A controlling dad has been jailed for stabbing his newborn son to death in a fit of jealousy.
Denis Beytula knifed his three-week-old baby boy and then tried to kill his partner because he was jealous of the attention she gave their son, a court heard.
The 27-year-old stabbed baby Andrei as he lay in his Moses basket at the family flat in Wallsend, North Tyneside, in October this year.
When officers came to arrest him after he called 999, Beytula, who had blood on him, told them "I killed them".
His partner Andreea Stefan, 21, had been stabbed six times but survived her injuries. Baby Andrei tragically died in hospital four days after the attack.
The court heard that Beytula was a controlling and coercive influence on his partner, who he got pregnant soon after the couple met at the end of 2018.
Nick Dry, prosecuting, said Beytula became worse during Ms Stefan's pregnancy and once ominously warned her about his unborn son: "If I cannot be a good father to him, he will not live. I gave him life and I will take life."
The new dad did not form a bond with his son and became incensed when the newborn woke him up at night.
Detective Inspector Graeme Dodds who worked on the case, said it was the worst offending he had seen in his 20-year career.
"Denis Beytula is a calculating, manipulative and controlling man, and that control escalated as the months drew on towards the birth of Andrei," he said.
"Basically he was jealous and selfish - jealous of the attention that Andrei needed as a newborn baby boy.
"He saw him not as a son, in a loving fatherly way, he saw him as a rival for Andreea's affections.
"Because of that jealousy and selfishness he killed Andrei and tried to kill Andreea."
Beytula presented himself as someone with a mental illness, the detective said, but psychiatrists examined him and found he had no such condition.
Ms Stefan's victim impact statement, which was read out in court, said Beytula had "shattered [her] whole world".
"I have spent every second of my life since that day looking for reasons that could have made the outcome different," she said.
"I have blamed myself for not breaking up with Denis earlier but only those who have been in a controlling relationship will understand why I stayed.
"He made me feel like I could not find anyone better and that nobody else could be a father to our son. He manipulated me and said everything he did was for love.
"But now I know that what he had for me was not love. Love doesn't try to control you, love doesn't threaten you and love doesn't kill babies.
"While Denis made me a victim, I made myself a survivor."
The day before the murder, Beytula threatened to kill Ms Stefan after she rejected his sexual advances, the court heard.
The next day, the couple had argued over the hairdresser she wanted to use.
Previously, fast food worker Beytula had tried to get his partner a job at the same workplace as him so he could keep a close eye on her, the court was told.
He had also stopped Ms Stefan from going to London to collect an award she had won as a successful manager of a Domino's pizza outlet.
Police and social services were unaware of any concerns about Beytula, as no complaints had been made about his behaviour.
Beytula, who came to this country from Bulgaria around seven years ago, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 23 years at Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday.
Handing down his sentence, Judge Paul Sloan QC told Beytula: "The victim, your newborn son, was particularly vulnerable. The attack occurred in Andrei's own home, which should have provided a place of sanctuary."
