‘You killed her’ QC tells father accused of battering daughter to death

A dad accused of battering his six-year-old daughter to death blamed the emergency operator for delaying in a 999 call made two hours after he killed her, a court heard.

Ben Butler, 36, told jurors he shut the door and went for a lie down after ‘finding’ Ellie dead or dying at their home in Sutton, south London.

The little girl died of car crash-type injuries on 28 October 2013 just 11 months after being returned to her parents following the quashing of Butler’s conviction for violently shaking her when she was a baby.

Butler said he and partner, Jennie Gray, 36, who he called home from work, then ‘covered up’ his mistakes of not watching Ellie or calling for help, fearing he would be blamed for his daughter’s untimely death.

But despite only making the call at 2.46pm, Butler claimed the emotions in the 15-minute 999 call were real.

Jurors were today (WED) again played the harrowing recording in which Butler and Gray screamed for an ambulance.

Much of the frantic phone call is hard to make out as the couple shout at the operator for help.

Gray is heard to say: ‘Listen to me now. My daughter’s not breathing properly, she’s collapsed, she’s not moving and I have to get an ambulance.’

After the operator asks if she is breathing, Gray responds: ‘She’s not breathing, she’s trying to breathe. What do I do know?’

Butler can be heard to say: ‘I just come upstairs, my little girl has fallen down…and she’s laying there, she’s always falling.’

As the operator gives instructions, Butler shouts: ‘What happened? Tell me. What happened? What happened?’

Gray can then be heard counting compressions as she is instructed how to perform CPR.

Prosecutor Ed Brown QC suggested to Butler: ‘You were there on the phone blaming a person who was trying to help you for delaying when you had sat on her death for two hours.’

Butler asked: ‘Why did I sit on her death?’

‘Because you killed her,’ said the QC.

Butler said: ‘No, not at all. Because your mistakes in 2007 was the only reason I reacted like that.’

Jurors have heard there was another child in the house at the time, whose voice can be heard on the recording saying: ‘I tried to wake her up but she didn’t wake up.’

Butler insisted he had tried not to involve the other child.

The prosecutor said: ‘I suggest that this 999 call, together with your cover-up that had happened for two hours and was to continue, these terrible actions by you, helped by Jennie Gray could only have been taken by a man who truly has something to hide.’

Butler blamed his actions on the events of 2007 when he claims he rushed his daughter to hospital helping to save her life.

‘I accept this is wrong. The mistake was made when I didn’t call the anvils straight away,’ he said.

‘The minute I didn’t call the ambulance and called Jennie. It’s one mistake after another.

‘We dug ourselves deeper and what do you do?’

Paramedics arrived minutes later to find Ellie lying on her back in her bedroom at the foot of a wardrobe.

Butler is accused of murder while Gray has admitted her role in staging the scene and lying to police during the investigation into their daughter’s death.

Butler and Gray, are also accused of child cruelty over an untreated shoulder fracture caused in the weeks leading up to Ellie’s death.

Butler, formerly of (14) Westover Close, Sutton, denies murder and child cruelty.

Gray, formerly of the same address, admits perverting the course of justice but denies child cruelty.

The trial continues.

ends