Christopher Stockton shook toddler Charlie Roberts so hard that his brain moved in his skull and killed him, but the evil stepfather claimed it was down to a Hobnob biscuit
Little Charlie Roberts had a smile that could light up a room before his evil stepfather cut his life tragically short.
The 22-month-old was brutally shaken to death at the hands of the man who was tasked with his care. After delivering the fatal blow, the cowardly killer told a chilling lie to cover it up.
Christopher Stockton, 38, was found guilty of murdering his one-year-old stepson Charlie in December and has today been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years. The thug shook little Charlie with such force that his brain moved within his skull, but Stockton claimed the youngster choked on a Hobnob biscuit to try and hide the horror violence that had occurred behind closed doors.
On January 12, 2024, Paula Roberts, 41, left her son in the sole care of her partner, Stockton, at her Darlington home in County Durham while she went for an eye test. After Charlie collapsed, Stockton made a 911 call and was heard placidly telling the near-lifeless tot: “Come on, Charlie. Come on, wakey, wakey.”
Stockton claimed the toddler “went floppy” and started “gasping for air” while the two were playing together. The call handler talked him through how to perform CPR. At one point Stockton, who was off work ill, said he would pass out if he tried to count the compressions he was doing on the tot.
In a sick attempt to cover his tracks, Stockton later told paramedics, doctors and 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. Paramedics found nothing blocking the youngster’s airway and tests later revealed little Charlie had suffered an “unsurvivable” brain injury. The little boy died at Newcastle Hospital the next day.
At sentencing, Dominic Tate of CPS North East said: “It is clear from the evidence in this case Christopher Stockton murdered Charlie Roberts. After being left in charge of Charlie at 8.45am, our case was that he lost his temper within that crucial twenty minutes preceding his emergency call, before throwing Charlie with sufficient violence to cause catastrophic head injuries.”
Charlie, who was 22 months old, had been subjected to “cruel and uncaring” injuries in the seven months before his death, at the hands of his stepfather. The toddler’s mother, Paula Roberts, 41, also admitted a single charge of neglect. The mum-of-five failed to seek medical help for Charlie in December and January after he suffered injuries to his private parts and ear.
His nursery and family members reported noticing bruises and his grandfather, Ken Greenwell, told how the youngster appeared hungry on weekly visits to their home. He told jurors that his arms and legs were “pitifully thin” and said: “There was no muscle development. Not what you would expect to see in a child that age.
“Where they stand on the couch and pull themselves up, he struggled to do that. When we first started getting him, he couldn’t really sit up properly. We would have to put cushions behind him on the couch. He wasn’t a greedy child. He didn’t rush his food or gobble it down, but you couldn’t fill him up.”
Jurors were told how Roberts installed a spy camera above his cost in September 2023 after her relationship with Stockton “became rocky”. She disguised the Amazon-bought indoor camera in a hanging basket after telling her brother she was “concerned” about Stockton.
Stockton told the court he first met Charlie on his first birthday. Asked by his barrister how he found being around Charlie, he said: “It was a new experience. I’d never been around a child of that age with my son being in hospital (when he was young). It was a learning curve, I didn’t really know how to look after him properly, but we started to build a bond.”
He said the relationship with Roberts was “rocky” at times and claimed four months before Charlie’s death, she suggested Stockton had “smothered” him to stop him crying. Stockton said he was “upset and hurt” at the suggestion. He was also asked about an occasion when Roberts accused him of flicking Charlie’s eye, and he said he had been flicking a fly away from the boy’s face.
Nicholas Lumley KC, prosecuting, told jurors: “The prosecution say Christopher Stockton – and nobody else – is responsible for Charlie’s death. He shook or threw him with such violence, deliberately and forcefully harming little Charlie. Christopher Stockton was alone in the house with Charlie. In a very short time – for that is all it takes to lose one’s temper – he must have assaulted Charlie by shaking or throwing him with considerable force. What happened to Charlie once his mother had closed the door on him was no accident. Much as it may have been quickly and bitterly regretted, it was no accident.”
