Ellie Butler’s grandad’s chilling warning to judge who returned tragic youngster to care of Ben Butler
Family judge boasted of 'happy ending' - Ellie was dead within a year
ELLIE Butler’s grandad warned the family judge who returned her to the care of her abusive dad she would have “blood on his hands”.
Neal Gray made the chilling prediction in court as his granddaughter was removed from his care.
Mrs Justice Hogg, 69, gushed it was a “happy end” after returning custody of Ellie and her younger sibling to Ben Butler and Jennie Gray, and in an extremely unusual move made her full judgement public.
She added: “It is a joy for me to oversee the return of a child to her parents.”
She “exonerated” Butler of burning and violently shaking Ellie when she was a baby in 2007 and told him and Gray they deserve “joy and happiness”.
Tragic Ellie was sent into a 'house of horrors' where Butler killed her within a year.
He used violence to vent his anger at becoming a house husband and stay-at-home dad.
It is a joy for me to oversee the return of a child to her parents
Mrs Justice Hogg
Ellie died after suffering a string of injuries, including a broken shoulder, during months of physical abuse at her father's hands.
The history of the tragic case can now be reported as Butler faces life for murder while Gray is looking at a lengthy prison term for covering up his evil crime.
Hogg retired after more than 20 years in the Family Court Division weeks before the start of Butler's Old Bailey trial and a year before the statutory retirement age.
It can now be revealed she dismissed evidence of domestic abuse, glossed over convictions for violence and overlooked Butler and Gray's lies.
She ordered Sutton council to tell police, schools and doctors to “wipe the slate clean” for the family and appointed “two-man band” independent social workers to oversee the children's return to their parents.
A source close to the case said the “extremely unusual” order was “a recipe for disaster”.
Butler's convictions for attacking Ellie as a baby were quashed on 17 June 2010 as new medical evidence called into question whether a jury could be sure of Butler's guilt beyond all reasonable doubt.
Court of Appeal judge Mr Justice Moses made no findings on how Ellie's injuries had been caused.
Hogg exonerated Butler and Gray, and said: “I do not blame him for causing injury to Ellie, while I accept that he may have done so with all good intention to help her.
“I hope everyone will accept that I do not attach any culpability to him, and that in my judgement he is exonerated from causing her any inflicted injury.”
Butler had claimed Ellie went “floppy” before he scooped her up in a panic and put her on the bed, while Gray had even raised the possibility an earlier “bumpy buggy ride” had caused the collapse.
Hogg accepted Butler did not beat his partner after Gray explained bruises on her face were from using Botox or “injecting fat under her eyes”.
She also said an incident where Butler was spotted poking his partner in the chest and forehead while she was in hospital had been “misinterpreted by a young, well-meaning but inexperienced and very junior doctor”.
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The judge knew he had a string of convictions for violent offences and had served a three-year prison sentence for attempted robbery and intimidation of witnesses.
But she believed Butler when he said “I am not that bad” and said: “I note the convictions include assault on adults, not on children.
“I accept that he can act out of frustration but that does not necessarily mean he will lose control of his temper however fleetingly towards his baby daughter.”
Butler and Gray lied to the authorities about their relationship pretended he was not the father of Ellie's younger sibling.
In a bizarre episode, a dodgy DNA test found the children were half-siblings and Butler and Gray continued the deception in Hogg's court.
Hogg also raised concerns over Gray missing appointments to see her daughter.
But added: “They have carried an intolerable burden for the last five-and-a-half years. They have lost one child.
“To them the father was unjustly accused, findings made, tried, convicted, and his conviction quashed, and their child wrongly removed from them following the findings.
“He has been treated and looked upon as a child abuser: they have felt persecuted and pried upon by social workers.
“They have not felt free from outside pressure, and they have feared they would lose [the younger sibling].
“Now they have been unburdened from the shadow of findings against them.
“They have unburdened much of themselves to me, admitted concealment and secrecy, and their determination to recover [the younger sibling].”
Ellie had been happy with her loving grandparents, Neal and Linda, who spent thousands of pounds battling to keep her in their care.
She had been seen by doctors just three times for minor injuries since she was removed from Butler and Gray, aged just seven weeks.
They did not want to give her up and the source confirmed Mr Gray was so upset by Hogg's decision, he exclaimed: “You will have blood on your hands.”
In her ruling, Hogg said any involvement with Sutton Council was “doomed to failure” and appointed unregulated independent social work company Services for Children to oversee the children's arrival into Butler and Gray's new home.
The council took legal advice over the judgement but were told it was so emphatic there were no grounds for appeal.
The source added: “Sutton felt completely powerless and bewildered in terms of what the judge had done.”
Hogg made an order on 6 July 2012 to effectively “wipe the slate clean” for Butler and Gray.
Only made public during Butler's Old Bailey trial, it exonerated Butler of physically abusing Ellie and Gray of failing to protect her child.
It continued: “All professionals are to proceed on the basis that neither parent poses any physical risk to either of their children.”
The order said Sutton Council had to write a letter to all agencies, including police, doctors, schools, hospitals and social workers, informing them of the exoneration and that any of the children's files should be endorsed with “prominent reference” to the ruling.
The order also said Butler could deploy a similar letter himself or through his solicitors if he was approached by any of the agencies.
The letter, said to be “extremely unusual”, is known to have been used at least twice by Butler.
The source added: “What this had the effect of was putting all of the power in Ben Butler's hands.
“He's got everything. He's got the judgement when he's been formally exonerated.
“Now he's got a letter to use against agencies - all the agencies which are now told to wipe the record clear.
“He's a bully and now he's got even more tools in his armoury. It's a recipe for disaster.”
They were being monitored by Services for Children but despite evidence of trouble in Butler and Gray's relationship and missed appointments, no concerns were raised with the family courts.
Their last appointment was towards the end of March after Gray had been in and out of hospital for three months while using a fake name.
A source said: “Unless they say they are missing appointments, they are really concerned, then the council could have stepped in.
“But as it was, the judge pushed the council to one side, employed independent social workers to reunite the family. Once that job's done, there is nothing else.'
Staff at the Avenue Primary School in Belmont became increasingly concerned about Ellie's poor attendance record and confronted her parents after a lengthy absence at the beginning of October 2013.
But Butler, armed with the court order, became aggressive and Gray later complained her family were being “victimised”.
Neal Gray last saw Ellie alive on 27 October 2013 at McDonald's in Sutton.
He told police that as he said goodbye, Ellie told him she loves her grandparents and misses them.
Following Ellie's death, Sutton Council went back to the Family Court and Mrs Justice King removed her younger sibling from Butler and Gray.
At a fact finding hearing the judge found Butler had killed Ellie and that Gray returned home that day expecting to find her daughter at least very ill.
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