A rapist who threw a boy off a cliff to try and cover up his offences has been jailed for life, serving a minimum of 19 and a half years.
Anthony Stocks tried to kill a young boy who had found out he had raped a girl, a trial at Oxford Crown Court heard.
The 54-year-old devised a plan to kill him after the child had tried to stop him assaulting the girl.
Stocks pushed the boy off a cliff, but miraculously he survived the 30m (100ft) fall.
The boy still suffers from ongoing issues as a result of the attempted murder.
The fall was initially thought to be an accident, but Stocks’ crimes were uncovered during an investigation.
Stocks, who is from Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, was found guilty by unanimous jury verdict 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.
One of the police officers who worked on the joint investigation between Thames Valley and Sussex Police labelled it “one of the worst cases I have dealt with”.
Stocks had previously taken the boy to an Oxfordshire quarry with a plan to push him from the edge, but changed his mind, Thames Valley Police said.
On 24 September 2022, Stocks took the boy to see Chelsea Football Club, before heading to Brighton and the cliffs at Ovingdean, where he pushed him.
Stocks was later arrested in November 2023.
During the investigation, police found he had raped and sexually assaulted a girl multiple times from 2019 to 2022, when he was staying at an address in east Oxfordshire.
The girl had confided in the boy about the abuse and when he tried to intervene, putting himself in the way of Stocks to try and stop him, the rapist began planning to kill him – and told the girl his plan.
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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, 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.”
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She added that the case had been one of the worst she had ever dealt with, but that both victims were moving on with their lives “magnificently”.
Detective Inspector Matt Stevens, of Sussex Police, said: “Anthony Stocks’ calculated offending betrayed the trust of two young people.
“Both victims must now live with the impact of Stocks’ 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 24 September 2022 was also extremely alarming for residents of Ovingdean and the wider community.
“It was a miracle it did not end in more tragic circumstances.”