A sales manager today denied sexually assaulting a baby boy he was adopting and leaving him at the mercy of his teacher boyfriend who allegedly went on to murder him.John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, said he had ‘misplaced his trust’ in Jamie Varley, 37, but insisted neither of them had a ‘sexual interest’ in 13-month-old Preston Davey and he could not have ‘foreseen his death.’A jury, at Preston Crown Court, has been told that the infant, who was taken into foster care aged five days, was placed with the couple in April 2023, but died four months later before his adoption was finalised.He had allegedly been systematically physically, psychologically and sexually abused in that time – even visiting hospital three times, including with a broken elbow, but no safeguarding concerns were raised.A post-mortem found Preston had more than 40 separate injuries, including ‘unusual’ internal bruising to his throat and bladder, that experts have told the court is consistent with sexual abuse.Peter Wright KC, prosecuting, said that it was the Crown’s case that – four days before Preston’s death, on July 27 2023 – both men sexually abused Preston in his cot at their home, in Blackpool, Lancashire.He said the attack was a precursor to two fatal assaults, carried out by Varley alone, which caused him to stop breathing and collapse.After McGowan-Fazakerley returned home from work, the pair took him to hospital but doctors were unable to save him.Varley claimed Preston drowned when he turned his back for a couple of minutes while he was in the bath, but a pathologist has told the court there was no evidence of drowning and instead the tot died of an acute upper airway obstruction.