Bruising on a toddler’s ear which was seen the day before he was allegedly shaken to death by Christopher Stockton Darlington Child Killer was not the result of an accident, a murder trial has been told.
Charlie Roberts was one year and 10 months when he suffered a non-survivable head injury at his home in Darlington in January.
His mother Paula Roberts, 41, was out for an eye test and the little boy was in the sole care of her partner Christopher Stockton, 38, at the time, Teesside Crown Court has heard.
Christopher Stockton denies murder and child neglect.
The deviant mother Paula Roberts faces a single charge of child neglect, which she denies, in relation to injuries Charlie allegedly suffered prior to his death.
There has to be a direct force to bruise an ear, that doesn’t happen from a domestic tumble whether awake or asleep
The day before, Roberts had told her brother that Charlie Roberts had suffered bruised ears when he lay down in his toy box while sleep-walking.
Dr Deborah Stalker, an expert paediatrician and specialist in child protection, studied photos of Charlie in the months before his death, the reports of medical experts and post-mortem images.
She told the jury she did not believe that Charlie suffered the bruised ear while sleep-walking.
She said: “In my opinion, this is a non-accidental injury, by that I mean it is a purposefully-inflicted injury.
“Accidental injuries to the ear are very rare.”
She explained that the shoulder or head usually take the impact of a fall, rather than an ear.
“To injure the ear with the type of injuries that you see on Charlie Roberts’s ear requires a direct blow,” Dr Stalker said.
She dismissed the claim that Charlie Roberts could have bruised an ear while sleep-walking, saying: “Simple falls do not cause ear injuries”
“There has to be a direct force to bruise an ear, that doesn’t happen from a domestic tumble whether awake or asleep.”
She said bruising would have been “very uncomfortable” and it would cause the ear to throb.
The court has heard that Christopher Stockton was not Charlie Roberts’s father and he had been in a relationship with the toddler’s mother for about 10 months when the little boy died.
The case continues.
UPDATE 07.02.25
A Paedophile who shook his partner’s toddler to death after staying up late playing video games has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years for the 22-month-old’s murder. It turns out that his partner and her brother knew he had killed the child, his partner stayed with him even though Christopher Stockton had killed her child.
Christopher Stockton, 38, was in sole charge of Charlie Roberts when the boy suffered a fatal head injury in the Darlington family home, but his mother Paula admitted neglecting him prior to the murder.
Paula Roberts, 41, was suspicious enough about Stockton that she set up a spy camera above her son’s cot, a trial at Teesside Crown Court heard in December.
But she stayed in a relationship with him, even after she voiced her concerns about Stockton to her brother.
Having initially denied a child cruelty charge, Paula Roberts was to eventually admit neglecting her son by failing to get Charlie medical treatment for bruising caused by Stockton over several weeks.
Her boyfriend was convicted of murder and child cruelty.
Christopher Stockton was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years.
Paula Roberts has been jailed for ONLY four years FOR ALLOWING HER CHILD TYO BE MURDERED.
Mr Justice Goss, sentencing, said Charlie, who was born two months prematurely and had difficulty communicating, was particularly vulnerable.
He said an injury inflicted by Christopher Stockton to the little boy’s genitals would have been “excruciatingly painful” and yet neither adult sought medical attention for him.
The judge said only Christopher Stockton knew why he inflicted the fatal blow which caused brain injuries similar to those seen in a car crash, a crushing incident or a fall of several storeys.
The judge said: “You have robbed his family of the joy of bringing up a child and of sharing life events with him.
“No court can undo the harm you have caused.”
The judge said Paula Roberts now claimed that Stockton was controlling and coercive and he said she would have been aware of help offered to people in her situation.
He said: “You now recognise that you contributed to his neglect, in effect turning a blind eye to what you must have known was the reality of the situation.
“You remain a risk to any children in your care.”
Christopher Stockton, who had moved in with Roberts and her little boy just seven days earlier, was in sole charge of Charlie when he inflicted a severe head injury which caused widespread bleeding on the brain in January 2024.
Nicholas Lumley KC, prosecuting, told jurors that Stockton “shook or threw him with such violence, deliberately and forcefully harming little Charlie”.
Paula Roberts had left the home minutes before to go for an eye test, and Stockton, who was off work ill and who had stayed up into the early hours playing Xbox games, must have snapped that January morning, the court was told.
Christopher Stockton rang 999 and could be heard on a recording repeatedly saying “come on mate” and “wakey wakey” to the little boy, who was not breathing.
Christopher Stockton was to tell paramedics, doctors and the police that Charlie had choked on a biscuit and that he patted the child on the back and stuck his fingers down the toddler’s throat.
The toddler died in hospital the next day.
Jamie Hill KC, defending Christopher Stockton, told the court on Friday that he had no previous convictions, the murder was not premeditated and there was no intention to kill.
Richard Herrmann, defending Roberts, said she had struggled with mental health issues.
She wept as Mr Herrmann said: “She has to live with the knowledge that had she acted differently it would not have happened.”
Charlie’s father and two grandfathers had written statements for the court about their sense of loss, but all three did not want them read out in public.
After Stockton’s conviction, Charlie’s dad Barry Greenwell said: “Charlie was a much-loved son and grandson who has been taken away needlessly, and has left the whole family with a void that will never be filled.
“As a family we are processing the recent events and are trying to come to terms with the verdict and information given that has been deeply disturbing to ourselves.”
After the sentencing, Detective Superintendent Chris Barker said: “Charlie Roberts was a little boy who just wanted to play. A little boy who just wanted to be loved. A little boy who did not deserve to die.
“Christopher Stockton’s actions are unforgivable and sadly nothing will bring Charlie back but at least he is now facing the consequences of what he has done.
“I urge anyone who has concerns about those caring for children to speak out and ask for help.
“This is a truly heart-breaking case, and my thoughts remain with those who truly cared about Charlie.”
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