A Darlington man who murdered his partner’s infant son has been jailed for life with a minimum of 25 years at Teesside Crown Court.
Christopher Stockton, 38, of Neasham Road, Darlington, was sentenced after previously being found guilty of the murder of 22-month-old Charlie Roberts. His then partner, Paula Roberts, 41, of Close Street, Darlington had also pleaded guilty to a charge child neglect.
Stockton was convicted of murder and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 25 years, with an eight year concurrent sentence for child cruelty.
Roberts pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing of one charge of child neglect and was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment
In January of last year, Charlie had been left in the sole care of Stockton by Roberts, who was leaving for work from the home they shared in Frosterly Drive, Darlington. Within less than 20 minutes, Stockton was calling emergency services and claiming that Charlie was unable to breathe after choking on something.
An ambulance crew attended the scene and transported Charlie to Newcastle’s RVI Hospital. Scans taken there revealed that Charlie had suffered major bleeding in his brain, from which he tragically died the following day. Stockton and Roberts were arrested at the scene.
Dominic Tate of the Crown Prosecution Service said, “It is clear from the evidence in this case that Christopher Stockton’s relationship with Charlie Roberts was punctuated by incidents of violence. After Stockton began a relationship with Paula Roberts, Charlie sustained a series of unexplained injuries, culminating in his tragic death in January of last year.
“Stockton had initially claimed that Charlie had died after choking on something that morning, but we worked alongside our police partners to show how, while in Stockton’s sole care, he was tragically subjected to sufficient violence to cause catastrophic head injuries.
“Our thoughts remain with the father of Charlie Roberts, for who this must remain a particularly difficult time. We sincerely hope that he can take some measure of comfort from seeing his son’s killer jailed today.”
