Father killed baby by shaking him in moment of 'pure violence', court hears

A father killed his four-week-old baby by shaking him in a moment of "pure violence", a court has heard.

Atticus Bartlett collapsed at his family home in Chard, Somerset, on 16 July 2022 and died in hospital a week later.

His father, Tony Bartlett, is on trial at Bristol Crown Court charged with murder and manslaughter.

The 39-year-old postman "shook his infant son with force sufficient to kill", prosecution barrister Charles Row KC told the court in his closing speech on Wednesday.

He said the fatal attack on Atticus may have been "over in seconds", adding that Atticus "was killed because this defendant, drunk and frustrated, tragically used unlawful and significant force against his own son".

"This isn't a case about premeditation. It is a case about intent formed at the moment," Mr Row said. "It is about the force that must have been deliberately applied to Atticus.

"The loss of temper and frustration may have been brief. It was almost certainly fuelled by those 8.5 pints of Stella.

"Mr Bartlett shook his infant son with force sufficient to kill him. This wasn't an accident - it wasn't a slip, it wasn't rough handling.

"It was deliberate application of force to a child who could not defend himself. The fact Mr Bartlett was drunk is no excuse."

Bartlett 'less able to control his temper'

During the trial, jurors heard how Bartlett and his partner, Evelyn Ballentyne, had gone to a pub and comedy club for their first evening out since Atticus's birth, while Ms Ballentyne's mother, Rachel Donovan, and her husband watched the baby boy.

Over the course of the evening, Bartlett drank 8.5 pints of beer before returning to the family home with his partner. He was left alone to feed Atticus in the living room while Ms Ballentyne went upstairs to change at about 11pm.

The prosecutor said Atticus was difficult to feed and it could sometimes take up to an hour.

Mr Row said Bartlett "would have been disinhibited, and therefore more cavalier in his handling of Atticus".

"He would have been potentially less tolerant, less patient, less able to control his temper and frustration," he added.

Baby suffered severe internal injuries

While Ms Ballentyne was upstairs, Bartlett allegedly shook Atticus so hard that he caused severe internal injuries to the baby's brain and spinal cord.

The trial heard how Atticus had three rib fractures that could not be attributed to resuscitation efforts.

Giving evidence, Ms Ballentyne told jurors she had come downstairs and heard her baby son, who was lying on his front on Bartlett's legs, making two loud gasps as if he was dying.

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"Mr Bartlett can't admit to himself that when he was drunk, in a moment of pure violence, he did something that he will regret for the rest of his life," Mr Row said.

Emergency services were called to the family home and took Atticus to Musgrove Park Hospital before he was transferred to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, where he died just before midnight on 23 July 2022 after doctors determined his brain damage was so severe that he did not regain consciousness or breathe for himself.

Bartlett, of Axminster, Devon, denies the two charges against him and the trial continues.

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