Teacher Charged in Baby's Death

0:00On April 21st, a teacher named Jamie Varley faces murder charges after a 13-month-old baby he was adopting died in July 2023. Varley and his partner John McGowan, Fazakirley, had renamed the boy Elijah and were in the final stages of adoption when tragedy struck. Prosecutors say Varley sexually assaulted the child, then smothered him by blocking his airways. After that day, Varley left Elijah with his mom, who snapped a photo of the healthy kid at 2.25 pm. Later, Varley filmed the Snapchat video of Elijah on a bed, struggling to breathe with blue lips from lack of oxygen. A medical expert reviewed it and said the baby was recovering from not breathing, but Varley state silent, didn't help, and kept using his phone for other stuff. The colleague Varley confided and came forward after the death. He had visited her with Elijah, whose arm was in a cast from a broken elbow, and admitted dark thoughts of drowning or suffocating the baby.

1:00Claimed he would never act on them. She thought it was just worst case parenting fears until police got involved. Post-mortem exams reveal multiple bruises and internal injuries from non-accidental force, plus signs of repeated airway blockages right before. Death. Varley rushed to Elijah to the hospital in pajamas, acting devastated and blaming an unsupervised bath, but his hair was dry and nothing added up. Both men deny all charges, including sexual assaults, cruelty, and causing the death. The trial at Preston Crown Court rolls on, piecing together what really went down that afternoon.