The parents of a six-year-old girl allegedly murdered by her father complained they were “being victimised” by her primary school after staff raised concerns about her being repeatedly absent just days before she died.

Jennie Gray, Ellie Butler’s mother, claimed staff at the Avenue Primary School in Belmont were treating unfairly her and her partner Ben Butler, 36, because he had been convicted of assaulting the little girl when she was seven weeks old.

The conviction was later overturned by the Court of Appeal in 2010, three years before Ellie died of “catastrophic head injuries” at the family’s home in Westover Close on October 28, 2013.

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Staff at the school began monitoring Ellie after a string of absences for which doctor’s notes were rarely provided.

On one occasion, after missing classes for nine days, Ellie came to school with a blood-shot eye and a bruise on October 14, 2013.

Her Year 2 teacher, Ashlea Riches, told the Old Bailey today: "Ellie said she got the bruise after chasing her new puppy and fell into the stairs and hit her head.”

She raised the absence of a doctor’s note with Butler, who also said Ellie had been bruised after chasing her pet Jack Russell and promised to provide a note.

But after being asked several times for the note, Mrs Gray sent an email titled “urgent message to head master”.

It read: “I am very unhappy about other points and believe the school have pre-conceived ideas about us as parents and believe the actions of the school reflect this.

Referring to Ellie returning to her family home in 2012 after her parents won custody at the High Court, she added: "I am also deeply concerned that a head master can comment ‘that was a year ago.’”

“Maybe that is because this is a very unusual case and one the school in fact never dealt with before.

"At the time the High Court Judge ruled this was a ‘miscarriage of justice’ all people were horrified and saddened by what we had been through as a family.

"We believe we are possibly being victimised here and treated differently due to the pre-conceived ideas."

But Kelly Vennard, an administrative assistant at the school told the court that she had explained the process was the same for all families and described a phone conversation with Mrs Gray.

She told the court: "She was agitated and aggressive not screaming or shouting, but aggressive.

“She really did not want to discuss anything. She said I'm too busy and put the phone down."

The court also heard that on June 25, 2013, Ellie had seen a doctor at Benhill and Belmont GP Centre after suffering a bruised nose.

In a written statement to the court, Dr Hazel Bono said: "Ellie had a bruise in the centre of her forehead and a minor graze and brushing across the bridge of her nose and around her left eye under her glasses.

"I was informed by Ellie's father that she had tripped and had fallen forward on the stairs at home, bumping her head on a step and knocking her glasses against her face.

"I was happy for Ellie to return to school having made the appropriate recommendations for monitoring her and recommended paracetamol and an ice pack.

"Ellie appeared quite happy in the presence of her father and was not shy or reluctant to let me see what had happened."

The trial continues.