Darlington stepdad jailed for murdering 22-month-old boy | Global News Avenue

A man who murdered his partner’s 22-month-old son was sentenced to at least 25 years in prison.

Christopher Stockton, 38, claims Charlie Roberts choked on cookies on Darlington’s cookies in January 2024, but doctors quickly deduced that toddler The child of the step was fatally shaken.

Stockton was sentenced to jail for minimum tenure at Teesside Crown Court Found guilty of murder and abuse of Charlie In the months before the boy died.

Charlie’s mom Paula Roberts, 41, wants her son to call Stockton “Dad” and is sentenced to four years in prison for failing to ignore him for previous injuries .

The murder trial learned that Stockton and Roberts began a romantic relationship in early 2023, and he moved into her Frostley Avenue home seven days before Charlie was fatally injured.

The court was told that family and nursery staff had noticed suspicious bruises to Charlie a few months before their death, but Roberts did nothing except installing a spy camera in his son’s bedroom.

On the morning of January 12, Stockton was in charge of Charlie for the only time, and he called 999 and said the boy was “floppy” and was trying to breathe.

Stockton’s phone was so calm that a great North Air ambulance doctor thought it was a scam, and the killer claimed that he was too uncomfortable to be able to do so when Charlie was struggling with pneumonia at the time. Performing CPR on Charlie.

He claimed that Charlie was playing in a toy tunnel in the living room and was immediately suspicious.

A scan from Newcastle Royal Victoria Hospital showed Charlie bleeded in his brain, killing him the next day.

The pathologist concluded that he deliberately shook violently or hit his head with severe force.

Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley KC had previously told juror Stockton was “patient” with Charlie’s patience, while Roberts was ready to “ignor” her boyfriend’s behavior Keep him alive.”

Roberts initially denied any misconduct, but, at the trial, by intentionally neglecting Charlie’s child abuse because he failed to leave him injured and genitals medical treatment within the weeks before his death.

Her barrister Richard Herrmann said Stockton’s “wool raised his eyes” and “don’t believe” that he was hurting his son.

The court heard Stockton told her Charlie was injured in the accident, such as lying in bed, but Roberts admitted that she had not received medical treatment from her son regardless of how she believed he suffered “painful” injuries.

Mr Herman said Roberts had several contacts with parenting professionals and social workers, but none of them raised any concerns.

Herman said Darlington Borough Council conducted an investigation after being taken to the hospital in the summer of 2023, but they concluded that they were not suspicious.

He also said Roberts looked back at the footage captured on the bedroom camera, but “not seeing anything” worried her.

Mr Herman said that if Roberts did differently, her son might have been alive, and he accepted it, adding that it was a “cross that is very important for a lifetime.”