A man in the UK allegedly threw a boy off a 100 feet cliff after the 10-year-old attempted to stop him from raping his sister, Metro reported. The case, which is currently being heard in court, happened in September 2022 when 54-year-old Anthony Stocks allegedly took the 10-year-old boy to the clifftop in Brighton and threw him over the edge. A witness told how the boy was heard “shrieking” as they saw a “small shape fall as if thrown from the cliff”. However, the boy miraculously survived the fall.
Prosecutor Zoe Johnson said in court, ”Miraculously he did not die, but was very seriously injured and had to be airlifted to hospital in London. Initially, it was believed that what had happened to him was a dreadful accident – but investigations revealed a different and much darker picture.”
It has been claimed that the man did so because the boy was attempting to stop him from raping his 13-year-old sister. The Prosecutor alleged that he planned to get the boy out of the way so he could no longer interfere. He also told the jury that Stocks was “grooming” the boy’s sister, and claimed to his mental health worker they would “get married”.
Mr Johnson said, ”The defendant forced a girl under 13 to have sexual contact with him, knowing it was wrong. The boy had started to try to intervene. Unbeknown to the boy’s mother, the defendant then took him to Brighton and in particular, to the cliffs. That afternoon, the boy fell 100 feet from the cliff edge onto the concrete under walk below. The defendant attempted to murder him by pushing him off the cliff.”
However, Stocks did not flee the scene but instead joined members of the public who came to the boy’s aid. The boy suffered severe injuries, including several deep lacerations to his scalp, abrasions to his chest, multiple bruises, multiple fractures to his left arm, and deformity to his left shoulder.
Due to the “extremely severe impact trauma” he suffered, the boy had no memory of the fall itself, the court was told.
Stocks was originally arrested on suspicion of child neglect and causing or permitting serious injury to a child. He was later arrested again on suspicion of sexual activity with a child under 13 and rape of a child under 13. Stocks was re-arrested on November 23, 2023, on suspicion of attempted murder. However, he has denied all the charges.
A police statement read out on behalf of the defendant said: “I’m not sexually attracted to children and have not tried to have or instigated sexual activity with children.”
