed he put Preston into a babygrow outfit and laid him on a changing mat – but he was sick, producing vomit ‘like clumpy milk’.

He fetched another babygrow and changed Preston, who had become ‘weak and floppy’, the court heard.

Murdered baby Preston Varley, who died at Blackpool Victoria Hospital aged just 13 months

Varley recalled: ‘I have sat him up and patted his back to get the water out. His belly was bloated and I tried rubbing it to get it (the water) out’.

Varley, who said he put Preston in the bath at 5.30pm, claimed that when his partner McGowan-Fazakerley arrived back at their home in Blackpool, he recalled ‘shouting’ at him, and McGowan-Fazakerley joined in efforts to help Preston, the court heard.

Varley said: ‘I didn’t want him to choke. We then got into the car and drove to the hospital. John was driving and I was in the front giving Elijah CPR as he had stopped breathing.’

Varley’s statement was given to Detective Constable Sheralee Birtwistle, who had interviewed him separately from McGowan-Fazakerley at Blackpool Victoria Hospital after Preston’s death on the evening of July 27, 2023.

Describing Varley’s demeanour, DC Birtwistle said: ‘He was pacing around, he was quite distraught. At one point, he sat on the floor.’

Shortly before the interview, the officer said she first encountered Varley when she went into the hospital relatives’ room, initially meeting Ms Graham and McGowan-Fazakerley before Varley came in.

Both men had introduced themselves as ‘dad’ and the family were cradling Preston.

DC Birtwistle said: ‘I introduced myself and explained the reason I was there was because Elijah had passed away.

Secondary school teacher Jamie Varley, 37, denies murder and sexual assault of Preston

John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, denies causing the death of a child and sexual assault

‘As soon as I said the words, ‘passed away’, I had the reaction (from Varley), who said ‘passed away, he’s not passed away. I don’t know why everyone keeps saying that’. He was very distraught, upset’.

McGowan-Fazakerley, interviewed in a separate room, said that when he arrived home he was ‘unsure whether Preston was breathing or not’ but that he ‘did see him be sick’.

The officer who interviewed McGowan-Fazakerley, DC Byrony Culshaw, said he also saw Varley question the appearance of Preston, including attempting to lift his lip and saying ‘what is that?’.

DC Culshaw said: ‘I explained to Jamie and John that Preston may have had medical interventions’.

He added that when McGowan-Fazakerley asked for Varley to hold Preston so he could go to the toilet, Varley ‘was crying’.

He said: ‘I’m so sorry, it shouldn’t have happened. He’s cold, he feels cold’.

Varley was initially arrested on suspicion of child neglect and later murder.

Varley denies murder, manslaughter, sexual assault, GBH and cruelty, as well as indecent images charges.

McGowan-Fazakerley denies causing or allowing the death of a child, sexual assault and cruelty,

The trial continues.