Man faces 23 year-old child murder charge after sister recalls 'haunting memory'

Kerry Harrison was only three-years-old when she saw Stephen Knox drag her brother up the stairs of their home and then throw him down because he was running around making a noise.

The two-year-old boy died hours later from a brain haemorrhage on December 12, 1986, but Kerry kept the fall secret after Knox allegedly threatened her with the same fate if she told anyone.

An inquest at the time ruled Mark's death at the house on Drayton Road, New Parks, Leicester, was accidental even though investigators could not explain an injury to the back of his head.

It was only after Kerry Harrison, now 26, told her secret to a counsellor in early 2007 that police launched a murder investigation, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Knox, who is unemployed and lives at Ingrow Lane, Keighley, denies murder.

Peter Joyce QC, prosecuting, said: "For years Kerry had been haunted terribly by the memory of her brother's death.

"She was just under three-and-a-half at the time of his death and she recalls that day their mother was taking their older sister Lesley to a concert and Mr Knox had been left to care for her and Mark.

"She recalls Mr Knox hitting Mark which she says was a usual course of conduct. It was about bedtime and Mark was crying.

"The defendant was hitting him and he grabbed him by the arm and dragged him up the stairs.

"When they got to the top Mark was sent down the stairs, pushed, thrown or kicked. He went all the way down to the bottom and was screaming."

Mr Joyce added: "Little Kerry was standing at the foot of the stairs when this happened. It was plain to her that Mr Knox realised she had seen what happened. He then threatened her with: 'If you tell anybody I will do the same to you'."