Father convicted of murdering four week old son in Somerset

A father has been found guilty of murdering his four-week-old son by violently shaking him at their family home in Chard, Somerset, following a night out. Tony Bartlett, 39, was convicted by a jury at Bristol Crown Court on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, after a four-week trial. His son, Atticus, died in a hospital on July 23, 2022, a week after sustaining catastrophic injuries.

The court heard that Bartlett and the child's mother, Evelyn Ballentyne, had spent the evening of July 16, 2022, at a pub and comedy club while Ballentyne's parents babysat. Prosecutors said Bartlett consumed approximately eight and a half pints of beer before returning home just before 11 p.m. Shortly after, Ballentyne went upstairs, leaving Bartlett alone with Atticus on a sofa downstairs. When she returned minutes later, she found the baby limp, grey, and struggling to breathe. She immediately called emergency services, telling the operator her baby was not breathing. Neighbors attempted CPR before paramedics arrived.

Atticus was rushed to Musgrove Park Hospital and later transferred to Bristol Royal Infirmary. Medical experts testified that the infant suffered severe trauma to his brain and spinal cord,...