Jamie Varley jailed for life and partner John McGowan-Fazakerley jailed for 25 years over death of Preston Davey

A secondary school teacher has been jailed for life for sexually abusing and murdering the baby boy he was adopting with his partner.

Jamie Varley, 37, was sentenced to a whole life order by a judge on Thursday for abusing and killing 13-month-old Preston Davey. It means he will stay in prison for the rest of his life and never be eligible for parole, Mr Justice Turner said.

Varley presented himself in court as a doting dad but prosecution said he used adopted boy as a sexual ‘plaything’

‘They were an ordinary couple,” said one neighbour. Their baby “was happy, he was smiley, he was beautiful”, said a friend. There were no big concerns about the teacher and the sales manager who were doing what thousands do every year – adopting a child.

In reality, Jamie Varley and his partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, were child abusers and Varley murdered the baby boy they adopted, Preston Davey, when he was 13 months old.

Keir Starmer says operation involving National Crime Agency has delivered ‘yet another blow’ to Russia and Putin

Keir Starmer said he directed British troops to seize a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the Channel in the early hours of Sunday, the first time the UK has led a naval capture since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The prime minister released a video on TikTok early on Sunday showing heavily armed Royal Marine commandos boarding the oil-laden Smyrtos tanker, which had been sailing south of the Isle of Wight en route from Russia to India.