“I effing killed him” — Gay man charged with murder of baby boy he adopted. The baby’s cause of death was acute upper airways obstruction, as a result of smothering by hand, fabric, or inserted object. The child had suffered 40 injuries including external and internal bruising, and a fractured arm. Detective found videos on Varley’s phone, recorded earlier that day, with the boy lying on the bed with respiratory arrest but the defendant did not seek medical help. Varley is charged with: murder, manslaughter, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault of a child, 13 counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child, one of distributing an indecent photo of a child. A month before the child’s death, Varley told a social worker he wasn’t “bonding” with the child and was having “dark thoughts” about him, including thoughts of drowning or suffocating the baby. He said he would never act on them. They let him keep the baby anyway.
