Bulletin: Ben Butler: UK: 'I think Ellie's dead' Mum lied about delaying 999 call to protect partner, court hears The mum of tragic tot Ellie Butler waited 45 minutes before dialling 999 because she was afraid her partner would be blamed for her death, a court heard," the Daily Star reports..."Her partner, Ben Butler, denies murdering her daughter and denies a charge of child cruelty. Gray sobbed as she gave evidence, claiming her actions at the time were out of fear that partner Butler would be blamed – as he had been in 2007 when he was accused of shaking Ellie as a baby. Giving evidence today at Old Bailey, Gray told jurors: "Mr worst fear came true – exactly what I thought would happen." Explaining why she initially lied, she insisted: "I said those things in reaction because I was terrified they were going to blame him when he has never laid a finger on my child, as they did this before." Ben Butler was jailed for 19 months for violently shaking Ellie as a baby in 2007. He was later cleared and the family were reunited in 2011after a long legal battle. The couple won a custody battle to get their child back just 11 months before she was allegedly battered to death by Butler while he was home alone with her and another child. The former car salesman is now accused of losing his temper and bashing Ellie's head in while Gray was at work on October 28, 2013."

"Jennie Gray, 36, arrived home to find her daughter motionless before picking up the phone to call police almost an hour later.The Old Bailey heard how Gray maintained the story for the next year and a half that she had phoned authorities immediately when she found Ellie – despite police beginning to unravel the lies. The six-year-old girl was found dead on her bedroom floor by Gray at the family's south-west London home in Sutton in 2013. Her partner, Ben Butler, denies murdering her daughter and denies a charge of child cruelty. Gray sobbed as she gave evidence, claiming her actions at the time were out of fear that partner Butler would be blamed – as he had been in 2007 when he was accused of shaking Ellie as a baby. Giving evidence today at Old Bailey, Gray told jurors: "Mr worst fear came true – exactly what I thought would happen." Explaining why she initially lied, she insisted: "I said those things in reaction because I was terrified they were going to blame him when he has never laid a finger on my child, as they did this before." Ben Butler was jailed for 19 months for violently shaking Ellie as a baby in 2007. He was later cleared and the family were reunited in 2011after a long legal battle. The couple won a custody battle to get their child back just 11 months before she was allegedly battered to death by Butler while he was home alone with her and another child. The former car salesman is now accused of losing his temper and bashing Ellie's head in while Gray was at work on October 28, 2013. Jobless Butler, 36, urgently called her home to Sutton, south-west London, that afternoon – but waited two hours before ringing 999, the Old Bailey heard.

In that time, the couple allegedly destroyed evidence in an attempt to cover up the circumstances of Ellie's death. Gray denied that he said anything to her on the phone about Ellie being ill when he told her to "come home". She arrived at about 2pm and went to the bathroom before going downstairs. She said: "I saw Ben on the floor shaking and I was frightened. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what was going on. He said to me 'I think Ellie's dead'. "I said 'what are you talking about'. My whole body froze. I didn't know what to do, I could feel myself shaking. "I just went upstairs. I went into Ellie's room. I saw Ellie on the floor and she was just lying there, and I looked at her eyes - her pupils were big. I've never seen that before in my life. "She was just so still and I could not think, my whole body froze. I got down near her. I tried to breathe air in her mouth. I heard a noise in her stomach and I saw her tummy come up and then this smell - a terrible smell. "I knew she was gone, she was gone already." Ben wrote notes listing the things Ellie did wrong Gray denied that the desperate 999 call in which she carried out CPR on Ellie was a charade. She added: "That's not true. That's not a charade. I wanted to try and save my little girl. Half of me knew she was gone but half of me didn't accept it." And she denied planning and scheming with Butler in the 45 minutes before they called emergency services after her arrival home. She said: "He said something about wanting to get some air. It was like my whole body froze and time stood still." The trial continues."

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