Darlington man convicted of murdering partner’s infant son

A Darlington man who caused fatal injuries to his partner’s infant son has been convicted of his murder at Teesside Crown Court today.

Christopher Stockton, 38, of Neasham Road, Darlington, was found guilty after trial of the murder of 22-month-old Charlie Roberts. 

He was also found guilty of a further charge of child cruelty, for injuries caused to Charlie in the months before his death. His then partner, Paula Roberts, 41, of Close Street, Darlington had previously pleaded guilty to child neglect after failing to act over a number of historic injuries sustained by Charlie.  

In January of this 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 falsely 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 CPS North East said: “It is clear from the evidence in this case that 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.

“Over the course of this trial, the Crown Prosecution Service has also shown the court how a pattern of unexplained injuries preceded Charlie’s death, with the evidence of medical experts clearly demonstrating that those injuries could only have been inflicted by another person. It is also clear that Charlie’s mother, Paula Roberts, failed to seek appropriate medical attention for several of these 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 today’s conviction of Christopher Stockton over the death of his son.”