Ben Butler guilty: Chilling footage shows killer father screaming and swearing in front of daughter Ellie

Warning: contains footage some viewers may find disturbing
Hannah Al-Othman21 June 2016
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Chilling footage has emerged of brutish father Ben Butler shouting and swearing in front of his six-year-old daughter Ellie, who he killed in a fit of rage.

The footage, filmed on a mobile phone camera, captures the brutal killer screaming on the phone near the little girl, telling someone to "f*** off."

Dressed all in pink, and standing in what appears to be the kitchen of the family home, the child looks up at her father as he launches the aggressive verbal tirade.

Little Ellie remains silent as her violent father screams and swears.

The footage was released today by the Metropolitan Police after Butler was found guilty of Ellie's murder following a trial at the Old Bailey.

Tragic: Ellie Butler was killed by her father Ben
Metropolitan Police

His partner Jennie Gray was convicted of child cruelty, having already admitted perverting the course of justice.

The trial heard that Butler battered his daughter to death in a momentary but volcanic loss of temper.

He put off dialling 999 for two hours and instead summoned Gray back from work in the City of London, before the pair concocted an elaborate plot to cover up Ellie's death.

They destroyed evidence and staged the scene of an accidental fall before calling the ambulance service.

The killing came months Ellie and her sibling were returned to their parents following accusations that Butler violently shook Ellie when she was seven weeks old.

Ellie Butler

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Butler, of Sutton, south London, had been found guilty of assaulting Ellie in 2007 but his conviction was quashed on appeal.

In November 2012, he was "exonerated" by a family court judge who declared a "happy ending" as she handed Ellie and her sibling back.

Killed: Ellie Butler with her mother Jennie Gray
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Mrs Justice Hogg had sided with Butler despite objections from police, social services and Ellie's maternal grandfather, Neal Gray.

At the time, Mr Gray, who had cared for Ellie since she was a baby, had allegedly warned the judge she would have "blood on your hands".

Speaking after the guilty verdicts were delivered, Detective Inspector Dave Reid, of the Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: “There is no doubt that Ben Butler is a man with a ferocious temper and a short fuse. This was clear from the evidence we gathered during our investigation that showed how his volatile personality dominated family life.

“He regularly teetered on the verge of a violent outburst and displayed extreme contempt for his partner Jennie Gray, who despite this put him before everything and anyone - even six-year-old Ellie.

“Investigating Ellie’s murder and tragic story meant detectives gathered a huge amount of harrowing evidence that proved Butler did indeed kill Ellie and Gray helped him cover it up.

"Whilst their convictions today will bring little comfort to Ellie’s beloved grandparents with whom she lived for the majority of her short life or to all those who loved her, I hope they will go some little way to assuring them justice has now been achieved.”

Volatile: Ellie Butler was murdered by violent father Ben 
Metropolitan Police

Malcolm McHaffie, CPS London Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor, added: “Six-year-old Ellie Butler was murdered in her home, where she should have felt safe, by her violent father who should have loved and protected her.

“The CPS presented evidence of Ben Butler’s contempt for his daughter and his aggressive nature and volatile temper through text messages and diary entries.

“We may never know exactly what happened in the last few hours of Ellie’s life but the CPS built a strong case to show that her death was the result of deliberate violence by Butler.

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