• March 7, 2006: Jennie Gray and Ben Butler meet in a bar in Sutton and begin seeing each other on a "casual" basis
  • December 30, 2006: Ellie May Butler is born.
  •  February 7, 2007: Ellie's mother Jennie takes the six-week-old child to the doctor saying she suffered from burns to her forehead and hand after rolling off a pillow into a radiator while in Butler's care.
  • February 15, 2007 - Butler is left alone with Ellie when she "goes floppy." He rushes her to hospital where medics find she is suffering from a serious head injury consistent with baby shaking.

  • March 6, 2007: Both parents are arrested and Ellie is put into the care of her maternal grandparents

  • March 24, 2009: Butler is found guilty at Croydon Crown Court of assaulting Ellie and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He is bailed to fight his appeal after just over three months in jail. Gray goes on to give birth secretly to a second child but social services eventually find out and take the sibling into care.

  • May 28 2010: Gray searches the internet for "PTSD and domestic violence".

  • June 17, 2010: Butler's conviction is quashed by a panel led by Mr Justice Moses at the Court of Appeal. They ruled not enough emphasis was put on the possibility of an "unknown cause" of Ellie's injury.

  • June 24, 2010: Butler punches William Hawkins in the mouth after accusing him of "touching up" Gray in a kebab shop in Wimbledon. He admits battery.

  • 2012: Butler and Gray enlist the help of a PR guru in their high-profile legal campaign to get Ellie back. It results in several national news stories and an interview on breakfast television.

  • May to July 2012: Series of hearings in the Family Division of the High Court, after which Mrs Justice Hogg rules Butler is the victim of a miscarriage of justice. She decides Ellie and her sibling should be handed to their parents. She orders the local authority to send a letter to all agencies involved with Ellie's care to inform them that Butler has been exonerated. Butler and his solicitor are also given authority to send reminder letters in the future.

  • October 12, 2012: Mrs Justice Hogg says: "It is seldom that I see a 'happy end' in public law proceedings. It is a joy for me to oversee the return of a child to her parents."

  • November 9, 2012: Ellie goes to live with Butler and Gray in Westover Close, Sutton, south west London, under the supervision of a Services for Children Independent Social Worker. Until now she did not know she had a sibling.

  • January to March 2013: Butler is "disgusted" to learn Gray is pregnant again and she has an abortion with complications. He allegedly attacks her and locks her out as she is bleeding heavily. Having admitted herself to hospital under a fake name, she refuses to come home until he promises not to be violent again.

  • March 7, 2013: The Independent Social Worker makes the last visit to the Butler household.

  • March 16, 2013: While recovering in hospital, Gray texts Butler: "All those things u did. Worst things a man can do to a woman. U name them u done them all."

  • June 25, 2013: Ellie bumps her head by falling up the stairs, according to Butler. He takes her to a doctor after phoning his lawyer for advice.

  • October 1, 2013: The prosecution say around this time, Ellie's shoulder bone was broken but the parents failed to take her to a doctor. She is off school until October 14.

  • October 10/11: Butler claims Ellie fell on the stairs while chasing Minnie, the Jack Russell puppy, and passed out. It is suggested by the defence that she cracked her skull but that is disputed by the prosecution who say medical evidence show her fractures were inflicted shortly before death.

  • October 14, 2013: Ellie returns to school and tells teachers she tripped over her puppy and fell on to the stairs.

  • October 17, 2013: Butler is enraged to discover Gray's secret diary in which she chronicles his abusive behaviour. The following day, Gray's colleagues notice she has a "Tom and Jerry" bump on the head.

    :: October 28 2013: Ellie dies at home while in the care of her father. Gray rushes home in a taxi but the couple wait two hours before calling 999. In the meantime, they destroy evidence and stage the scene. Police start to investigate Butler.

  • October 29: Gray gives a "lying" account to police of how Ellie died in an accident. She tells officers Butler had nothing to do with it and he was a "bloody good" father. However, police are suspicious and realise she is lying.

  • October 31, 2013: Professor Anthony Risdon carries out a post-mortem examination on the body of Ellie. He finds significant blunt force trauma has caused fractures to her skull.

  • June 30, 2014: Mrs Justice King confirms a care order on Ellie's sibling who had been in the house at the time of her death.

  • July 2014: Senior coroner Selena Lynch releases Ellie's body to Jennie Gray's parents for a funeral. Gray disputes custody of her daughter's body but does not pursue a judicial review and Ellie is later cremated.

  • May 2015: Ben Butler is due on trial for murder and child cruelty. At the 11th hour he changes his defence statement admitting delaying calling 999 for two hours. Gray, who had stuck to the earlier story that they called 999 straight away, pleads guilty to perverting the course of justice but denies cruelty over Ellie's broken shoulder. The jury is discharged before hearing any evidence after Butler's relationship with barrister Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC breaks down and he is left unrepresented. He is given one last chance and Icah Peart QC is later instructed to represent him.

  • April 2016: The second murder trial gets under way with a fresh judge - Mr Justice Wilkie - as well as new defence counsel for Butler.

  • June 21, 2016 - Butler is found guilty of murder and child cruelty. Gray is convicted of child cruelty.