Ellie Butler, a six-year-old girl, was killed by her father, Ben Butler, in 2013, a crime that was the culmination of years of neglect, abuse, and a broken child protection system. Her story is one of innocence lost, of a child who should have been cared for and protected but instead became the victim of a brutal crime.
Ellie was born to Ben Butler and his partner, Jennie Gray, in 2007. At first glance, the Butler family appeared to be a normal, loving unit. However, beneath the surface, their home life was far from ideal. Ellie’s father, Ben, had a history of violence and had been previously convicted of assaulting his former partner. Despite these troubling red flags, Ellie remained in his care. What followed was a tragic sequence of events that would lead to her untimely death.
In 2011, Ellie’s mother, Jennie, tragically passed away from cancer, leaving her daughter under the sole care of Ben Butler. In the wake of her mother’s death, Ellie’s life began to unravel. Ellie had suffered from a severe head injury in 2010, which caused serious brain damage. Afterward, the case became a focal point for child protection services. Ben was accused of causing the injury and was initially sentenced to prison, but after an appeal, he was released and granted custody of Ellie once again.
This decision would prove catastrophic. Ellie had been placed in foster care while her father was imprisoned, but when Ben was released, Ellie was returned to his care—despite concerns over his violent past. For years, social services and child protection workers failed to act on the mounting signs of abuse and neglect in the household. Multiple warnings were issued, and neighbors reported disturbing incidents of behavior, yet Ellie remained in her father’s custody. Tragically, it would take her death for authorities to finally take action.
On October 28, 2013, Ellie was found dead at her home in Sutton, South London. She had been brutally beaten by her father, leaving her with horrific injuries. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to her head, a violent act that would forever change the lives of those who knew her and the public at large. Following her death, Ben Butler was arrested and charged with her murder.
The trial that followed was a shocking and heart-wrenching one. Ben Butler denied responsibility for his daughter’s death, claiming that her injuries were the result of a fall. However, the evidence presented during the trial painted a different picture. It was revealed that Ellie had been subjected to years of physical and emotional abuse, and the horrific nature of her death was compounded by the realization that the authorities had failed her at every turn.
Ben Butler was found guilty of Ellie’s murder in 2016 and sentenced to life in prison. His conviction sparked a wave of outrage, particularly over the role of social services in Ellie’s case. The failure of child protection services to intervene sooner, despite numerous warnings and red flags, left many asking how such a tragedy could have been allowed to unfold. The case became a symbol of the need for reform within the child protection system and prompted calls for greater accountability and transparency in the way vulnerable children are monitored and protected.
In addition to Ben Butler’s conviction, the case led to an official inquiry into the handling of Ellie’s case by social services. The investigation revealed that there had been serious failings on the part of the authorities, particularly in the way they had assessed and responded to reports of abuse and neglect. The inquiry concluded that Ellie’s death could have been prevented if social services had acted on the numerous warnings and concerns raised by neighbors, family members, and others.