Man faces court over death of stepson 50 years ago

A MAN murdered his young stepson by swinging him round by the ankles and smashing his head into a fireplace – and then lied about it for 50 years, a court has heard.

David Dearlove, 71, is accused of killing 19-month-old Paul Booth in 1968 after the toddler’s then three-year-old brother Peter claimed he had crept downstairs and witnessed the vicious attack through a crack in a door.

But despite Peter trying to get the police to reopen the investigation on three separate occasions, the case remained closed for five decades.

This changed when, in 2015, Peter became incensed by a picture posted on Facebook of Mr Dearlove, who now lives in Great Yarmouth, holding his younger brother, and as a result he gave an interview to the police.

Prosecutor Richard Wright told Teesside Crown Court there was no doubt that a fractured skull had been the cause of Paul’s death, but the jury needed to decide how it had happened.

Dearlove, who denies murder as well as manslaughter and three charges of cruelty, claimed Paul, from Stockton, fell out of bed and struck his head on the floor.

Mr Wright said: “The police interviewed Peter as a witness for the very first time in 2015; he had not been asked to give any account in 1968. What he said in that interview is what has led us here, 50 years on.

“Peter told the police that the death of Paul was not the result of an accidental fall out of bed. He had in fact seen how Paul came to be injured when he had crept downstairs to get a drink that October night.

“Through a gap in the door into the sitting room he had seen David Dearlove swinging Paul Booth around whilst holding on to his ankles and had watched as his stepfather smashed the little boy’s head into the fire surround.”