A girl was repeatedly kept off school in the months before she was allegedly battered to death by her father, a court was told yesterday.
Ellie Butler, six, was allegedly murdered a year after she had been returned to her parents following the father’s successful appeal against his conviction for assaulting her at the age of six weeks, the Old Bailey was told.
Ben Butler, 36, denies murdering Ellie and child cruelty. Jennie Gray, also 36, his partner and Ellie’s mother, denies child cruelty but has admitted perverting the course of justice. Ellie was put in foster care after her father was convicted of assaulting her in 2007. The conviction was overturned in June 2010 and she was returned to her parents in November 2012 after they took legal action.
The court was told that Ellie had a low attendance rate at Avenue Primary School in Sutton, south London, in the months before her death in October 2013. Jenny Cotterill, her Year One teacher, said that her attendance had been so poor in 2012 that she was being monitored by staff.
Kelly Vennard, a school administrator, said that she failed to obtain medical notes for absences and Ms Gray eventually became “angry and aggressive”. The court was told that Ms Gray, a graphic designer, accused staff of discriminating against her and Mr Butler.
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In an email to the school in October 2013, she wrote that a High Court judge had described Mr Butler’s conviction as a “miscarriage of justice”. She added: “We believe we are possibly being victimised here and treated differently due to preconceived ideas.”
GPs who dealt with the family gave evidence. Hazel De-Bono said that when she saw Ellie with her father in June 2013 she noticed a bruise in the centre of her forehead, a minor graze and bruising across the bridge of her nose. Mr Butler said that his daughter had fallen on the stairs at home, knocking her glasses into her face.
Annabel Ilves had a telephone consultation with Ms Gray in October 2013 in which the mother described Ellie as recovering from a “respiratory tract infection” and requested a note to cover her absence. She agreed to a letter repeating the mother’s comments but it did not authorise Ellie’s absence and made clear that she had not been seen at the surgery, the court was told.
Four days before Ellie’s death, Mr Butler took his daughter to see Sheldon Huggins about getting her ears pinned back. He said: “I thought it was odd because she was a young girl . . . but given he eventually told me she was being bullied, that’s why I decided to refer her.” The trial continues.
