Man who shook his partner’s toddler to death jailed for at least 25 years
A man who shook his partner’s toddler to death after staying up late playing video games has been jailed for life with a minimum of 25 years.
Paula Roberts left her son Charlie, aged one year and 10 months, in the care of her partner Christopher Stockton at her Darlington home while she went for an eye test, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Within minutes of her leaving, Stockton called 999 to report the toddler had gone “floppy”.
Stockton, 38, who is not Charlie’s father, was convicted of the boy’s murder and child cruelty in December.
Christopher Stockton has been sentenced for the killing. Pic: Durham Constabulary/PA
Sentencing Stockton, Mr Justice Goss said Charlie, who was born two months prematurely and had difficulty communicating, was particularly vulnerable.
The judge said only 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.
“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,” he said.
Roberts was sentenced to four years in prison on Friday.
Paula Roberts had concerns about Stockton, but did nothing. Pic: Durham Police
Having initially denied a child cruelty charge, she eventually admitted neglecting her son by failing to get Charlie medical treatment for bruising caused by Stockton over several weeks.
During the police investigation into Charlie’s death, detectives uncovered a series of photographs on Roberts’ phone which showed him with bruises and injuries to different parts of his body.
Several messages on her phone stated she would seek medical help for her boy – but she never did.
“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,” the judge told Roberts.
“You remain a risk to any children in your care.”
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.”
Pic: Family Handout/PA
The court heard Roberts was suspicious enough about Stockton that she set up a spy camera above her son’s cot.
But the 41-year-old stayed in a relationship with him, even after she voiced her concerns about Stockton to her brother.
Stockton, who had moved in with Roberts and Charlie just seven days earlier, was in sole charge of the boy on 12 January 2024.
He was off work ill and had stayed up into the early hours playing Xbox games, and must have snapped that morning, the court was told.
Stockton inflicted a severe head injury on Charlie which caused widespread bleeding on the brain. The toddler died in hospital the next day.
Charlie Roberts
Pic: Durham Police
Nicholas Lumley KC, prosecuting, told jurors Stockton “shook or threw him with such violence, deliberately and forcefully harming little Charlie”.
Stockton rang 999 and could be heard on a recording repeatedly saying “come on mate” and “wakey wakey” to Charlie, who was not breathing.
He 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.
Jamie Hill KC, defending Stockton, told the court he had no previous convictions, the murder was not premeditated and there was no intention to kill.
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Following Stockton’s conviction, Charlie’s father 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.”
Detective Superintendent Chris Barker, who led the investigation, said: “To install a spy camera, as Paula Roberts did, means there must have been concerns about him.
“If you have concerns about those caring for your children, you must act, speak out or ask for help.
“Charlie had everything to live for, but his life was cruelly cut short.”
A nine-year-old girl found dead in Weston-super-Mare has been named on the day police revealed a teenager had been charged with her murder.
Emergency services were called to Lime Close in the Somerset town at 6.09pm on Monday but Aria Thorpe was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said a 15-year-old boy had been charged with her murder and that a preliminary post-mortem found she died from a single stab wound.
The teenage boy – who can’t be named due to his age – will appear at Bristol Magistrates’ Court later today.
A police cordon remains in place as forensics officers continue their work.
Flowers and tributes have been left at the scene. Pic: PA
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Superintendent Jen Appleford, from Avon and Somerset Police, said the community was in shock and Aria’s family were being supported by police.
“It is impossible to adequately describe how traumatic the past 36 hours have been for them and we’d like to reiterate in the strongest possible terms their request for privacy,” she said.
Supt Appleford said police were working with local schools and other agencies to make sure support is available.
Britain loves chocolate.
We’re estimated to consume 8.2kg each every year, a good chunk of it at Christmas, but the cost of that everyday luxury habit has been rising fast.
Whitakers have been making chocolate in Skipton in North Yorkshire for 135 years, but they have never experienced price pressures as extreme as those in the last five.
“We buy liquid chocolate and since 2023, the price of our chocolate has doubled,” explains William Whitaker, the real-life Willy Wonka and the fourth generation of the family to run the business.
William Whitaker, managing director of the company
“It could have been worse. If we hadn’t been contracted [with a supplier], it would have trebled.
“That represents a £5,000 per-tonne increase, and we use a thousand tonnes a year. And we only sell £12-£13m of product, so it’s a massive effect.”
Whitakers makes 10 million pieces of chocolate a week in a factory on the much-expanded site of the original bakery where the business began.
Automated production lines snake through the site moulding, cutting, cooling, coating and wrapping a relentless procession of fondants, cremes, crisps and pure chocolate products for customers, including own-brand retail, supermarkets, and the catering trade.
Steepest inflation in the business
All of them have faced price increases as Whitakers has grappled with some of the steepest inflation in the food business.
Cocoa prices have soared in the last two years, largely because of a succession of poor cocoa harvests in West Africa, where Ghana and the Ivory Coast produce around two-thirds of global supply.
A combination of drought and crop disease cut global output by around 14% last year, pushing consumer prices in the other direction, with chocolate inflation passing 17% in the UK in October.
Skimpflation and shrinkflation
Some major brands have responded by cutting the chocolate content of products – “skimpflation” – or charging more for less – “shrinkflation”.
Household-name brands including Penguin and Club have cut the cocoa and milk solid content so far they can no longer be classified as chocolate, and are marketed instead as “chocolate-flavour”.
Whitakers have stuck to their recipes and product sizes, choosing to pass price increases on to customers while adapting products to the new market conditions.
“Not only are major brands putting up prices over 20%, sometimes 40%, they’ve also reduced the size of their pieces and sometimes the ingredients,” says William Whitaker.
“We haven’t done any of that. We knew that long-term, the market will fall again, and that happier days will return.
“We’ve introduced new products where we’ve used chocolate as a coating rather than a solid chocolate because the centre, which is sugar-based, is cheaper than the chocolate.
“We’ve got a big product range of fondant creams, and others like gingers and Brazil nuts, where we’re using that chocolate as a coating.”
The costs are adding up
A deluge of price rises
Brazil nuts have enjoyed their own spike in price, more than doubling to £15,000 a tonne at one stage.
On top of commodity prices determined by markets beyond their control, Whitakers face the same inflationary pressures as other UK businesses.
“We’ve had the minimum wage increasing every year, we had the national insurance rise last year, and sort of hidden a little bit in this budget is a business rate increase.
“This is a small business, we turn over £12m, but our rates will go up nearly £100,000 next year before any other costs.
“If you add up all the cocoa and all the other cost increases in 2024 and 2025, it’s nearly £3m of cost increases we’ve had to bear. Some of that is returning to a little normality. It does test the relevance of what you do.”
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