Architect Mark Bruton-Young and his wife are pictured here following the non guilty verdict at his trial for murder.
During the two week trial at Bristol Crown Court, the jury heard that the accused had trawled the internet for internet for ways to kill a baby, including death by suffocation, poisoning by anti-freeze and ingesting faeces. Lawyers for the defense argued that Bruton-Young had done the searches out of concern for Harriet's safety.
He told the court: ‘I would say I was obsessed by it. I suppose part of me felt it might be sensible to look things up. But the more I looked up the more I found. It fed itself – the more I read about, the more I became concerned. I would never deliberately harm Harriet.’
Prosecution lawyer Paul Dunkels argued: ‘He killed Harriet deliberately because he could not face up to life as a father.
‘It depressed him and drove him to take the life of his baby in a way his sophisticated searches on the internet led him to believe would go undetected.’
Two post-moterms proved inconclusive and the jury of eight men and four women took just 18 hours to acquitt Bruton-Young of the charge of murder.
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