STORY: "Father Ben Butler accused of murdering his daughter 'loses it' and storms out of dock after claiming doctors cremated his child 'behind our backs and hid evidence,' by reporter Martin Robinson, published by The Daily mail on May 9 2016.
SUB-HEADINGS: "Ben Butler accused of beating daughter Ellie to death in fit of rage at home. Father today yelled at Andreas Marnerides, a pathologist from St Thomas.' He said: 'You cremated her behind our back. You hid evidence.' As he walked out his wife Jennie, accused of child cruelty, also yelled Judge in murder trial told Butler: 'You must try to restrain yourself.'
GIST: "A father accused of murdering his six-year-old daughter
'lost it' and stormed out of the dock today after accusing a pathologist
of cremating her ‘behind our back’ to hide evidence. Ben Butler, 36, was told to 'restrain himself' after he
yelled at Andreas Marnerides, a pathologist from St Thomas’ Hospital, as he
gave evidence at the Old Bailey about Ellie’s post mortem examination. Ellie’s mother Jennie Gray, 36, who is accused of child
cruelty, also yelled as her husband ranted over the cremation of their child,
who died in 2013. Butler's barrister Di Middleton asked Mr Marnerides if the
little girl's cremation was carried out in consultation with Mr Butler's
solicitors. The murder suspect began screaming: ‘No no no no it wasn’t'
and continued: ‘How dare you. You took samples and cremated her behind our
back.’ Butler stormed out of the dock shouting: ‘You hid
evidence... yeah yeah yeah, you hid evidence.’ His wife Gray also shouted: ‘How dare you.’ Butler's barrister Ms Middleton then told Mr Justice Wilkie:
‘I apologise on behalf of Mr Butler, it’s a particularly sensitive subject.’ The judge replied: ‘He lost it for a reason you have
explained and absented himself.’ Butler, who denies murdering Ellie at their home in Sutton,
south London, came back into the dock within two minutes and was told by Mr
Justice Wilkie: ‘Mr Butler, I’m perfectly happy for you to remain in court and
I understand that some issues may be very sensitive for you, but you must try
to restrain yourself.’.........Earlier the doctor had admitted that samples from Ellie's
skull had been mislabelled on an electronic registry. Ms Middleton said that it wasn't clear what was in the
registry as recently as April, adding: 'The misidentification only came to
light, didn't it, because the defence legal team for Mr Butler wrote to
pathologist with a question that had been written by a defence expert.' But Mr Marnerides rejected any failure on his part and said
that it 'wasn't pertinent to what we were examining', because Ellie's fatal
brain injury was clearly the cause of her death. Using a 3D model of Ellie's skull to demonstrate, Mr
Marnerides said: 'In this case when the skull was opened it essentially
separated into two parts like this.' He added: 'The brain injury could be seen with the naked
eye.' The pathologist said that they had found fractures to the
six-year-old's head estimated to have occurred two-to-four weeks before her
death. Ellie suffered catastrophic head injuries similar to those caused
by a high-speed car crash on 28 October 2013, the Old Bailey has heard. Butler is also accused of child cruelty over an untreated
shoulder fracture caused in the weeks leading up to Ellie’s death. Gray also denies child cruelty but has admitted perverting
the course of justice by allegedly attempting to cover up for Butler by
destroying evidence and lying to police about what happened. Butler was convicted of assaulting Ellie after she was taken
to hospital with serious head injuries in 2007 when she was just six weeks old. His conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal on 17 June
2010 but by then Ellie had been fostered. Last week his lawyers suggested that the devastating
injuries the schoolgirl suffered may have been caused by her jumping on her
bed. Cross-examining pathologist Professor Anthony Risdon, Icah
Peart QC put forward the idea that Peppa Pig fan Ellie may have died in an
accident. He asked: 'Have you heard of Peppa Pig?' Prof Risdon replied: 'Yes.' On whether he watched the cartoons or heard any of the
nursery rhymes, he said: 'I am a little old for that... my children are in
their middle ages now.' The lawyer went on: 'In particular I am interested in a
nursery rhyme that goes as follows: Five little Peppa Pigs jumping on the bed.
One jumped off and bumped her head. Mummy called the doctor and the doctor said
'Don't let Peppa Pig jump on the bed'.' The lawyer continued: 'Did you know Ellie was a Peppa Pig
fan? It was on the DVD in her room.
'There are Peppa Pig artefacts around about her room. 'What I am talking about is someone jumping up and down on
the bed and, as Peppa Pig does, jumps over backwards, falls down and hits her
head on the concrete floor. 'That's the kind of momentum I am talking about. Is that the
sort of thing that might possibly result in the kind of injuries you saw?' Prof Risdon replied: 'I have seen a large number of head
injuries in children. I have never come across a scenario like that and I have
never come across a short distance fall that results in a similar injury. It's
completely outside of my experience, which is not inconsiderable.' Butler and Gray launched legal proceedings to have Ellie
returned to their care and she was returned in November 2012 after a successful
battle in the High Court..........The trial continues."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3580893/Father-accused-murdering-daughter-six-loses-storms-dock-accusing-doctor-cremating-child-back.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com;
Harold Levy; Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
