A BOYFRIEND "snapped" and shook his partner's baby to death because she "treated him like a lap dog", a court heard.
James Larkin, 26, suffered a "loss of temper", leaving 11-week-old Christopher Larkin with an “unsurvivable brain injury”, a jury was told.
The court heard that Larkin may have recently discovered that the child was not his and that he and Christopher's mother Laura Ostle, 21, had a "relationship on the edge"
The court also heard that the couple were heard in the back of a police car "getting their story straight", the prosecutor said.
The pair are both standing trial at Sheffield Crown Court – Larkin charged with manslaughter and Ostle with perverting the course of justice.
Dafydd Enoch QC, prosecuting, said: "He was killed by the first defendant James Larkin.
"He died as a result of being violently shaken by James Larkin in a way which caused him fatal internal head injuries."
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The court heard that Larkin does not deny shaking the child, but he says he thought Christopher was unwell and "he shook him in a panic in order to try to revive him".
The jury were told that despite sharing the same surname Larkin was no relation to the baby – who was Laura Ostle's son.
Ostle, 21, was in a relationship with Larkin at the time of the incident, and the court heard the couple had a tempestuous relationship.
Ostle was "domineering, bossy, provocative and aggressive" towards her partner, the court was told.
Dafydd Enoch QC, prosecuting, said: "She treated him like his lap dog and on occasion he would snap.
"Snap he did, we say in the early hours of the sixteenth of September 2014.
"Theirs was, the prosecution say, a relationship on the edge."
The court heard evidence the couple beat each other, and on one occasion Larkin smashed Ostle's sex toys with a hammer.
She treated him like his lap dog and on occasion he would snap
Paramedics were called to the couple's home in Doncaster, South Yorks., on the morning of September 16, 2014, after being phoned by Ostle.
Upon attending they found the baby in cardiac arrest.
Christopher was taken to A&E and then transferred to Sheffield Childrens' Hospital but tragically died on the early hours of the September 18, the court heard.
Mr Enoch told the court this wasn't a case of "mishandling" because Larkin had experience looking after babies and Ostle's children.
The jury heard that Larkin told the police a variety of stories about Christopher's condition.
In his defence statement, Larkin said he thinks he shook the baby for about two seconds in panic, not anger, after fearing he wasn't breathing, buy says he never shook him violently.
A short time before the 999 call was made Ostle appeared to be have been flirtatiously messaging two different men, the prosecutor said.
The jury were told that police found a loose letter on the sofa – a draft of a letter to the mum of Christopher's dad, referring to her pregnancy.
Mr Enoch said: "Larkin said he was aware of the letters and had put them in a box but had not read them.
"If Mr Larkin came across those letters some time on the 16th and learnt for the first time that he was not Christopher's father how do you think he would have reacted?"
Larkin, of Doncaster, South Yorks., denies a charge of manslaughter and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Ostle, also of Doncaster, denies a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
The perverting the course of justice charge relates to texts send by Ostle in the back of the ambulance to Larkin with a view of getting a story straight, the court heard.
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