A stepfather shook his girlfriend‘s one-year-old son to death, he then told the jury he was ‘building a bond’ with the toddler.

Paula Roberts, 41, installed a spy camera hidden under a plant pot in the bedroom to watch over son Charlie, who was allegedly killed by Christopher Stockton four months later.

COURT HEARD

Giving evidence at Teesside Crown Court, Stockton said he was ‘upset and hurt’ that his girlfriend believed he would cover the toddler’s face to keep him quiet as he put him to bed – ‘smothering’ the child.

He told the court he had a disabled son of his own and started a relationship with Roberts after his marriage broke down, and met her children on Charlie’s first birthday.

Asked by his barrister Jamie Hill KC how he found being around the young boy, Stockton said: ‘It was a new experience. I’d never been around a child of that age with my son being in hospital [when he was young].

‘It was a learning curve, I didn’t really know how to look after him properly, but we started to build a bond.’

Asked if he ‘harboured any ill feeling towards’ Charlie, Stockton replied ‘No’, adding that he was ‘usually a well-behaved child’.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

He said his relationship had been ‘rocky’ with Roberts because of her ‘mental health issues’ and ‘mood swings.’

Stockton, 38, denied doing anything to harm the boy, who was photographed with bruises on a number of occasions.

He said his relationship had been ‘rocky’ with Roberts because of her ‘mental health issues’ and ‘mood swings.’

Stockton is accused of murdering 21-month-old Charlie by either shaking him violently or throwing him with force when left alone with him in January.

He rang 999, less than 20 minutes after Roberts left for an early morning optician’s appointment, claiming the youngster was ‘choking’ on a biscuit.

The boy was rushed to hospital but could not be saved. Doctors concluded he died from serious non-accidental head injuries, the court heard.