A mum installed a spy camera above her son’s cot months before her partner allegedly inflicted a fatal head injury on him.
Paula Roberts, 41, left her son Charlie Roberts, 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.
Within minutes of Roberts leaving, Stockton phoned 999 and said Charlie had ‘gone floppy’ for no reason.
It was heard how Charlie suffered a catastrophic head injury on January 12 and died in hospital the following day.
Post-mortem examination results showed widespread bleeding on his brain and bleeding within and around his eyes, according to a separate expert.
The court heard how Stockton had been playing on his Xbox, watching TV and was sleep deprived from the night before.
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.
He was talked through how to do CPR by the phone operator and at one point Stockton said he would pass out if he tried to count the compressions he was doing on the toddler.
He told 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, who was not Charlie’s father, is accused of inflicting a serious brain injury which could not be survived and he denies murder and a charge of child neglect.
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.’
Roberts is also charged with child neglect, which she denies.
Mr Lumley said Roberts expressed concerns to her brother about Stockton, who had known Charlie for around 10 months prior to his death.
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: ‘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.’
He also said pre-school children rarely sleepwalk.
He added: ‘The prosecution case is that there are too many incidents of bruising for it not to have been the result of neglect.
‘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.
‘There was no natural disease which might account for those injuries and findings.
‘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.’
The spy camera was concealed in a potted plant above Charlie’s cot, Mr Lumley confirmed.
The court also heard Charlie suffered a number of bruises and injuries in the weeks and months prior to his death.
He also sustained painful injury to the base of his private parts.
Charlie was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital in May last year with a number of bruises to his face, which his mother explained was the result of falls.
Meetings were held with social services 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.
Mr Lumley highlighted that Stockton’s case will be that he 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 case was adjourned until Monday.
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