Tony Bartlett, a 39-year-old father from Devon, is on trial for murder and manslaughter after allegedly killing his four-week-old son, Atticus, in a moment of "pure violence" in July 2022, Bristol Crown Court heard. The prosecution contends that after a night of drinking, Bartlett shook the infant with fatal force while feeding him at their Chard, Somerset home.

During closing speeches, prosecutors argued that Bartlett’s frustration was heavily fueled by drinking eight and a half pints of beer, which dismantled his patience and self-control. They called the incident a deliberate application of fatal force against a completely defenseless child, rather than an accident or a case of rough handling. Bartlett adamantly denies both charges, maintaining his innocence and pointing blame at the mother. He claimed to the jury that alcohol does not affect his temper, declaring that if he had committed the crime, he would have confessed from the very beginning.