A stepfather who is accused of shaking his girlfriend’s one-year-old son to death has told the jury he was ‘building a bond’ with the toddler.
Paula Roberts, 41, installed a spy camera hidden under a plant pot in the bedroom to watch over son Charlie, who was allegedly killed by Christopher Stockton four months later.
Giving evidence at Teesside Crown Court, Stockton said he was ‘upset and hurt’ that his girlfriend believed he would cover the toddler’s face to keep him quiet as he put him to bed – ‘smothering’ the child.
He told the court he had a disabled son of his own and started a relationship with Roberts after his marriage broke down, and met her children on Charlie’s first birthday.
Asked by his barrister Jamie Hill KC how he found being around the young boy, Stockton said: ‘It was a new experience. I’d never been around a child of that age with my son being in hospital [when he was young].
‘It was a learning curve, I didn’t really know how to look after him properly, but we started to build a bond.’
Asked if he ‘harboured any ill feeling towards’ Charlie, Stockton replied ‘No’, adding that he was ‘usually a well-behaved child’.
He said his relationship had been ‘rocky’ with Roberts because of her ‘mental health issues’ and ‘mood swings.’
Stockton, 38, denied doing anything to harm the boy, who was photographed with bruises on a number of occasions.
Toddler Charlie Roberts (pictured) was allegedly murdered by his stepfather months after his mother installed a spy camera where he slept out of concern for his safety, a court heard
The 21-month-old boy (centre) died after being allegedly shaken violently or thrown with force when left alone in the care of stepfather Christopher Stockton (left), 38, by mother-of-five Paula Roberts (right), Teesside Crown Court was told
The jury was previously shown footage of a police interview with Charlie’s stepfather who denies murder
Recalling the incident on 1 September last year, Stockton said Roberts ‘seemed upset by the fact that she believed I was smothering Charlie.’
He said Roberts told him she had been sat outside the bedroom door before going downstairs so ‘she didn’t think she was trying to ear drop on me putting him to bed.’
Stockton told the jury Charlie had been crying as he put him to bed and he made a ‘shushing noise just to try and soothe him.’ Adding: ‘He did eventually stop crying.’
The next day he said Roberts told him ‘the only explanation was I was covering his face to make him stop crying.’
He said he found the suggestion ‘upsetting’ and he felt ‘hurt.’
Stockton is accused of murdering 21-month-old Charlie by either shaking him violently or throwing him with force when left alone with him in January.
He rang 999, less than 20 minutes after Roberts left for an early morning optician’s appointment, claiming the youngster was ‘choking’ on a biscuit.
The boy was rushed to hospital but could not be saved. Doctors concluded he died from serious non-accidental head injuries, the court heard.
Commenting on the state of their relationship back in September, he said she had ‘mood swings.’
‘One minute she would be okay the next minute she wouldn’t.’
Stockton said the spy camera was in Roberts’s bedroom, where Charlie slept at that stage in a cot, and she didn’t tell him about it when it was installed.
The toddler’s mother Paula Roberts was so concerned about Stockton and her son’s safety that she installed a spy camera
The image reveals where the spy camera was hidden in a plant pot in the bedroom
Toddler Charlie Roberts (pictured) was murdered by his stepfather months after his mother installed a spy camera where he slept out of concern for his safety, a court heard
Stockton claimed Charlie (pictured together) had choked on a biscuit after dialling 999
‘I noticed it at the bottom of a plant pot and just said ‘is it a baby monitor?’
Recalling the day Charlie was rushed to hospital with fatal injuries, Stockton told the court he suddenly started to cough and ‘just flopped’ in his arms.
Stockton, who was off work ill, was left to look after Charlie when Roberts went to the optician.
The toddler cried when his mother left but calmed down and Stockton said he put out his toy ‘tunnel’ to play in.
Charlie crawled through the tunnel and appeared about two or three minutes later coughing.
‘He stood up and raised his arms as if to say ‘I need help.’ I picked him up and lifted him on my knee,’ he said.
Stockton said he ‘went floppy’ and he thought the boy could be ‘choking on something.’
Earlier, before Roberts left, the boy was covered in chocolate after eating a biscuit.
‘I thought the only thing it could be was oat from a biscuit,’ he said.
Stockton said he turned the boy over and patted him on the back and then put a finger down his throat to search for an obstruction.
Charlie was then ‘gasping for air’ and he dialled 999.
Stockton was asked ‘had you assaulted Charlie?’ He replied: ‘no.’
His barrister Jamie Hill, KC, then said: ‘Had you seen anyone else do so?
He replied: ‘No I had not.’
Mr Hill said: ‘Have you done anything to harm Charlie at any point that you knew him?’
Stockton said: ‘no.’
Stockton worked for an industrial company and was away working in Scotland for periods of time.
He said when home in Darlington he spent time at his own home and with Roberts.
Sometimes he would care for Charlie overnight at his home.
Stockton told the jury on one occasion the toddler ‘stumbled on a toy’ and hit his head on a fireplace. He said he cleaned it up and contacted Roberts at work about the accident.
Another time he ‘wafted’ away a fruit fly from near the boy’s eye and Roberts accused him of ‘flicking’ the boy’s eye.
The court heard Stockton had been separated from his wife for some years when their relationship started early last year. They had met sometime before when he sold her a car.
A shirtless Stockton, 38, with is pictured with little Charlie as the youngster slept on his chest
He met Charlie for the first time in March.
In late May the youngster went to hospital with bruising to an ear and below an eye and bleeding from his nose.
The court heard social services were called in as the injuries were at first thought to be non-accidental and mother-of-five Roberts was denied unsupervised access to Charlie.
She was cleared five days later and the boy returned to her care.
Roberts admitted a charge of cruelty by neglect.
Stockton denies murder and child cruelty.
The case continues.
