Man organised elaborate cover-up of daughter's murder, trial hears

Westover Close in Sutton where Ellie Butler died from her injuries. Photograph: Beverley Rouse/PA

A man killed his six-year-old daughter in a “truly disturbing” case which involved sustained violence on a child followed by a coordinated and elaborate cover-up on the day of her death, a jury has heard.

Ellie Butler suffered “devastating” head injuries at the the hands of her father, Ben, including a skull fracture that ran all the way across her head, the prosecution said in opening the trial at the Old Bailey on Tuesday.

Edward Brown QC said the fractures to Ellie’s skull were the result of “really significant force”.

He said evidence would show there were underlying brain and eye injuries, and bruises consistent with fingers gripping under the child’s jaw.

There was also evidence that in the weeks leading up to her death Ellie suffered a broken shoulder for which no medical treatment had been sought.

Butler, a househusband, was at home in Sutton, south London, with Ellie and another child on the day she died in October 2013.

He called his partner, graphic designer Jennie Gray, when Ellie was fatally injured but instead of calling 999 she helped her domineering husband orchestrate a “carefully coordinated and elaborate” cover-up, Brown said. The couple allegedly only called 999 two hours after Ellie was wounded.

Butler is on trial for murdering his daughter, while he and Gray are accused of child cruelty. Both deny the charges.

Brown told jurors they would hear “truly disturbing” evidence about what happened in the Butler household in the weeks and months leading up to the killing.

“Ben Butler was an angry and violent man with a short fuse,” he said. “The makeup of the man dominated his and his family’s domestic life. The evidence will demonstrate him to be consistently teetering on the edge of a violent loss of temper.”

When paramedics arrived they found Ellie lying supine on her bedroom floor next to an overturned stool by the wardrobe, where the parents said they found her.

Brown said that in the two hours after the killing, Butler put on an act of normality as he tried to get rid of evidence.

Clothes were put in the wash, Butler dumped documents in a communal bin and the couple sent texts in an attempt to appear normal while all the time Ellie lay dead, the court heard.

The trial continues.