![\"General](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0_Edward-Colston-Statue-Court-Case-Comes-To-An-End.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe mother cried in court as she told the court about that night<\/p>\n
General view of Bristol Crown Court(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
A mother wept in court as she described coming downstairs to find her four-week-old baby floppy and grey in colour.<\/p>\n
Atticus Bartlett died in hospital after collapsing at the family home in Chard, on July 16 2022.<\/p>\n
His mother, Evelyn Ballentyne, gave evidence in the trial of Atticus\u2019s father Tony Bartlett at Bristol Crown Court.<\/p>\n
Bartlett, 39, denies charges of murder and manslaughter relating to the death of Atticus, who died from brain injuries.<\/p>\n
It is alleged that Bartlett, who was working as a postman, shook Atticus violently while alone with him.<\/p>\n
Ms Ballentyne told the jury how she came downstairs and heard Atticus making \u201ctwo gasping noises\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have ever watched someone pass away, towards the end of their life, they make funny noises and that\u2019s what he did,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI then stared at Atticus for a couple of seconds and you could just tell that he had gone grey. He was dead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if I said \u2018he\u2019s dead\u2019 or \u2018he\u2019s not breathing\u2019. I screamed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Ballentyne said Atticus had been lying face down on his father\u2019s knees and Bartlett \u201cflipped\u201d him over.<\/p>\n
\u201cAtticus\u2019s head just flopped back, he wasn\u2019t alive,\u201d she told the court.<\/p>\n
She wept as she recalled how Atticus\u2019s body was floppy as he was moved on to his back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just screamed and ran out of the house,\u201d Ms Ballentyne said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I rang 999 but I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prosecuting, Charles Row KC asked Ms Ballentyne how many times she had thought about what happened that night.<\/p>\n
She wept and replied: \u201cAll the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court heard Ms Ballentyne previously gave accounts that she had picked Atticus up and gently shaken him to revive him.<\/p>\n
However, Ms Ballentyne told the jury this was not the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy memory is very clear now of that night,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Representing Bartlett, Nigel Power KC suggested Ms Ballentyne had sought to \u201cminimise\u201d her actions \u2013 which she denied.<\/p>\n
He asked her: \u201cTony didn\u2019t do anything to harm Atticus, did he?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Ballentyne replied: \u201cYes he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atticus had been cared for by his grandmother, Rachel Donovan and her husband Andrew, earlier in the evening, while Bartlett and Ms Ballentyne went to a pub and comedy club.<\/p>\n
Mr Row previously told the jury that Bartlett had consumed up to nine pints of beer and was left to feed Atticus while his partner went upstairs to change at about 11pm.<\/p>\n
He alleged that while Ms Ballentyne was upstairs, Bartlett violently shook Atticus so hard he caused severe internal injuries to his brain and spinal cord.<\/p>\n
Several of Atticus\u2019s ribs were also cracked, Mr Row told the jury.<\/p>\n
After Ms Ballentyne raised the alarm, neighbours and paramedics attended the property.<\/p>\n
Atticus was taken to Musgrove Park Hospital by ambulance and later transferred to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.<\/p>\n
However, his brain damage was so severe that Atticus never breathed for himself again and did not regain consciousness.<\/p>\n
He died just before midnight on July 23 2022.<\/p>\n
Bartlett, of Axminster, Devon, denies the two charges against him and the trial continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mother cried in court as she told the court about that night General view of Bristol Crown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[30606,141,5,6],"class_list":["post-64524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-chard","tag-courts","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116762601238701539","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}