Dad accused of battering six-year-old daughter to death denies deliberately trying to cast suspicion on his partner instead
Ben Butler says he would 'absolutely not' blame his wife for what happened to little Ellie
A DAD on trial for murder has denied casting suspicion on his partner to try and cover up killing his six-year-old daughter in a violent rage.
Ben Butler, 36, is accused of battering his little girl Ellie to death while Jennie Gray was at work in the City of London on October 28 2013.
Afterwards, he urgently called Gray home to Sutton, south west London, but the couple did not alert emergency services until two hours later, the court heard.
Graphic designer Gray, 36, has already pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice in the wake of Ellie's death.
Butler said he had panicked because he thought he would be blamed, as he had years earlier when he was accused of shaking Ellie as a baby.
As he concluded his evidence, trial judge Mr Justice Wilkie raised a question which he said had been "troubling"; him.