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Ellie Butler was unlawfully killed, inquest rules Ellie Butler's grandfather says authorities have 'blood on their hands'
(about 1 hour later)
The action or inaction of agencies involved in the case of the murdered six-year-old Ellie Butler cannot be said to have “possibly or probably” contributed to her death, a coroner has ruled. The authorities responsible for handling the case of six-year-old Ellie Butler have “blood on their hands”, her grandfather has said, after an inquest found that their mistakes had not led to her 2013 murder.
Ellie, who was beaten to death by her father, Ben, in 2013, was unlawfully killed, an inquest has formally determined. Ellie was beaten to death at her home in Sutton, south London, by her father, Ben Butler, less than a year after she was returned to her parents following a custody battle. She had been placed in the care of her grandparents as a baby after her father had been convicted of shaking her.
She was placed in the care of her grandparents as a baby after her father had been accused of shaking her. The local authority had circulated a letter exonerating Butler after his previous conviction was quashed by the court of appeal.
She was returned to the care of Butler, and her mother, Jennie Gray, in 2012 after a ruling by Mrs Justice Hogg in the family division of the high court. In October the following year, Ellie was battered to death at the family home in Sutton, south London. Butler was convicted of Ellie’s murder in June 2016 and jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years. One social worker involved in her case said: “Ellie was let down by the entire system”.
Butler was convicted of her murder in June 2016 and jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years. On Wednesday an inquest formally determined that she was unlawfully killed. But coroner Dame Linda Dobbs said the action or inaction of agencies that had been involved in her case could not be said to have “possibly or probably” contributed to her death.
Gray was given a 42-month jail term after being found guilty of child cruelty. She had admitted perverting the course of justice. Speaking at a press conference after the ruling at South London coroner’s court, Ellie’s grandfather Neal Gray – whose daughter Jennie admitted perverting the course of justice by helping to cover-up Ellie’s murder – expressed his disappointment at the ruling.
The inquest’s scope covered the period from 6 July 2012 – the date of Hogg’s decision – until Ellie’s death on 28 October 2013. It was examining whether there were failures by the authorities with regard to Ellie’s murder, including the sharing of information, cooperation and communication between organisations. “I believe the agencies involved with Ellie’s care have blood on their hands,” he said. “They were not called to account in the coroner’s conclusions despite the fact that they accepted they had let Ellie down.”
It was not examining the family court ruling that had returned the schoolgirl to her abusive father. Gray said he would like to take the case further following discussions with his lawyers. “My concern is that this could happen again to another child.”
Formally concluding the inquest with a 30-minute ruling, Dame Linda Dobbs said Ellie had been unlawfully killed, having suffered fatal head injuries caused by her father. While Dobbs said the errors of agenciesinvolved with Ellie’s case were not responsible for her death, she said she would send a report to relevant parts of government recommending a series of changes.
Dobbs said at the South London coroner’s court: “Despite various failings which have been highlighted in the SCR [Services for Children] report and which will be addressed in a PFD [Prevent Future Deaths] report, on the evidence I am unable to conclude that any acts or omissions by the relevant agencies possibly or probably contributed to the death of Ellie.” Despite the outcome of the inquest, social services and Sutton council acknowledged a series of mistakes made during Ellie’s short life.
Ellie’s grandparents Neal and Linda Gray did not want her to return to her parents because of concerns about her welfare. But after a court quashed Butler’s conviction for violently shaking her when she was a baby, they regained custody.
In 2013, Butler beat Ellie to death in a violent rage when alone at home with her. Jennie Gray later admitted that she had played a role in trying to make it appear that Ellie died two hours later than she really had, and was sentenced to 42 months in jail. The couple maintain her death was the result of an accident.
The private social workers in charge of assessing Ellie for return to her parents, Services for Children (S4C), admitted during the inquest that they were part of a system that failed her.
In her evidence Catherine Harris of S4C said: “I think with the benefit of hindsight Ellie was let down by the entire system and S4C was part of that system.” Her colleague Steve Atherton, who was also involved in the assessment and return of Ellie to her parents, echoed Harris’s sentiments.
Harris accepted that more emphasis should have been placed on Ellie’s attachment to her grandparents, that at times there was a loss of focus on Ellie and that coordination between the different agencies involved in Ellie’s care could have been better.
Harris said that Butler could get “quite heated” and while she never felt threatened by him she was aware that others did. She said that prior to Ellie’s return to her parents despite Butler’s volatility, “I wasn’t concerned about the risk to Ellie”.
Not all the professionals concurred about Butler and Gray’s suitability as parents. Some, including Sutton council, Ellie’s head teacher and her paediatrician, raised the alarm about her return to her parents but that ultimately it was social workers from S4C who were tasked with assessing Ellie for return and managing the handover gave the green light for the reunion.
The inquest also highlighted a letter sent by the local authority on the instruction of Dame Mary Hogg, the family court judge who returned Ellie to her parents, that she ordered be circulated to 38 different organisations involved in the child’s care. The letter exonerated Butler after his conviction for harming Ellie when she was six months old was quashed by the court of appeal.
The letter states that Butler was a victim of a miscarriage of justice, that he had never caused any harm to Ellie and that in fact there was an “innocent explanation” for his daughter’s injuries.
This kind of letter, not the norm in the family court, was all the more extraordinary because Butler had convictions for 20 separate offences, including for violence, and a psychiatrist had written a report warning that he posed a danger to children.
At the inquest, Neal Gray spoke of how he adored Ellie. His evidence focused on Ellie as a person, her needs, her happiness and her fears of returning to her parents. He and his late wife Linda fought to keep her with them. Linda died of cancer on the first day of Ben Butler’s murder trial in April 2016; she had been trying to hang on to see justice done. Neal Gray told the inquest he hopes its findings will lead to changes that will protect other children.
“Her death cannot have been in vain,” he said.
Neal Gray told the court that in many of the handful of times he and his wife Linda saw Ellie after she returned to her parents she asked when she could “come home” to her grandparents. He also noted the deterioration in Ellie. “It was devastating to see the change in our beautiful Ellie,” he said. “Her appearance changed. She had grown thin and gaunt. She had sunken eyes and dirty, matted hair.”
He condemned both Butler and his daughter Jennie Gray. “I suggest Jennie was just as culpable as she stood by and watched that brutal maniac inflict unimaginable injuries.”
The parents of Ellie Butler dominated proceedings at South London coroner’s court despite not being physically present. Both observed the inquest by video link, frequently interjected despite being warned not to by Dobbs and protested petulantly about evidence they objected to or disagreed with.
It appeared from the couple’s evidence and their frequent conversations with each other via videolink that their relationship is continuing. Gray defended Butler, praising his parenting skills and acting as apologist for the highly abusive text messages he sent her before Ellie was murdered. Butler said he had treated Gray badly and that he probably should have left the relationship.
Christine Davies, independent chairwoman of the Sutton Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB), insisted that despite the coroner’s verdict important lessons would be taken from the case.
“This was an exceptionally unusual case and an overwhelming one for those involved,” she said. “Over the past two years, the main agencies in Sutton responsible for children’s welfare have worked hard to learn the lessons from Ellie’s death and put in place measures to ensure, as far as possible, such a tragedy never occurs again.”
But childcare professionals and lawyers who gathered for the inquest remarked on its many unusual features. Unlike in many tragic cases where small children spend all of their short lives being neglected and abused before being murdered by their parents, Ellie was removed from a secure, safe and loving home with her grandparents where she had spent almost her entire life, into violent surroundings with parents she barely knew.
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