What was claimed
Jamie Varley, who was convicted of murdering and sexually abusing the baby boy he was adopting, Preston Davey, has been stabbed in prison.
Our verdict
False. The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that Varley hasn’t been attacked.
Convicted child murderer Jamie Varley hasn’t been stabbed in prison
False claims have been circulating on social media that convicted child murderer Jamie Varley has been stabbed in prison.
Posts making the claims have been shared on Facebook at the end of June and early July. Several of the posts claim he was stabbed in the neck.
Varley was handed a whole life sentence in June following a trial where he was found guilty for the murder and sexual abuse of, 13-month-old Preston Davey, who he was in the process of adopting with his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley. He was also found guilty of child cruelty and indecent images. McGowan-Fazakerley was found guilty of sexual assault, child cruelty and allowing the death of a child.
Media outlets have reported Varley is currently imprisoned at HMP Wakefield, a high security prison for men, in Yorkshire.
But a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice confirmed to Full Fact there was “no truth” to the claims that he has been stabbed, or attacked while in prison.
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We also couldn’t find any credible reports of Varley being assaulted.
We often see false rumours about prominent criminals having been attacked in prison being shared online. Before sharing content like this, it’s important to consider whether it comes from a trustworthy and verifiable source.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the Ministry of Justice has confirmed that Jamie Varley has not been attacked or stabbed in prison.