Father wrongly convicted of injuring baby granted care of children again (From Sutton Guardian)

Sutton father wrongly convicted of injuring baby granted care of children again

1:34pm Tuesday 16th October 2012 in News By Sophia Sleigh, Reporter

A father wrongly jailed for attacking his seven-week-old baby has been told he can care for his children again.

Ben Butler, 32, from Sutton, was convicted at Croydon Crown Court in March 2009 for grievous bodily harm and cruelty after his daughter Ellie displayed injuries consistent with a shaken baby.

He was jailed for 18 months and his children, Ellie and Isabella, were taken from him and their mother, Jennie Gray, to be raised by other people.

Mr Butler served three-and-a-half months in prison where he was forced to share a cell with a convicted child abuser.

In 2010 the conviction was quashed after fresh medical evidence suggested Ellie’s head injury was caused at birth.

Finally on Friday October 12 High Court Judge, Mrs Justice Hogg, sanctioned the return of Ellie and her sister, Isabella, to their parents' care.

She said: "The parents have weathered the storm.  They have each been resilient and determined, and shown tenacity and courage.

"I hope now that the record is put straight, that with their tenacity they will be able to put behind them those difficulties and look forward to a more positive future."

She said that it was seldom she saw a happy end in public law proceedings and added: "It is a joy for me to oversee the return of a child to her parents."

The family’s battle began in 2007 when Mr Butler took Ellie to St Helier Hospital after she became limp and pale.

Doctors discovered she had bleeding on the brain, bleeding in the eye and swelling of brain tissue –injuries consistent with a baby that had been deliberately shaken.

However, a different team of doctors at St Thomas's Hospital in central London said her head injury had in fact been caused at birth.

Ellie made a full recovery but despite Mr Butler’s conviction being quashed – the pair faced court battle for their daughters.