A stepfather was today convicted of murdering a toddler months after a spy camera was secretly set up by the boy’s mother because she feared he was abusing the child.

Christopher Stockton, 38, had spent the night playing video games and watching TV when he violently shook 22-month-old Charlie Roberts at their home in Darlington on January 12, causing fatal head injuries.

The killer stepfather tried to cover up the murder by claiming little Charlie had choked on a Hobnob biscuit.

But the murder trial heard that hospital scans revealed he had suffered catastrophic internal bleeding in his brain.

Medical experts said the horrific injuries the tot suffered were akin to those seen from someone falling from height or having been in a ‘terrible’ car crash.

Seven months before he was killed social services temporarily removed Charlie from his mother’s care amid concerns injuries seen by hospital doctors may have been non-accidental. However, the case was closed after a few days and Charlie returned home.

Three months later mother Paula Roberts, 41, hid a spy camera in a pot plant to monitor Charlie’s cot as she was concerned Stockton was mistreating him. She also listened outside the bedroom door when he put the boy to bed and accused him of ‘smothering’ Charlie to stop him crying.

Stockton will be given a mandatory life sentence after being found guilty of murder and child cruelty by a jury. He showed no emotion when the verdicts were announced. 

Stepfather Christopher Stockton, 38, has been convicted of murdering 22-month-old Charlie Roberts (pictured together) 

Seven months before he was killed social services temporarily removed Charlie from his mother’s care amid concerns injuries seen by hospital doctors may have been non-accidental 

Stockton, a mechanical engineer, has always denied doing anything to harm the toddler and claimed he died after choking on a biscuit.

Medical evidence showed this explanation was a lie and Charlie probably died from ‘forceful’ shaking, with ‘excessive toing and froing of the head.’

Charlie had suffered months of physical abuse at the hands of his stepfather before he was killed.

Some of the multiple minor injuries were not simply the result of harmless accidents but of neglect and cruelty, Teesside Crown Court was told.

During the trial Roberts admitted a charge of cruelty by neglect, for failing to seek medical help for her son in the month before he died.

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The mother-of-five will be sentenced in the new year and could also be jailed.

During legal discussions in the absence of the jury it was revealed that Roberts had admitted ‘hitting’ her two older sons, who are now adults, 20 years ago and ‘trying to strangle’ one of them.

The boys were taken to A&E on several occasions but suffered nothing more serious than bruising and the judge said there was no evidence that they were non-accidental injuries.

Stockton met Roberts when he sold her a car. They started going out in early 2023.

He had separated from his wife and he looked after their young disabled child on some weekends.

The court heard Stockton first met Charlie on his first birthday in March last year and as time went on he regularly stayed over with Roberts.

The boy (centre) died after being violently shaken when left alone in the care of Stockton by mother-of-five Paula Roberts (right)

The jury was previously shown footage of a police interview with Charlie’s stepfather who had denied murder

In late May the youngster went to hospital with bruising to an ear and below an eye and bleeding from his nose – prompting the brief social services investigation.

A variety of bumps and bruises suffered by the youngster were put down to harmless toddler accidents.

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Roberts told relatives he injured himself while sleepwalking, an explanation regarded as unlikely by a medical expert.

Some injuries were put down to him falling out of bed and the court heard Roberts told ‘lies’ about taking him to hospital when she had not.

Stockton explained one head injury to his partner as the result of a tumble into a fireplace.

On some occasions Roberts left Charlie to stay overnight with Stockton at his house.

The court heard he moved into Roberts home a week before the fatal incident on 12 January. She lived in Darlington and worked at an indoor climbing centre.

Stockton was off work after suffering pneumonia but offered to look after Charlie when Roberts went for an early morning optician’s appointment.

The toddler’s mother Paula Roberts was so concerned about Stockton and her son’s safety that she installed a spy camera

The image reveals where the spy camera was hidden in a plant pot in the bedroom

A shirtless Stockton, 38, is pictured with little Charlie as the youngster slept on his chest 

He rang 999 about 15 minutes after Roberts left him alone with Charlie.

Stockton said in evidence Charlie was playing, raised his arms to be lifted and ‘just went floppy.’

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Speaking in a calm voice, Stockton could be heard saying ‘come on little man’ and ‘wakey wakey’ during the 999 call, during which he performed CPR before paramedics arrived.

Charlie was rushed to hospital but never regained consciousness and could not be saved.

Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley, KC, told the jury Stockton was a ‘practised and accomplished liar’ and his illness and tiredness became a ‘toxic mix’ when he was left in charge of Charlie that morning.

He said: ‘In a very short time, for that is all it takes to lose one’s temper, [Stockton] must have assaulted Charlie by shaking or throwing him with considerable force.’ 

Adding it may have been ‘quickly and bitterly regretted’, but it was ‘no accident’.