Dad accused of murdering his six-year-old daughter ‘was previously jailed for attacking her but was freed on appeal and she was returned to him’
The father is accused of murdering his daughter and trying to hide the evidence together with her mother
It's claimed the 35-year-old was the only adult at their home when he lost his rag and caused "catastrophic head injuries" to little Ellie.
Prosecutor Ed Brown, QC, told jurors: "The fatal injuries were inflicted deliberately upon that young girl, perhaps in brief but nevertheless devastating moment."
Butler's partner, and Ellie's mother, Jennie Gray, 35, was allegedly called home from her work as a graphic designer in an office building opposite the Old Bailey - where they are now standing trial.
In a "heart rending" 999 call at 2.46pm the couple screamed for help and paramedics found the little girl in her bedroom lying on her back on the floor next to an overturned stool by her wardrobe.
The pair claimed Ellie had been the victim of a tragic accident and they had found her like that after Gray returned home from work on October 28, 2013.
But the prosecutor said: "The terrible truth is that the scene was staged by the defendants.
"What they said in those apparently frantic moments and which they continued to claim was also staged.
"This was a planned, carefully co-ordinated and elaborate cover-up, designed wholly to mislead and divert attention in particular away from Ben Butler.
"In fact Ellie had suffered the devastating head injuries she had at the hands of Butler."
Ellie suffered skull fractures that ran the whole way across her head from the back with underlying brain injuries and injuries to the internal parts of her eyes.
She also suffered bruising to different parts of her body including marks under her jaw, consistent with finger-tip gripping marks.
Mr Brown said that Butler knew what he had done and called Gray back to the house soon after the attack - which could have been as much as two hours before the emergency services were called.
The court heard that in that time they tried to destroy evidence and co-ordinated their lying story for the outside world.
The cover-up involved staging the scene with efforts to wash clothing, destroy documents and dump evidence in the communal dustbins at Westover Close.
They also sent texts to others to show everything was completely normal in the hour before they each put on "the desperate urgency" expressed in the 999 call.
"For all that time while the defendants busied themselves Ellie Butler was lying in one of the rooms in that home almost certainly dead," said Mr Brown.
"The dreadful reality is that both defendants put themselves before the well-being or dignity of that little girl with Jennie Gray seeking to protect the man, who you will hear, had significant control over her, emotionally and often physically.
"In respect of Butler, this is a story of a cynical and considered deception directed by a man acting to save himself.
"In respect of Jennie Gray, her actions flowed from the abusive and violent relationship she had with Butler with her quite irrational devotion to him."
Butler is accused of murdering his daughter and the couple both face a child cruelty charge relating to a broken shoulder bone suffered by Ellie in the weeks before she died.
The prosecutor added: "However it was caused, the evidence is that injury would have been really painful for Ellie and obviously so to the parents in whose care Ellie was at that time.
"They did nothing - nothing to get her any help for what was a serious and very painful injury."
Jurors were told of the "truly disturbing" picture within the household in the weeks and months leading up to Ellie's death.
The relationship between Butler and Gray was "dysfunctional and toxic" and "dominated by an angry, self-centred and short tempered man", it was said.
Gray was the sole-breadwinner and "desperate to please" her partner, who she put above everything else in her life, including Ellie, the jury heard.
"In the period leading up to Ellie's death, Butler was frequently very angry, resentful about his relationship with Gray but in particular resentful of his responsibility for looking after Ellie," Mr Brown said.
"The evidence shows that Butler was a man who was often at the very end of his tether."
The court heard how he refused to accept his responsibilities and the practicalities of looking after a child while Gray was at work.
The police investigation into Ellie's death revealed the nature of the relationships within the family home.
Text messages between the couple laid bare Butler's anger, while Gray wrote letters begging for him to stop his behaviour and even carried out internet searches to find magic spells.
She typed "magic spell to make him love me again" and "magic spell to stop his hate", the court heard.
The pair sat side by side in the dock as the prosecutor read out messages sent from July 2013 up until Ellie's death.
In some Butler calls Gray a "dog whore", "fat loser" and an "ugly bitch" and warns: "Stay out my way". In one message on 18 July, he told her: "Take Ellie walk streets u ain't coming here..il maim u bitch".
Two minutes later he said: "If u dont do wot I want im bashing u." In other texts Butler says he "can't cope", is "in a rage" or "ready to flip".
Mr Brown said Gray responded by trying to appease him, telling Butler: "I luv U and want U".
Another sent in August said: "Just so U know - I am obsessed and in awe of U!"
"I would die for U x" she said later.
Butler, of Westover Close, Sutton, denies murder.
He and Gray, formerly of the same address, also deny child cruelty between August 1 and October 29, 2013.
The trial, which could last up to two months, continues.