Man ‘threw 10-year-old boy over 100-foot cliff after trying to stop him from raping his underage sister’

A man threw a boy 30 meters off a cliff after the teenager tried to stop him from raping his 13-year-old sister, a court has heard.

Anthony Stocks, 54, is said to have taken the 10-year-old to the top of the cliff and thrown him over the edge. A witness told the court he heard a “scream” and saw “a small figure fall from the cliff as if it had been thrown”. However, the boy miraculously escaped death.

Stocks, who was described by the prosecution in court as manipulative and selfish, stood before the jury at Oxford Crown Court accused of raping a girl under 13 and attempting to murder the 10-year-old boy – allegations he denies.

Zoe Johnson, prosecuting, told jurors: “The defendant forced a girl under the age of 13 to have sexual contact with him despite knowing it was wrong in Brighton and in particular to the cliffs.

“That afternoon, the boy fell 100 feet from the edge of the cliff to the concrete path below. Miraculously, he did not die, but was very seriously injured and had to be flown to a hospital in London. At first it was believed that it was like that. “What happened to him was a terrible accident – but the investigation revealed a different and much darker picture.”

It is alleged that Stocks threw the boy off the cliff in Brighton, East Sussex. The incident is said to have occurred after Stocks had previously taken the boy to a quarry in Oxfordshire and “considered” pushing the boy off a cliff there before changing his mind.

But at the beginning of 2020, the defendant is said to have tried to kill the boy in Brighton. Anthony Boulding, a witness, was walking to the cliff stairwell with a friend when he saw the boy and the defendant walking across the grass verge and heading towards the top of the cliffs.

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

“Mr Boulding and his friend walked down the steps to the concrete underpass on the beach. About ten minutes later Mr Boulding heard a noise. Mr Boulding looked up to the top of the cliff and saw a figure on the wrong side of the fence.

“Another figure stood behind it. Mr. Boulding heard shouts as if a child was fooling around, then shouts, and then a small figure fell as if thrown from the cliff. This was followed by a scream. He didn’t recognize the little one right away. The figure he saw falling was actually a human – it was the boy.”

The jury heard that Mr Boulding and his friend returned to the Undercliff and noticed a crowd of people. As they got closer, they realized they were surrounding the child, who was “obviously in poor condition” – but still alive. The prosecutor added that Stocks did not run away from the scene, but instead joined the various members of the public who came to the child’s aid.

Ms Johnson continued: “The defendant spoke to a number of people at the scene, civilians and members of the emergency services. He was not consistent in his portrayal of what happened. Emma Betts recalls how the defendant approached the boy and said “I told him not to go near the edge.” The defendant then sat down, rolled a cigarette and took out his phone.

The court found that the child’s injuries were very serious, including multiple deep lacerations to the scalp, abrasions to the chest, multiple bruises, multiple fractures to the left arm and a deformity of the left shoulder.

The prosecutor told jurors that the child was “conscious and in enormous pain” after the fall. He was sedated, his arm was splinted and flown by helicopter to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London, where he had to be resuscitated before he fell into a medically coma.

Due to the “extremely severe impact trauma” the boy suffered, he had no memory of the fall itself, the jury said. The prosecutor continued: “The child described the cliff top and saw the beach below. He remembered looking down and seeing how steep it was.”

“He thought he had 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 were waist high and he could see the beach above them. The defendant went with him.” He stood a little behind him and explained to the police: “Either I slipped or I was pushed.”

The defendant, who lives in Goring-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, was arrested shortly after the fall on suspicion of child neglect and causing or permitting serious injury to a child.

He told police 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 sat on a bench and smoked a cigarette while the boy stood on the edge of the cliffs.

The prosecutor continued: “Mr Stocks had his head down and suddenly the boy was gone. 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 start of the police interview, his lawyer read out a prepared statement on behalf of the defendant in which he stated: “I am not sexually attracted to children and have not attempted to engage in or incite sexual activity with children.”

He then refused to answer officers’ questions. Stocks was arrested again on November 23, 2023 on suspicion of attempted murder. He appeared in the dock on bail today, dressed in a large gray sweatshirt and dark brown trousers.

During the prosecution’s opening statement he regularly became agitated and was seen rocking back and forth in the dock. The trial was adjourned to Tuesday.