A 36-year-old man Ben Butler beat his 6 year old
daughter, Ellie to death. He has been sentenced
to 23 years imprisonment in what has been
termed one of the ‘worst ever cases of domestic
violence’ after Little Ellie was found dead on her
bedroom floor in 2013 with ‘catastrophic head
injuries’ more commonly associated with car
crash victims.
daughter, Ellie to death. He has been sentenced
to 23 years imprisonment in what has been
termed one of the ‘worst ever cases of domestic
violence’ after Little Ellie was found dead on her
bedroom floor in 2013 with ‘catastrophic head
injuries’ more commonly associated with car
crash victims.
Ben Butler shouted at a judge from the dock of
the Old Bailey yesterday as he was led away to
start a minimum 23-year jail sentence after it
was found that he was a bullying and cruel stay-
at-home dad and Ellie’s mum Jennie Gray, 36,
was also convicted of child cruelty and jailed for
three and a half years, having already admitted
perverting the course of justice.
the Old Bailey yesterday as he was led away to
start a minimum 23-year jail sentence after it
was found that he was a bullying and cruel stay-
at-home dad and Ellie’s mum Jennie Gray, 36,
was also convicted of child cruelty and jailed for
three and a half years, having already admitted
perverting the course of justice.
Sentencing Butler, senior judge Mr Justice Wilkie
said: ‘I am satisfied, having conducted this trial
and having observed you closely for in excess of
two months that you were very far from being a
good parent.
‘You were a self-absorbed, ill-tempered,
domineering man who regarded your children and
partner as trophies, having no role other than to
fit in with your infantile and sentimentalized view
of family life, with you as the patriarch, whose
every whim was to be catered for.’
‘You murdered her in a brutal assault prompted
by your evil temper.
‘You struck her head so hard against a flat
surface, or hit her so hard on the head with a
blunt implement that, whether you hit her once or
more than once, you inflicted catastrophic skull
and brain injuries from which she very quickly
died.’
‘Within weeks, you were complaining in vilely
abusive and self pitying terms of your lot and
were taking out your inadequacies on your
partner, violently and vilely, both physically and
verbally.
‘Within a year Ellie was dead having suffered a
series of injuries, some serious, in the last few
weeks of her life.
‘I am satisfied that from, at the latest, late
summer 2013, you subjected Ellie to a series of
physical attacks, when she was in your sole care,
in which she sustained injuries for none of which
you sought medical attention.
‘You lied to Jennie Gray about how she came by
these injuries and she, totally beholden to and
dominated by you, felt she had no option but to
believe you and collude in your ill treatment of
her.’
Medical experts have described the incident as
one of the worst cases of violence in a domestic
setting.
Butler had claimed Ellie sustained the horrific
injuries when she hit her head as she was
jumping up and down in her bedroom while
watching Peppa Pig.
But prosecutors insisted Ellie’s injuries were too
‘extreme’ and ‘catastrophic’ to have been caused
by an accidental fall.
The back of Ellie’s head was a ‘boggy mass’,
the court heard, and a post-mortem examination
attributed her death to Butler either beating her
over the head with a heavy object or throwing her
against the floor or wall.
‘All of this took some two hours during all of
which you left your dead daughter lying
unattended on her bedroom floor like a carefully
placed prop in a stage scene,’ said the judge.
‘Your performance in the 999 call was not only
breathtaking in its level of deceit, but your cruel
disregard for any dignity to be afforded Ellie,
lying there dead, is evidenced by her body being
subjected repeatedly to CPR by Jennie Gray.’
Ten days before Ellie’s death, her mother, Gray,
turned up at work with a large injury on her
forehead, claiming she had slipped on some
steps the previous evening.
Ms Gray added: ‘Ben was not violent to me and
he certainly was not violent to my daughter and I
maintain that 100 per cent.’
Police also analysed a series of text messages
between the pair in which Butler called Gray a
‘dog w****’, ‘a snake’, a ‘fat loser’ and an ‘ugly
b****’ and warned her: ‘Stay out my way.’
In a particularly vile rant, Butler – who admitted
in court that finding out about Gray’s pregnancy
with Ellie was the ‘kiss of death’ – lambasted
Gray for falling pregnant. She later sought
counselling after having an abortion.
The message said: ‘Im disg that ur preg again
and think its irresponsible and shocking…had
engh of ur weight and looks..and the trble you
bring.
‘The weight you whacked on its quite amazing
and im sick of it… no baby just massive and I
just want out of this.’
But Gray continually tried to appease her partner,
texting him messages such as: ‘I luv U and want
U’. Another sent in August said: ‘Just so U know
– I am obsessed and in awe of U!
Source: Daily Mail UK
