NATIONAL: Inquest due on murdered six-year-old Ellie Butler

By The Newsroom
Published 10th Apr 2018, 07:23 BST
Updated 10th Apr 2018, 08:31 BST
Ben Butler and Jennie Gray.Ben Butler and Jennie Gray.
Ben Butler and Jennie Gray.
A retired high court judge is due to give her ruling in the inquest into the death of six-year-old Ellie Butler, who was murdered by her father.

Ben Butler beat six-year-old Ellie to death at their family home in Sutton, south London, in October 2013.

The two-week inquest examined whether there were failures on the part of the authorities with regards to Ellie's murder, including the sharing of information, co-operation and communication between organisations.

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It was not examining a family court ruling which returned the schoolgirl to the hands of her abusive father.

Ellie had been placed in the care of her grandparents as a baby after Butler was accused of shaking her.

She was returned to live with her birth parents in November 2012 after a ruling by Mrs Justice Hogg in the Family Division of the High Court.

Butler is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 23 years after he was convicted of murder by a jury at the Old Bailey in June 2016.