The mother of a 13-month-old boy who was murdered and sexually abused by a former schoolteacher told a court his killer had “taken everything from him”.

Jamie Varley subjected Preston Davey to a “sadistic” campaign of physical and sexual abuse before his death at their home in Blackpool, Lancashire, in July 2023.

Following an eight-week trial, the 37-year-old was found guilty of the child’s murder as well as numerous sexual offences, grievous bodily harm and child cruelty.

At Preston Crown Court on Thursday, Varley was sentenced to a whole life order for his crimes – meaning he will never be released.

John McGowan-Fazakerley, Varley’s partner, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of allowing the death of a child, two counts of child cruelty and one count of sexual assault.

In an emotional statement read outside the court, Sarah Davey, Preston’s biological mother, said through tears that her son was “innocent and defenceless”.

She said: “He relied entirely on you – the adults responsible for him – to love him, care for him, and keep him safe. Instead, you caused him suffering.

“You took away his chance to grow up, to go to school, to make friends, to live a full life. You took everything from him.”

Ms Davey said she would “never forgive” the two men for what they did to her son and what they “stopped him from becoming and achieving in his life”.

Ms Davey said the day Preston was taken from her was “one of the worst days” of her life.

Preston, who was born in June 2022, was taken into care at five days old following an emergency care order put in place by Oldham council.

Ms Davey, now 42, had been jailed at the age of 14 for the murder of a pensioner in 1998 and has been in and out of prison since then. She gave birth to Preston while on temporary release.

Sandra Cooper, Preston’s foster carer, who looked after him for the first nine months of his life, said in court that she now felt “mistrustful and anxious” about any children leaving her care.

She said she and her husband were planning to retire but they felt they could no longer do so as they “could not sit back and enjoy ourselves knowing that other children were being abused, mistreated and could die”.

Ms Cooper added: “My husband Paul and I have continued to foster children to protect them. We are doing this for Preston, in his memory.”

Sentencing the men, Mr Justice Turner said Preston had been subjected to “unremitting abuse” and neglect before he was killed. He added that whole life orders were only given in cases of the most “extreme gravity”.

Addressing Varley, the judge continued: “This is a case of the most extreme gravity. You must stay in prison for the rest of your life. You will never be eligible for parole.”

He described the abuse of Preston as “sadistic” and said he had been subjected to “prolonged” incidents of “serious cruelty”.

Varley, who retched in the dock after being found guilty, showed no emotion as he was sentenced. He sat still and looked straight ahead with his hands folded in his lap.

Whole life orders are extremely rare, and mean defendants will never be released from prison.

In recent years, Lucy Letby, the child serial killer, Wayne Couzens, the Metropolitan Police officer who murdered Sarah Everard, and Kyle Clifford, who killed three members of the Hunt family, have been given whole life orders.

A Government spokesman said Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley were “evil abusers” who had exploited a vulnerable child.

“The public rightly demand answers about what went wrong, and we can assure them we will make sure anyone responsible for negligence faces consequences,” the spokesman added.

DCI Andy Fallows, of Lancashire Police, said Varley was “an evil and monstrous individual who sexually, physically and mentally abused a vulnerable baby for his own sadistic pleasure”.

He said McGowan-Fazakerley “did nothing to help Preston, and that the case was the “most extreme example of sordid and wicked behaviour by two completely remorseless human beings”.

Preston was adopted by Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley, a financial sales manager, in April 2023 and over the next four months, he routinely suffered sexual abuse and ill-treatment.

The trial heard Preston had been taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital three times in the months before his death, with suspicious bruises noticed by medical staff. He was also seen by several social workers in the weeks before he died.

The court heard that Preston was used as a “plaything”, being routinely physically and emotionally abused, sexually assaulted and having indecent photos and videos taken of him.

After Preston was killed at his home, doctors found that he had more than 40 bruises as well as internal injuries, which prosecutors said indicated he had been sexually abused.

A Home Office post-mortem examination determined his cause of death to be acute upper airway obstruction as a result of an object or objects inserted into his mouth.

Mr Justice Turner said Varley had used his background as a teacher to help “reassure social workers and health professionals that all was well, when it clearly was not”.

At Blackpool Victoria Hospital on the day Preston died, Varley gave a “wholly inconsistent” account to medical staff, claiming he had left him alone in the bath for a couple of minutes before returning to find him unconscious.

He then put on what was described by police as a “pantomime” performance after being told the child could not be saved. In body-worn footage, he was seen begging police officers to kill him before screaming: “No, no, this is not happening.”

Before Preston was adopted, the baby’s grandmother told social workers the family wanted to keep him.

Debbie Davey, 66, from Oldham, told The Telegraph she had wanted to care for Preston but was unable to do so because she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, said Preston had been subjected to “unimaginable cruelty”, and admitted that his death was a “failure of the state and the safeguarding system”.

She added: “The state decided Preston couldn’t be kept safe by his birth family, took responsibility for securing him a safer future, and this child has been murdered. I have a responsibility to challenge the system, and will not stop until I find out what has happened.”

A spokesman for Oldham council said an independent child safeguarding practice review into Preston’s care was under way.