54-year-old man allegedly threw 10-year-old boy over a 30-meter-high cliff after the boy “tried to stop him from raping his sister” and claimed he wanted to “marry” the girl, the court said

• Anthony Stocks is said to have thrown the boy off a cliff in Brighton in September 2022

A man accused of throwing a boy off a 100-foot cliff after the child tried to stop him from raping his sister told a worker at a mental health facility that he wanted to “marry” the girl, a court heard.

Anthony Stocks, 54, took the 10-year-old boy to a cliff face in Brighton, East Sussex, and threw him over the edge after the child tried to stop him from sexually abusing his 12-year-old sister, a jury was told.

The student “miraculously” survived the 30-meter fall and Stocks was charged with attempted murder, as well as rape and a series of sexual assaults against his sister, shortly after the incident on September 24, 2022.

A mental health worker who spoke to Stocks regularly after the incident told jurors today that the 54-year-old was “very, very focused on the girl.”

However, she said he never mentioned her brother or asked how he was recovering from his 100-foot fall from a cliff, which Stocks said was an accident.

Justine Lindsley, who works at Connection Support for Oxford, told the jury: “He talked about how he and the girl wanted to be together all the time and that one day they would get married.”

“He thought she was listening to him and understood him like no one else. He talked about how he needed to see her and how he missed her.

“He talked about her all the time. He never seemed interested in the boy, never mentioned him – which seemed odd since he was in the hospital at the time.”

The 10-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was flown by helicopter to St Georges’ Hospital in Tooting, London, after the fall.

He was resuscitated and placed in a medical coma for several weeks.

Another witness, social worker Rebecca Valentine, told jurors at Oxford Crown Court that her very first conversation with Stocks had also revolved around the girl and that he had blamed her for the police investigation against him.

Ms Valentine said: “It was the first time I met Mr Stocks.

“He told me that the police were investigating him on allegations of sexual abuse and that he was very worried about it.

“He said the girl and her sexualized behavior targeted him and she referred to him as her ‘boyfriend.'”

The court heard from Ms Valentine that Stocks “pointed at his penis” throughout his conversation with her and appeared to have “no inhibitions whatsoever” about sharing this evidence with her.

Earlier during the trial, jurors had heard that the student had discovered that the twice-married defendant was sexually molesting his underage sister and had begun to “intervene” by being constantly present with his sister to prevent the abuse.

This angered Stocks and he decided to persuade the boy to travel to London to show him Chelsea football stadium. He then took him to Ovingdean, near Brighton in Sussex, and threw him over a cliff.

The horrific 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.”

Shortly before the incident, Stocks is said to have approached the girl, whose name cannot be disclosed for legal reasons, and said to her: “I’m going to push him off a cliff. I want to get rid of him so we can be together.”

Jurors also heard that Stocks had previously taken the boy to a quarry in Oxfordshire and allegedly “considered” pushing the boy off cliffs there before changing his mind.

Stocks, of Iceni Close in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, is on trial for attempted murder, the rape of a girl under 13 and a series of sexual assaults on the same girl in the early 2020s.

He told the jury today that he was a film fan and that was why he had taken the boy to the cliff edge at Ovingdean “to see where Quadrophenia was filmed”, a 1979 British drama film.

The film, based on The Who’s 1973 rock opera of the same name, ends with protagonist Jimmy Cooper plunging his scooter over a cliff on the Brighton seafront.

White-haired Stocks was close to tears as he gave evidence at Oxford Crown Court this afternoon, telling jurors that the underage girl he allegedly raped had touched his penis even though he didn’t want her to.

Visibly shaking and fidgeting on the witness stand, Stocks told the jury, “I was tired of her touching me.”

When questioned by his defense attorney Martin Rutherford, Stocks said the girl touched his penis several times “with her hands and mouth” and that he pushed her away.

When asked by Mr Rutherford whether he himself had done “anything bad or sexual” to the girl, Stocks replied: “No, never.”

The twice-married defendant, who told jurors he could not remember the name of his first wife, spoke extremely quietly during his testimony and was repeatedly told by Mr Rutherford to “keep his voice loud”.

The girl was under 13 years old in the early 2020s when Stocks allegedly groomed and abused her. He denies the allegations.

He also told the jury that, apart from working as an extra in two major films, he had never had a job in his life.

Stocks is expected to continue his testimony tomorrow and talk about the day of the incident.

Stocks denies pushing the boy and claims the fall was an accident. The trial continues.