Mum of 'murdered' tot installed spy camera above cot due to 'concerns' about partner

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A mother installed a spy camera above her toddler's cot due to 'concerns' about her partner months before he allegedly inflicted a fatal head injury, a jury was told. frPaula Roberts, 41, left her son Charlie, aged one year and 10 months, in the care of her partner Christopher Stockton, 38, at her Darlington home while she went for an eye test, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Following a night of Xbox and TV, Stockton was sleep deprived. Within minutes of Roberts' departure, just after 9am, he phoned 999 because the toddler, he said, had gone “floppy” for no good reason.

Stockton, who was not Charlie's father, is accused of inflicting a serious brain injury which could not be survived. Nicholas Lumley KC, prosecuting, said: “In a very short time, for that’s all it takes to lose one’s temper, he must have assaulted Charlie by shaking or throwing him with considerable force.”

Stockton denies murder and a child neglect charge. Roberts also denied a charge of child neglect. Charlie suffered various bruises and injuries in the weeks and months leading up to his death in January, the court heard.

Mr Lumley said Roberts expressed concerns to her brother about Stockton, who had known Charlie for around 10 months prior to his death, in August 2023. Mr Lumley said: “As August progressed, it seems that the relationship between Christopher Stockton and Paula Roberts became a little rocky.

“They resolved to stay together but there were tensions. Christopher Stockton spoke of problems at work and with his ex-wife. At the very end of August 2023, Paula Roberts bought a spy camera.”

Mr Lumley said she concealed it in a potted plant above Charlie’s cot. “She told her brother that she was concerned about Christopher Stockton and Charlie,” Mr Lumley said.

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In May last year, Charlie was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital with a number of bruises to his face, which his mother explained was the result of falls. Mr Lumley said meetings with social services were held out of concern for the toddler but at that stage, his injuries were not thought to have been caused deliberately.

The jury was shown a photo that Stockton took in December of Charlie standing in the corner of a room decorated for Christmas, because he had been “naughty”, after the adult said the child had hit him. As well as a number of bruises he suffered in his last months, Charlie sustained a painful injury to the base of his private parts, the court heard.

When her brother noticed Charlie had bruised ears, Roberts told him the toddler had been sleepwalking and she had found him resting in a toy box. Mr Lumley said pre-school children rarely sleepwalk. Mr Lumley said: “The prosecution case is that there are too many incidents of bruising for it not to have been the result of neglect.”

Charlie suffered a catastrophic head injury on January 12. Mr Lumley said: “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.”

Roberts wept as a recording of Stockton’s 999 call was played in court, in which he repeatedly said “Come on mate” and “wakey wakey” to the little boy, who was not breathing. The call-handler talked him through how to perform CPR and 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 toddler.

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. Stockton said Charlie became “floppy” and so he called 999.

The toddler died in hospital the next day and post-mortem tests on his brain found widespread bleeding. A separate expert found bleeding within and around his eyes, the prosecution said.

“There was no natural disease which might account for those injuries and findings,” Mr Lumley said. “They were not the result of a normal bump or fall. The cause of death, therefore, must have been the application of severe force to Charlie, causing his head to rotate or be thrown about.”

Mr Lumley said Stockton’s case will be that he simply did not cause Charlie’s death and he did not neglect him. Roberts will say that injuries her son suffered were the result of “everyday existence” and not inflicted by her, the jury was told.

The case was adjourned until Monday.

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