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| Ben Butler jailed for life for murdering six-year-old daughter Ellie | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| An abusive father with a criminal past has been jailed for life for the murder of his six-year-old daughter 11 months after he convinced the high court to return her to his care. | |
| Ben Butler, 36, was convicted on Tuesday of murdering Ellie, who was found dead in October 2013 in the family home in Sutton, south-west London. She had suffered fatal injuries similar to those inflicted in a high-speed car accident. Butler was told to serve a minimum of 23 years. | |
| Jennie Gray, the girl’s mother and Butler’s partner, was convicted of child cruelty in relation to an untreated broken shoulder their daughter suffered weeks before she died. | Jennie Gray, the girl’s mother and Butler’s partner, was convicted of child cruelty in relation to an untreated broken shoulder their daughter suffered weeks before she died. |
| The 36-year-old had already pleaded guilty to covering up her daughter’s death and perverting the course of justice to “save the skin” of her violent and aggressive partner. She was jailed for 42 months. | |
| Related: Ellie Butler murder: how the case unfolded | Related: Ellie Butler murder: how the case unfolded |
| In a unanimous decision, the jurors sided with the prosecution, who said unemployed Butler “consistently teetered on the edge of a violent loss of temper” and had killed Ellie in a fit of rage when minding her alone at home. | In a unanimous decision, the jurors sided with the prosecution, who said unemployed Butler “consistently teetered on the edge of a violent loss of temper” and had killed Ellie in a fit of rage when minding her alone at home. |
| Butler mumbled angrily as the verdicts were returned. Gray said: “Big mistake, big mistake, big mistake.” | Butler mumbled angrily as the verdicts were returned. Gray said: “Big mistake, big mistake, big mistake.” |
| Butler, who was holding a bible that Gray has brought to court every day, did not stand up when the verdicts were returned. | |
| After the verdicts, Butler’s lawyer Di Middleton had asked for sentencing at the Old Bailey to be adjourned. But Butler shouted out: “Di, I want to be sentenced now. There is no need – you can sentence me now so I can fight in the appeal court and prove this wrong. I will fight forever to prove this wrong.” | |
| Butler’s effort to regain custody of Ellie had included an extraordinary press campaign by the former PR guru Max Clifford and was successful in spite of warnings from the child’s grandfather and the local council. | Butler’s effort to regain custody of Ellie had included an extraordinary press campaign by the former PR guru Max Clifford and was successful in spite of warnings from the child’s grandfather and the local council. |
| Neal Gray, 70, who had cared for Ellie since she was 10 weeks old, spent all of his £70,000 savings fighting Butler in the courts. It can be reported for the first time that he warned Mrs Justice Hogg, the high court judge who ruled on returning Ellie to her father in 2012, that she would have “blood on her hands” if she did so. | Neal Gray, 70, who had cared for Ellie since she was 10 weeks old, spent all of his £70,000 savings fighting Butler in the courts. It can be reported for the first time that he warned Mrs Justice Hogg, the high court judge who ruled on returning Ellie to her father in 2012, that she would have “blood on her hands” if she did so. |
| “My words have come true,” Gray said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian during the trial. | “My words have come true,” Gray said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian during the trial. |
| Following a high court application by the media for the release of family court judgments related to the case, it emerged that the high court judge Mrs Justice King concluded in 2014 that “Ellie died as a result of the father either hitting her on the back of the head with the leg of a child’s table, or swinging her with such violence that her head came so forcefully into contact with the table leg … and she sustained the skull fracture”. | Following a high court application by the media for the release of family court judgments related to the case, it emerged that the high court judge Mrs Justice King concluded in 2014 that “Ellie died as a result of the father either hitting her on the back of the head with the leg of a child’s table, or swinging her with such violence that her head came so forcefully into contact with the table leg … and she sustained the skull fracture”. |
| Ellie was killed by Butler in what the prosecution described as a “truly disturbing” case. With the help of his partner, he then attempted to hide his crime. Staging an elaborate and calculated cover-up, the pair put potentially contaminated clothes in the wash and dumped Gray’s torn-up diary, which exposed the “toxic” atmosphere in the house and their abusive relationship. He took the dog for a walk, trying to appear normal and smiling at neighbours while she texted work to say she would not return to the office because she was ill. | Ellie was killed by Butler in what the prosecution described as a “truly disturbing” case. With the help of his partner, he then attempted to hide his crime. Staging an elaborate and calculated cover-up, the pair put potentially contaminated clothes in the wash and dumped Gray’s torn-up diary, which exposed the “toxic” atmosphere in the house and their abusive relationship. He took the dog for a walk, trying to appear normal and smiling at neighbours while she texted work to say she would not return to the office because she was ill. |
| It can now be reported for the first time that as part of their “cynical” cover-up, the couple set up a younger sibling who was in the house at the time of the murder to “discover” her body in her bedroom before calling an ambulance two hours after Ellie had been found unconscious. | It can now be reported for the first time that as part of their “cynical” cover-up, the couple set up a younger sibling who was in the house at the time of the murder to “discover” her body in her bedroom before calling an ambulance two hours after Ellie had been found unconscious. |
| Butler was jailed for 19 months for assaulting Ellie in 2007, when she was seven weeks old, but the conviction was overturned in 2010 following a judge’s assessment of new scientific research on shaken baby syndrome. | Butler was jailed for 19 months for assaulting Ellie in 2007, when she was seven weeks old, but the conviction was overturned in 2010 following a judge’s assessment of new scientific research on shaken baby syndrome. |
| In a reverse of past tragedies such as the death of Baby P, the local authority, the London borough of Sutton, fought all the way to the high court to stop Ellie being returned to Butler and Gray despite his quashed conviction. | In a reverse of past tragedies such as the death of Baby P, the local authority, the London borough of Sutton, fought all the way to the high court to stop Ellie being returned to Butler and Gray despite his quashed conviction. |
| But Ellie was ultimately returned following a ruling in November 2012, when the then Mrs Justice Hogg declared Butler “exonerated”, adding it was “a joy” to see such a “happy ending”. She retired six days before the murder trial started, seven months earlier than expected. | But Ellie was ultimately returned following a ruling in November 2012, when the then Mrs Justice Hogg declared Butler “exonerated”, adding it was “a joy” to see such a “happy ending”. She retired six days before the murder trial started, seven months earlier than expected. |
| Responding to the verdicts on Tuesday, Neal Gray said: “Today’s verdict is fantastic news … the tragedy is that none of this will bring our beloved granddaughter Ellie back to us.” | |
| In a joint statement written before the trial, he and his wife, Linda, had described their devastation at Ellie’s death, saying: “She was our shining light.” | |
| Linda died on the first day of the murder trial and Neal was understood to be too ill to give evidence. But the earlier statement recorded their pain at losing Ellie, saying: “Our lives have changed so dramatically due to the impact and shock and horror of this event that we struggle every day to deal with the reality of the death of our dear granddaughter Ellie. She was our shining light. | |
| “Ellie was a very beautiful, bubbly and intelligent little girl who always had a smile on her face, and even at such a young age she was nobody’s fool. She was our life and she gave so much pleasure to us and our family too; how we all miss her.” | |
| They added: “We have difficulty facing people and people have difficulty facing us and visiting our home. It affects our everyday lives. It was such a great privilege and pleasure to have been Ellie’s grandparents and to be able to have loved her in her short life.” | |
| The couple did not directly refer to their daughter or Butler but they said: “We did not realise that some people could be so wicked in life.” | |
| The investigating officer, Det Insp Dave Reid, said: “Butler and Gray set about orchestrating a set of lies to blame everyone but themselves for Ellie’s murder and the events leading up to it. They lied throughout the investigation and continued making outlandish accusations against a variety of people and organisations throughout their trial at the Old Bailey. However, investigating Ellie’s murder and tragic story meant detectives gathered a huge amount of harrowing evidence that proved Butler did indeed kill Ellie and Gray helped him cover it up. | The investigating officer, Det Insp Dave Reid, said: “Butler and Gray set about orchestrating a set of lies to blame everyone but themselves for Ellie’s murder and the events leading up to it. They lied throughout the investigation and continued making outlandish accusations against a variety of people and organisations throughout their trial at the Old Bailey. However, investigating Ellie’s murder and tragic story meant detectives gathered a huge amount of harrowing evidence that proved Butler did indeed kill Ellie and Gray helped him cover it up. |
| Related: Ben Butler, the violent criminal who posed as a doting family man | |
| “Whilst their convictions today will bring little comfort to Ellie’s beloved grandparents with whom she lived for the majority of her short life, or to all those who loved her, I hope they will go some little way to assuring them justice has now been achieved.” | “Whilst their convictions today will bring little comfort to Ellie’s beloved grandparents with whom she lived for the majority of her short life, or to all those who loved her, I hope they will go some little way to assuring them justice has now been achieved.” |
| Based on pathologists’ evidence, prosecutors said Ellie was possibly thrown into a wall or to the ground by Butler, suffering multiple fractures to the head along with thoracic bleeding. Butler, then an unemployed removals man, who has a string of convictions – including assault on a former girlfriend – denied throughout the trial that he was responsible for Ellie’s death. | Based on pathologists’ evidence, prosecutors said Ellie was possibly thrown into a wall or to the ground by Butler, suffering multiple fractures to the head along with thoracic bleeding. Butler, then an unemployed removals man, who has a string of convictions – including assault on a former girlfriend – denied throughout the trial that he was responsible for Ellie’s death. |
| Butler told jurors he had found Ellie unconscious in her bedroom at about 12.45pm on 28 October 2013, but that he had gone into shock and went downstairs to lie on the floor to recover. He summoned his on-off girlfriend home from work and she agreed not to phone 999 because, they claimed, they feared they would be blamed because of his 2007 conviction. | Butler told jurors he had found Ellie unconscious in her bedroom at about 12.45pm on 28 October 2013, but that he had gone into shock and went downstairs to lie on the floor to recover. He summoned his on-off girlfriend home from work and she agreed not to phone 999 because, they claimed, they feared they would be blamed because of his 2007 conviction. |
| But over 10 weeks, jurors heard how the “toxic and dysfunctional” relationship had descended into extreme verbal, and probably physical, abuse before culminating in the brutal murder of a six-year-old girl. | But over 10 weeks, jurors heard how the “toxic and dysfunctional” relationship had descended into extreme verbal, and probably physical, abuse before culminating in the brutal murder of a six-year-old girl. |
| The jury was shown examples from three months of abusive texts, in which Butler called Gray a “stupid useless cunt” a “fat, disg[usting] dog bitch cunt” and a “dog whore”. He told her he was “disgusted” when she got pregnant and frequently told her he “hated” her or that she was “finished”. | The jury was shown examples from three months of abusive texts, in which Butler called Gray a “stupid useless cunt” a “fat, disg[usting] dog bitch cunt” and a “dog whore”. He told her he was “disgusted” when she got pregnant and frequently told her he “hated” her or that she was “finished”. |
| She would respond by telling him she loved him and would put him before everyone, including the children. In one, she said she would “rather jump off a skyscraper” than disturb his sleep. Throughout the trial and police investigation, Gray denied she was a victim of domestic violence, despite diary entries in which she prayed for a “magic spell” to make Butler love her and texts begging him not to beat her. | She would respond by telling him she loved him and would put him before everyone, including the children. In one, she said she would “rather jump off a skyscraper” than disturb his sleep. Throughout the trial and police investigation, Gray denied she was a victim of domestic violence, despite diary entries in which she prayed for a “magic spell” to make Butler love her and texts begging him not to beat her. |
| But in the end the jury sided with the prosecution, who accused her of being a “skilful and prolific liar” who would do or say anything to protect Butler. | But in the end the jury sided with the prosecution, who accused her of being a “skilful and prolific liar” who would do or say anything to protect Butler. |
| A serious case review is expected to be released later on Tuesday. | A serious case review is expected to be released later on Tuesday. |