Stepfather is jailed for 1968 murder on evidence of a toddler
AN abusive stepfather has been jailed for life for murdering his partner’s 19-month-old son 49 years ago.
David Dearlove, 71, was convicted on the evidence of his victim Paul Booth’s brother Peter, who witnessed the murder as a three-year-old.
Dearlove swung his stepson by his ankles and smashed his head into a metal fireplace on October 1, 1968, but avoided justice until a picture of him and the toddler was posted on Facebook in March 2015.
A lifetime of lies was finally undone when Peter Booth saw the photo and told his family: ‘That b ****** murdered him.’
Dearlove was found guilty of murder yesterday, and three counts of child cruelty against Paul, Peter and their sister Stephanie at their home in Stockton-on-Tees.
He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 13 years for murder and four years for child cruelty, to be served concurrently.
Mr Justice Males told him: ‘You were a young and no doubt immature man. You were also a cruel man and made the lives of those three young children a misery.
‘Paul Booth was particularly vulnerable because of his age and you inflicted cruelty on him over a number of months. Peter Booth has had to live with the memory of what you did to his brother.’
In an emotional statement, the family said: ‘Paul was not given the opportunity to live his life due to the cruel and wicked actions of David Dearlove.
‘This was a man who entered Paul’s life and was supposedly to act as a father figure to Paul… to care for him and look after him. Instead, he ended Paul’s life in the most violent way.’
They added that his actions ‘also destroyed Paul’s memory’ as he was buried in an unmarked grave that was never found.
Dearlove, who was 21 at the time, moved into the family home when he started going out with the children’s mother Carol Booth, also 21, in early 1968.
The former chemical plant worker took every opportunity to traumatise and attack the three children, all aged under four at the time, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Mr Booth, now 53, described how he went downstairs on the night of the murder to get a snack. ‘I went to the door that leads into the front room – it was ajar and I stuck my head through and saw David Dearlove and Paul,’ he said.
‘I could see David Dearlove’s back with his arms outstretched swinging Paul round. He swung round and caught Paul’s head on the fireplace.
‘There was a yelp, a scream, and then my mam came through from the kitchen and I heard her shout, “What is going on?”
‘David Dearlove had hold of Paul on the floor with his hands by his side. I ran back up the stairs.’
He added: ‘I was really scared, I got back into bed and lay there until I went back to sleep. I could remember the sound it made – it was a horrible thud and a yelp.
‘As we grew up it was never discussed. My mother would say, “You don’t know nothing, keep your mouth shut”.’
Members of the jury wept as a doll was smashed against the witness box in a dramatic reconstruction of the murder.
The court heard Mrs Booth relied on Dearlove’s salary to feed her children and refused to confront his crime. The 1968 inquest into Paul’s death recorded an open verdict.
After his mother’s death in April 1991, aged 43, Mr Booth reported the crime to three different police stations but said he was met with a ‘brick wall’ each time.
But on Mother’s Day in 2015, he saw the photo on Facebook, leading to a fresh police investigation.
Dearlove was arrested at his home in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in November 2015.