Ben Butler guilty: Killer father sobs as he is jailed for life after murdering six-year-old daughter

Jailed: Ben Butler has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering his six-year-old daughter
Metropolitan Police
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Killer father Ben Butler sobbed and continued to protest his innocence as he was jailed for a minimum of 23 years of a life sentence for beating to death his six-year-old daughter.

Mr Justice Wilkie said the 36-year-old was guilty of “wickedness” and “a cynicism and selfishness on an almost unbelievable level” for the way he tried to cover up his involvement in young Ellie’s death.

Butler inflicted severe head and brain injuries on his daughter on October 28 2013, but instead of calling 999 he enlisted partner Jennie Gray, 36, and tried to make it look accidental.

As he was jailed today, a weeping Butler shook his head repeatedly and insisted that the jury had not been shown evidence proving he was innocent.

Murdered: Six-year-old Ellie Butler
Metropolitan Police

But the judge told him: “It is not the case of an otherwise good parent who in a moment of exhausted frustration gave way to a bad tempered assault.

“I’m satisfied having conducted the trial and observed you closely, you were very far from being a good parent.

“You are self-absorbed, ill-tempered, violent and domineering, and man who regarded your child and your partner as trophies, having no role other than to fit in with your infantile and sentimentalised view of family life, with you as the patriarch, whose every whim was to be catered for.”

The judge warned that Butler may never be fit for release from prison, and said he was sure that the stay-at-home father had inflicted other injuries on Ellie in the months before she was killed including a badly wounded shoulder.

He said Gray was “naïve and stupid” for agreeing to go along with Butler’s plot to cover up the crime, but said she had carried out the plan and lied for months to police, her solicitors and to the jury.

“You played a full part in the grotesque charade that was the 999 call, while subjecting your dead daughter to the indignity of pointless CPR when you well knew she had been dead for over two hours”, he said.

The court heard today during mitigation that Gray’s mother died on April 19, but she was not told until today after the guilty verdicts had been delivered.

Ellie Butler with her mother Jennie Gray
pa

Her estranged father had deliberately kept the news from her, instructing police to pass her a note only after the trial had concluded.

Gray sobbed uncontrollably in the dock as she was jailed for 42 months by the judge for perverting the course of justice and child cruelty. Leaving the dock, she said: “We will be back and we will hear the truth.”

Her barrister in mitigation told the court he had been instructed not to say anything to harm Butler’s case, but he urged the judge to see from the trial evidence that Butler was abusive and controlling.

Following today’s verdicts, Ellie’s maternal grandparents issued a statement describing the six-year-old as “our shining light".

The couple had cared for Ellie after her father Ben Butler was accused of shaking her as a baby, but they were forced to hand her back 11 months before her death.

"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”, they said in a statement.

Ellie Butler with her killer father
Metropolitan Police

"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."

The couple went on: "Local people, some of whom we did not even know, came to express their sadness upon hearing of her death and we received over a hundred messages of sympathy. This gave us great comfort in our time of mourning. Ellie had many friends in school and the community all of whom were totally grief-stricken.

"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. This goes for our family and friends too."

Gray will serve half her sentence and then be released on licence.

Butler will serve at least 23 year behind bars and has already indicated he will mount an appeal, asking for the evidence at the trial to be fully preserved.

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