Accused 'calm' after boy's cliff fall, court told

Anthony Stocks denies attempting to murder the boy

A man accused of raping a young girl "appeared quite calm" after allegedly throwing her brother off a cliff, a court has heard.

Anthony Stocks, 54, of Iceni Close in Goring, Oxfordshire, denies charges of attempted murder, sexual assault, and rape.

He allegedly threw the boy off a set of cliffs near Ovingdean, near Brighton, after he found out his sister was being abused.

A passer-by told Oxford Crown Court that after the near-fatal fall Mr Stocks sat down and rolled a cigarette.

Ovingdean is a small village to the east of Brighton on the East Sussex coast

Neither of the children can be named for legal reasons.

Anthony Balding, who was walking with his partner on the cliff top, said the boy “seemed quite exuberant” and was walking along a grass embankment with his arms out as if he was trying to balance.

Mr Stocks was walking several paces behind, very quickly, as if trying to keep up, and seemed quite determined and not very happy, he said.

Mr Balding said: “I heard some sort of commotion, maybe shouting or something, at first I couldn’t see anything, and then to my astonishment, I noticed two figures where they shouldn’t be.”

He said that the boy appeared to be standing on the wrong side of the safety fence, close to the cliff edge, with the other figure close behind him.

“I also saw something fall,” he added, but said he had not realised it was the boy.

Anthony Stocks allegedly threw a boy off the clifftop, a jury at Oxford Crown Court heard

A passer-by who tried to help, Peter Maxted, said: “This guy [Mr Stocks] walked up to us, he appeared quite calm.”

PC Mark Donnelly gave evidence and his body worn footage was played to the jury.

The boy could be heard groaning in pain in the footage, with paramedics huddled around him.

In the video Mr Stocks can be heard telling someone he had shouted: “Don’t go near the cliff.”

He can also be heard in the video saying: “He was running and he just went over."

The officer said he was surprised by his attitude as “it was quite a peculiar reaction, it was not what I’d expect”.

Mr Stocks is charged with four counts of sexually assaulting a child under 13, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, rape of a child under 13, attempted murder and cruelty to a person under 16.

He denies all the charges and the trial continues.