A MAN hurled a ten-year-old boy off a 100ft cliff when the youngster tried to stop him raping his sister, a court heard.
Anthony Stocks, 54, is accused of “grooming” the young girl after telling his mental health worker he was getting married.
When confronted by the alleged rape victim’s brother, Stocks chucked him from a cliff in Brighton on to a concrete path below, it is said.
Jurors heard how horrified witnesses heard a “shriek” before seeing a “small shape” plummet to the ground.
The boy remarkably survived the fall but was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.
Prosecutor Zoe Johnson KC said: “Initially, it was believed that what had happened to him was a dreadful accident – but investigations revealed a different and much darker picture.”
Oxford Crown Court heard Stocks secretly took the schoolboy to Brighton and considered throwing him into a quarry.
Ms Johnson said he deliberately pushed him from the cliff with the intention of killing him.
She added: “The defendant may have instantly regretted what he had done – but at the moment he pushed the victim, it was the climax of a plan to get the boy out of the way so he could no longer interfere.”
The horror unfolded on September 24 when the pair travelled by London to the seaside town by train.
Twice-married Stocks first took the boy to the pier before they went by cab to the marina.
Witness Anthony Boulding said the boy appeared to be “having fun” as he and Stocks walked up a grass verge to the top of the cliffs.
But around ten minutes later, he heard a noise before seeing a shape “fall as if thrown” from a height.
He and a pal made their way to the concrete path under the cliff and saw the stricken youngster.
Stocks had not run away and instead joined members of the public who had rushed over to the help, jurors heard.
One onlooker recalled hearing Stocks allegedly say “I told him not to go near the edge” before sitting down to roll a cigarette.
The boy was sedated and airlifted to hospital in London where he had to be resuscitated before being placed in an induced coma.
Because of the “extremely high impact trauma” he suffered, the boy has no memory of the fall itself, the court was told.
The prosecutor added: “The child described the cliff top and seeing the beach below. He remembered looking down and seeing how steep it was.
“He thought he stood there for between three and five minutes. He remembered the two wires of the fence in front of him. He could touch them and they came to waist level and he could see the beach over them. The defendant was walking with him and stood a little behind him.
“He explained to the police ‘I either slipped or I got pushed’. The next thing he remembered was being in hospital.”
Stocks was originally arrested on suspicion of child neglect and causing or allowing the serious injury of a child.
He was later re-arrested on suspicion of sexual activity with a child under 13 and rape of a child under 13.
His solicitor read out a prepared statement at the start of Stocks’ police interview that stated: “I’m not sexually attracted to children and have not tried to have or instigated sexual activity with children.”
Stocks denies sexual assault and rape against a girl under the age of 13, as well as the attempted murder of the boy and cruelty to a child.
The trial continues.
