A man has been jailed for life for raping a young girl and pushing a boy off a cliff in Brighton.
Anthony Stocks, 54, tried to kill the boy after he tried to stop Stocks from raping and sexually assaulting his under-age sister.
Stocks, of Iceni Close, Goring, near Reading, was jailed for life for a minimum of 19 and a half years by Judge Nigel Daly at Oxford Crown Court yesterday (Friday 26 July).
A jury unanimously found Stocks guilty of four counts of sexual assault of a child under 13 and one count each of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, rape and attempted murder.
The trial end on Thursday 6 June. It followed a joint investigation by Thames Valley Police and Sussex Police.
They found that Stocks hatched a plan to kill the young boy after he tried to stop him from sexually abusing his sister.
First, Stocks took the boy to a quarry in Oxfordshire with a plan to push him off the edge but changed his mind.
Then, on Saturday 24 September 2022, Stocks took the child to the cliffs at Ovingdean where he carried out his plan, pushing the boy from the cliff edge.
The boy fell about 100ft to the concrete underwalk below. He suffered extensive serious injuries but, miraculously, survived.
Initially, the boy’s fall was thought to be accidental but, as police investigated, a much darker reason for the fall became apparent.
Stocks was arrested on Thursday 23 November last year on suspicion of attempted murder, rape and other sexual offences and was charged on the same day.
The court was told that for three years, from 2019 to 2022, Stocks stayed at an address in east Oxfordshire. While there, he raped the girl and sexual assaulted her several times.
When the boy found out what was happening, he bravely tried to stop Stocks from abusing his sister. It was then that Stocks hatched his sordid plan to kill the boy.
He even told the girl that he planned to push her brother off a cliff.
The boy is still suffering from problems caused by the fall but the court was told that he had made an otherwise miraculous recovery.
The deputy senior investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Rachel Jackson, of Thames Valley Police’s Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said: “I am pleased that today Stocks has been handed a very significant sentence for his horrific and evil offences against two young children.
“Stocks is an extremely dangerous individual who had no thought about anybody but himself (and tried) to protect himself from prosecution by removing the boy from the equation.
“He has never shown any remorse throughout the course of this investigation.
“I would like to praise both victims for their unbelievable courage and resolve that helped us to bring Stocks to justice.
“They showed immense maturity and clarity both in their interviews with police and at court about what had happened to them.
“It’s because of this truly inspirational courage that Stocks has now been brought to justice and will now be in prison for long time where he deserves to be.
“In my years investigating child abuse, this is one of the worst cases I have dealt with and the impact that this has had on both victims, as well as all of the officers and staff who investigated this, is not to be underestimated.
“Both victims have continued to show courage and resolve and are moving on with their lives magnificently, with support networks in place for them both.”
Detective Inspector Matt Stevens, of Sussex Police, said: “Anthony Stocks’s calculated offending betrayed the trust of two young people.
“Both victims must now live with the impact of Stocks’s crimes for the rest of their lives but it is testament to both of them how they have supported our investigation and are moving on with their lives.
“They have shown remarkable courage, bravery and determination to support this investigation through to its conclusion. I would like to thank them both for helping us bring Stocks to justice.
“The events of Saturday 24 September 2022 were also extremely alarming for residents of Ovingdean and the wider community.
“It was a miracle it did not end in more tragic circumstances and I would also like to thank all of those who came forward with information and messages of support.
“Finally, I commend my colleagues and detectives in both Thames Valley Police and Sussex Police for their outstanding work on this joint and very complex investigation.
“If you are a victim of sexual offending, please report it to the police online or via 101. You will be believed and supported. Always dial 999 in an emergency.”
Evil scum……
Why did it take 14 months for police to arrest and charge him? Surely his involvement would have become abundantly clear soon after the incident.
Presumably because it was a very complex investigation involving two incredibly traumatised children, one of whom was seriously injured and needed a lenghty time to recover.
I hope this piece of scum is given the hell he deserves in prison – no protection for him anywhere
Bring back the rope!!
I suspect that people like him are not very safe in prison. It is quite a well established fact that prisoners don’t take kindly to people who mess with children.
In which case, I hope he lives for a very long time.