Man threw 10-year-old boy off 30-meter cliff after trying to stop him from raping his sister.

A terrified 10-year-old boy was thrown over a 100-foot cliff and incredibly survived the fall after trying to stop a man from raping his sister, a jury heard.

Anthony Stocks, 54, is accused of taking the boy to a cliff in Brighton, East Sussex, and throwing him over the edge after the child tried to stop him from raping his underage sister. He denies all charges.

Oxford Crown Court heard that the incident unfolded before the eyes of a witness who was walking along the foot of the towering white chalk cliffs when he heard a “scream” and saw “a small figure fall as if it had been thrown from the cliff”.

Stocks, who prosecutors described in court as manipulative and selfish, stood before the jury accused of raping a girl under 13 and attempting to murder the 10-year-old boy – charges he denies.

Prosecutor Zoe Johnson told the jury at the opening of the case: “The defendant forced a girl under the age of 13 to have sexual contact with him, even though he knew it was wrong.”

“The boy tried to intervene. Without his mother’s knowledge, the defendant then took him to Brighton and in particular to the cliffs.

“That afternoon, the boy fell 30 meters from the cliff edge onto the concrete pavement below.

“Miraculously, he did not die, but he was seriously injured and had to be flown by helicopter to a hospital in London. At first it was believed that what had happened to him had been a terrible accident – but the investigation revealed a different and much grimmer picture.”

The prosecutor told the jury that Stocks pushed the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, over the cliff with the intention of killing him.

“The defendant attempted to murder him by pushing him off the cliff,” she told the jury. “The defendant may have immediately regretted his actions – but the moment he pushed the victim, it was the culmination of a plan to get the boy out of the way so he could not intervene.”

She added that the attempted murder was “planned” as Stocks had previously taken the boy to a quarry in Oxfordshire and “considered” pushing the boy off the cliff but then changed his mind.

The twice-married defendant, from Goring-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, took the boy on a train from London and arrived in Brighton on the afternoon of the alleged offence, which took place in the early 2020s.

An eyewitness was walking with a friend towards the cliff steps when he saw the boy and the defendant walking along the grassy edge towards the cliff top.

“The boy had his hands outstretched as if he was trying to balance; he seemed to enjoy it,” said the prosecutor. “The defendant walked behind him and matched his pace.”

The jury heard that Mr Boulding and his friend made their way back to the cliff and noticed a crowd of people there. As they got closer, they realised they had surrounded the child, who was “obviously in a bad state” – but still alive.

The prosecutor added that Stocks did not flee the scene but joined several passers-by who came to the child’s aid, the jury heard.

“The defendant spoke to a number of people at the scene, civilians and members of the emergency services.” Jurors heard that his account of events was inconsistent, rolled a cigarette and looked at his phone.

The court concluded that the child had suffered very serious injuries. He had several deep cuts on his scalp, abrasions on his chest, numerous bruises, several fractures on his left arm and a deformity on his left shoulder.

He was sedated, his arm was splinted and he was flown by helicopter to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, London, where he had to be resuscitated before being placed in a medical coma.

Due to the “extremely severe trauma” the boy suffered, he could not remember the fall itself, the jury said.

The defendant, who is originally from Peterborough in Cambridgeshire, was arrested shortly after the fall on suspicion of child neglect and causing or allowing serious injury to a child.

He told police that he asked the boy if he wanted to go to the sea before taking him to the cliffs near Brighton Marina.

The defendant said he was sitting on a bench smoking a cigarette while the boy stood at the edge of the cliffs. The prosecutor continued: “Mr. Stocks had his head down and suddenly the boy disappeared. The defendant thought he was hiding. He ran and found him at the bottom of the cliff.”

Stocks was arrested again on May 12 last year on suspicion of sexual activity with a child under 13 and rape of a child under 13.

At the beginning of the police interview, his lawyer read a prepared statement on behalf of the defendant in which he stated: “I am not sexually attracted to children and have neither attempted to engage in sexual acts with children nor have I incited them to engage in such acts.”

He then refused to answer officers’ questions. Stocks was arrested again on November 23, 2023 on suspicion of attempted murder.

The process should continue.