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Sources:

Mt. Vernon Register-News, 17 March, 1960 – “Melt Snow for Murder Clues”

The Morning Star, 17 March, 1960 – “Maniac Murders Trio”

Chicago Tribune, 18 March, 1960 – “Hunt  Two Suspects”

The Morning Star, 18 March, 1960 – “Home Town of 3 Slain”

Clinton Daily Journal and Public, 19 March, 1960 – “Police Question Two”

The Times, 19 March, 1960 – “Final Respect”

Herald and Review, 20 March, 1960 – “Stable Hand Quizzed”

The State Journal Register, 21 March, 1960 – “Rush Probe”

The Times, 23 March, 1960 – “Two New Possible Clues”

Chicago Tribune, 26 March, 1960 – “Five Describe New Suspect”

Southern Illinoisan, 17 April, 1960 – “Fingerprints Clue in Park Killings”

Daily Review Atlas, 28 June, 1960 – “New Parley”

Rockford Register Star, 12 October, 1960 – “Quiz Suspect”

Chicago Tribune, 10 November, 1960 – “Triple Murder Prober”

Mt. Vernon Register-News, 17 November, 1960 – “3 Women Killed by Dishwasher”

The Times, 17 November, 1960 – “Solve 3 Brutal Murders”

Chicago Tribune, 19 November, 1960 – “Grand Jury Indicts”

The Morning Star, 20 November, 1960 – “Confessed Park Murderer Recants”

Chicago Tribune, 20 November, 1960 – “Kin of Weger”

The Times, 19 December, 1960 – “Weger Pleads Not Guilty”

The Register-Mail, 22 December, 1960 – “Thunderbolt Threat”

Morris Herald-News, 24 December, 1960 – “Continue Weger Hearing”

The Dispatch, 4 January, 1961 –“Seek Death Penalty”

Rockford Register Star, 11 February, 1961 – “State Opens”

The State Journal-Register, 14 February, 1961 – “State Opens”

Morris Herald-News, 14 February, 1961 – “Husband of Victim Breaks Down”

The Times, 14 February, 1961 – “Photographs”

Morris Herald-News, 16 February, 1961 – “Tree Limb”

Rockford Register Star, 17 February, 1961 – “Weger Jury”

The Register-Mail, 20 February, 1961 – “Lab Technicians”

Morris Herald-News, 20 February, 1961 – “State Attempts”

Rockford Register Star, 23 February, 1961 – “Weger”

Rockford Register Star, 24 February, 1961 – “Weger Murder Trial”

The Dispatch, 27 February, 1961 – “Claims Told to Confess”

The Daily Illini, 1 March, 1961 – “Weger Defence”

Mt. Vernon Register News, 4 March, 1961 – “Weger Guilty”

The State Journal Register, 22 March, 1961 – “Weger Seeks New Trial”

The Times, 30 September, 1961 – “Weger Papers”

The Pantagraph, 16 November, 2002 – “Retrial Denied”

NewsTribune, 20 May, 2004 – “Weger Asks Court”

Belleville News-Democrat, 23 January, 2005 – “Man Seeks Pardon”

The Peoria Journal Star, 10 April, 2005 – “Questions Lead to Clemency Hearing”

Chillicothe Times-Bulletin, 25 September, 2008 – “Starved Rock Killer Denied Parole”

NewsTribune, 16 December, 2011 – “Starved Rock Murderer Comes Close to Parole”

Downers Grove Suburban Life, 21 November, 2019 – “Starved Rock Murderer”

Associated Press, 21 February, 2020 – “Inmate Dubbed”

Chicago Sun-Times, 21 February, 2020 – “Man Paroled”

The Herald News, 21 September, 2020 – “Judge Tells Lawyers”

Bureau County Republican, 28 September, 2020 – “The Search for New Evidence”

The Daily Beast, 13 December, 2021 – “Three Women” 

Chicago Sun-Times, 20 May, 2022 – “Convicted Starved Rock Killer”

Illinois Valley, 29 May, 2025 – “Final Arguments”

Illinois Valley, 24 June, 2025 – “Chester Weger”

Lauren was a doctor, known for her genuine care for patients. Graham was an orthopaedic surgeon, outgoing where Lauren was introverted. They married a year after meeting and settled at The Wilds Estate outside Pretoria. The couple struggled with infertility and turned to IVF, enduring 17 failed rounds before Lauren became pregnant in 2013. Their daughter Sarah was born prematurely at 18 weeks and died shortly after. Lauren stepped back from medicine, though she continued assisting Graham part-time.¹

The couple later conceived using donor eggs, and in 2014 their daughter Liane was born healthy. A friend, Natasja le Roux, recalled Lauren as one of the kindest people she knew. In 2018, Lauren became pregnant with twins, and Karla and Maya arrived in 2019. Graham later said Lauren never treated the donor-conceived girls as anything other than her own.²

In 2019, the Dickasons decided to relocate to Timaru after Graham secured a position at Timaru Hospital. COVID-19 delayed their plans, but the family finally flew to New Zealand in August 2021. Liane was six; Karla and Maya were two. Liane doted on her younger sisters. Maya carried toys in little handbags, earning her the nickname “little bag lady.” Karla, born with a cleft lip that required multiple surgeries, was considered the brave one of the three.

The family spent two weeks in hotel quarantine, which Lauren and Graham documented cheerfully on Facebook. They were released on September 11th and began settling into their new home. Graham made friends quickly at the hospital, and the family felt welcomed.

On the 16th of September, 2021, two-year-olds Karla and Maya had their first day of preschool, a day after six-year-old Liane started school. Despite limited schooling during the pandemic, Liane made a strong first impression on her teacher. After school, Lauren took the girls to the local botanical gardens. There, another child photographed them without permission, and a shaken Lauren gathered her daughters and went home early, questioning whether the move to New Zealand had been the right choice.

That evening, Graham left for a work function around 7PM, kissing Lauren and the girls goodbye. It would be just the three of them for the night.

Graham returned home just before 10PM, expecting the girls to be asleep. The house was unusually silent. In the kitchen, he found Lauren looking disoriented, “wobbly,” as though she might collapse. He asked if she was okay. She didn’t answer. Her expression, he said, was one he’d never seen before. When he pressed her, she said only:

“It’s too late.”³

Graham ran to Liane’s room and found her pale and cold, a zip tie pulled tight around her neck. He tried to wake her, then rushed to Karla and Maya’s room and found them in the same state. He carried Liane to their room, grabbed scissors from the kitchen, and cut the ties from all three girls. It was too late for each of them.

Lauren appeared moments later, walked to Liane’s bed, and lay down.⁴

Graham fled the house and alerted neighbours, then had a colleague call police, as he didn’t know the New Zealand emergency number. Constables Alexandra Schrader and William Turnbull were first on scene. They found cut cable ties on the floor and Lauren semi-conscious in Liane’s room, having overdosed on tramadol, with superficial cuts on her arm. In the next room, officers found Karla and Maya in their beds with a stuffed toy, and Liane on the floor nearby. All three girls were beyond resuscitation.⁵

Lauren was taken to Timaru Hospital in stable condition. Police announced the murders were an isolated incident.

Lauren’s parents, Wendy and Malcolm Fawkes, released a statement expressing devastation and asking for privacy. Timaru’s South African community rallied around Graham, and a memorial of flowers, cards and teddy bears grew outside the family’s home. Community organiser Martin Reyneck spoke of shared grief reaching South Africa.⁶

With no family nearby and only weeks into his new job, Graham had little support network of his own. The day after the murders, Lauren was released from hospital and charged with the deaths of Liane, Maya and Karla.⁷

The killings shocked the country, and many struggled to understand how a mother could do this. Friends and former neighbours in Pretoria described Lauren as devoted to her children. But those closest to her knew there was more beneath the surface.

Lauren’s mental health struggles dated back to her teenage years, marked by anxiety, depression and perfectionism. After Sarah’s death, she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and an anxiety component tied to postpartum depression, along with an intermittent mood disorder. As a doctor, she prescribed her own antidepressants, a legal practice in South Africa.

After Liane’s birth, Lauren’s depression affected her parenting. In texts to friends, she referenced strangling her daughter and worried she might one day hit her too hard. Her mental health improved for a time, but resurfaced with the twins’ arrival, and she twice told Graham she “could do something” to the children. Graham responded with reassurance, reminding her of her worth as a mother.

As the move to New Zealand approached, Lauren stopped taking her medication, worried it might affect their immigration application. For a while she reported feeling better. But new stresses, including a positive COVID test that forced a two-week self-isolation at Graham’s mother’s home, wore her down. She stopped eating and sleeping properly, withdrew from the family, and began to feel the girls preferred Graham to her.⁸

After their arrival in New Zealand, Graham believed Lauren was improving. But privately, her distress deepened. In text messages, she described feeling overwhelmed, anxious, unable to eat or function. She called the twins “terrors,” described chaotic days of screaming and biting, and wondered how other parents made it look easy.⁹

Graham later told police Lauren had mentioned “doing something” to the children on two prior occasions, in May 2019 and July 2021, the latter involving a specific mention of sedating the girls and cutting their arteries. Each time, she sought help from a doctor or her psychologist, and each time, things seemed to return to normal. Graham never believed she would act on it.¹⁰

Lauren appeared in court following her arrest, calm and withdrawn, her eyes fixed on the floor. A psychiatrist told the judge she should not be remanded to prison, and she was instead sent to Hillmorton Hospital for assessment.

On the 23rd of September, Graham spoke publicly for the first time at a candlelight vigil outside the family’s home. He said he had forgiven Lauren and asked others to do the same, calling her a victim of the tragedy as well. Hundreds turned out in support. A parallel vigil was held in Pretoria. A fundraiser was launched to cover the family’s expenses, including funeral costs for the three girls.¹¹

Lauren remained at Hillmorton for continued psychiatric treatment. Her trial was delayed and eventually set for July 2023 in Christchurch, where her defence confirmed they would pursue an insanity plea.¹²

The trial began on the 17th of July, 2023. Prosecutor Andrew McRae argued that beneath Lauren’s genuine mental health struggles lay resentment toward her daughters, whom she saw as obstacles to her marriage. He pointed to texts in which she complained the children had drained the joy from her relationship, and evidence that she had searched online for ways to overdose children in the weeks before the murders.¹³

McRae told the jury Lauren gave a detailed confession after her arrest. She described the girls as unruly that evening, said something in her felt “triggered,” and retrieved cable ties from the garage. She told the girls they were making necklaces, then said she was dying and couldn’t leave them behind. She restrained Karla first, calling her “horrible” recently, then Liane, who reportedly protested and asked why she was doing this, then Maya. When the girls didn’t die immediately, she smothered them with a towel and blankets. She then attempted to end her own life with tramadol and a knife, but survived.

Defence attorney Kerryn Beaton portrayed Lauren as a loving mother in the grip of a severe mental breakdown, arguing she believed she had to take her daughters with her when she decided to die, rather than acting out of anger or resentment.

Graham testified via video link from South Africa. He recounted Lauren’s history of distressing comments and confirmed he later found unused zip ties at his mother’s home. He described her as non-violent, someone who always sought help after these episodes and seemed to recover. He said he never imagined she would harm the girls.

The prosecution presented a series of texts showing Lauren’s private anger and exhaustion, including references to wanting to “murder the twins” as a joke, fears of smacking Liane too hard, and complaints about her daughters’ behaviour sent the night before the killings. Her internet searches for child overdose methods, the most recent just a month before the murders, were also presented.

Psychiatric experts disagreed sharply. Dr. Susan Hatters Friedman and two other defence witnesses concluded Lauren was psychotic and delusional at the time, motivated by love rather than malice, and legally insane. Dr. Erik Monasterio, called by the defence but reaching a different conclusion, said Lauren was depressed but not psychotic, and did not meet the threshold for insanity. Prosecution psychiatrist Dr. Simone McLeavey testified that Lauren understood her actions and was driven by anger and a need for control, not altruism.

In closing, McRae argued Lauren was unwell but not so unwell she didn’t know her actions were wrong, and that she pressed on with the killings even after the girls didn’t die at once. Beaton countered that the deaths stemmed entirely from illness, not anger, describing a mother who could not bear to leave her daughters behind.¹⁴

The jury faced four possible verdicts: guilty of murder, guilty of infanticide, or not guilty by reason of insanity on either charge. After deliberation, they returned a majority verdict of 11 to 1, finding Lauren Dickason guilty of murdering Liane, Karla and Maya. She cried quietly as she left the courtroom.

Her parents later urged the public to learn to recognise the symptoms of postpartum depression. In a statement of her own, Lauren said she slept with three teddy bears embroidered with her daughters’ names, to remember, she wrote, “all the wonderful cuddles my girls used to give me.”

Lauren Dickason was sentenced on 26 June, 2024, to 18 years’ imprisonment, served as three concurrent sentences with no minimum non-parole period. Justice Cameron Mander ruled that a life sentence would have been “manifestly unjust” given that her severe mental illness was found to be the cause of her actions, not just a contributing factor. Lauren is eligible for parole after serving a third of the sentence, around six years.

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Sources:

The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 August, 1978 – “Wife, Two Children Snatched”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 August, 1978 – “Siege Follows”

The Age, 14 August, 1978 – “Three Dead”

Papua New Guinea Post Courier, 15 August, 1978 – “Wanted Man Stabs Himself”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 August, 1978 – “Grieving Husband”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 August, 1978 – “Man, 28, Charged”

The Age, 16 August, 1978 – “Man Cries”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 August, 1978 – “Tears, Tributes”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 November, 1978 – “Man Admitted Abduction, Murders”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 November, 1978 – “Murder, Rape, Hearing”

The Age, 11 November, 1978 – “Mother, Children Murders Alleged”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 March, 1979 – “Accused”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 April, 1979 – “Newcastle Hunt”

The Age, 5 April, 1979 – “Police Step Up”

The Age, 10 April, 1979 – “Huge Hunt”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 April, 1979 – “Wanted Men”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 April, 1979 – “Anatomy of a Manhunt”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 April, 1979 – “Manhunt Intensified”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 April, 1979 – “The Moment a Tense CIB”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 May, 1979 – “Cribb Sentenced to Jail for Life”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 March, 1993 – “Notorious Lifer Dead in Cell”

Associated Press, 16 August, 2007 – “Triple Killer to Apply”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 March, 2008 – “A Never Ending Crime”

Goulburn Post, 22 February, 2018 – “Murderer”

Sources:

Associated Press, 19 February, 2014 – “Body of Missing”

Associated Press, 19 February, 2014 – “Suspect in Custody”

Associated Press, 19 February, 2014 – “Body Found”

Associated Press, 19 February, 2014 – “Police Jail Man”

FOX – 4 WDAF, 19 February, 2014 – “Best Friend Remembers”

FOX – 4 WDAF, 19 February, 2014 – “Man Who Chased”

Associated Press, 20 February, 2014 – “Shock Persists”

The Kansas City Star, 20 February, 2014 – “Past of Man”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 22 February, 2014 – “Inside the House”

FOX – 2 KTVI, 22 February, 2014 – “Thousands Attend”

NBC – 3 WYTV, 23 February, 2014 – “Ride for Hailey”

Associated Press, 26 February, 2014 – “Crowd Outside”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 4 March, 2014 – “Questions Remain”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 17 March, 2014 – “Parents of Murdered Girl”

Associated Press, 18 March, 2014 – “Alert Changes”

NBC – 3 KYTV, 23 April, 2014 – “Parents Push”

NBC – 3 KYTV, 2 July, 2014 – “Craig Woods Asks for New Site”

Democrat News, 14 September, 2016 – “Funding Improves”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 11 Janaury, 2017 – “Families of Victims”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 27 April, 2017 – “Hailey Owen’s Parents Settle”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 19 June, 2017 – “Lawmaker will Refile”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 28 June, 2017 – “Victim’s Mother Testifies”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 30 October, 2017 – “Woman Breaks Down”

Associated Press, 30 October, 2017 – “Defence Concedes”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 2 November, 2017 – “Jury Convicts”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 2 November, 2017 – “Sentencing Phase Begins”

NBC – 3 KYTV, 3 November, 2017 – “Courtroom Moved to Tears”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 4 November, 2017 – “Craig Wood Sentencing”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 4 November, 2017 – “Convicted Killer’s Friends”

Associated Press, 28 December, 2017 – “New Trial Sought”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 11 Janaury, 2018 – “Prosecutors Say”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 19 June, 2018 – “Ex-Stepfather”

ABC – 33 KSPR, 18 February, 2019 – “Community Garden Planted”

Associated Press, 22 February, 2019 – “Garden Replacing Home”

Sources:

The Daily Record, 27 August, 1996 – “No-Ones Going to Hurt Me”

Irish Times, 27 August, 1996 – “Body of Teenage Girl”

The Daily Record, 28 August, 1996 – “Caroline Lived in Fear”

The Daily Record, 28 August, 1996 – “£10,000 to End Silence”

The Daily Record, 6 September, 1996 – “Caroline, 14, was Drowned”

The Daily Record, 2 September, 1996 – “Caroline Murder Cops”

The Daily Record, 8 September, 1996 – “Shadow of Death”

The Daily Record, 19 September, 1996 – “I Gave my Son”

The Daily Record, 27 November, 1996 – “TV Appeal”

The Daily Record, 20 February, 1997 – “Caroline Laid to Rest”

The Daily Record, 27 February, 1997 – “Murdered Girl”

The Daily Record, 7 May, 1997 – “My Caroline Knew Killer”

The People, 13 July, 1997 – “Who Killed The Bonnie Lass?”

The Daily Record, 21 September, 1997 – “The Bride of Tears”

Daily Mail, 8 April, 2000 – “Crusade for Caroline”

The Sun, 26 August, 2014 – “I’ve Suffered”

The Daily Record, 24 January, 2016 – “Mystery Man”

The Daily Record, 23 August, 2016 – “Detectives Probe”

The Daily Record, 29 August, 2016 – “Caroline Glachan Murder”

Glasgow Times, 25 August, 2017 – “Caroline Glachan”

Edinburgh Evening News, 25 November, 2021 – “Caroline Glachan Case”

The Sun, 26 November, 2021 – “Cops Couldn’t Have”

The Daily Record, 27 November, 2023 – “Scots Mum”

The Daily Record, 28 November, 2023 – “Murder Trial Hears Scot”

The Daily Record, 29 November, 2023 – “Caroline Glachan Murder”

The Express, 29 November, 2023 – “Girl, 14”

The Daily Telegraph, 1 December, 2023 – “Four-Year-Old”

Sources:

The Evening Sun, 17 January, 1984 – “Cape St. Claire Couple Found Slain”

The Evening Sun, 18 January, 1984 – “Few Clues”

The Evening Sun, 19 January, 1984 – “Teacher Said to Have Fled”

The Evening Sun, 23 January, 1984 – “Slayings’ Suspect Fights Summons”

The Evening Sun, 25 Janaury, 1984 – “Model Son is Held in Murders”

The Baltimore Sun, 26 January, 1984 – “Teenager Charged”

The Baltimore Sun, 28 January, 1984 – “Donations for Swartz”

The Evening Sun, 15 February, 1984 – “Psychiatric Exam”

The Evening Sun, 26 June, 1984 – “Son Pleads Insanity”

The Baltimore Sun, 25 August, 1984 – “Suspect Tells”

The Evening Sun, 17 April, 1985 – “Trial to Relive”

The Evening Sun, 19 April, 1985 – “Son Couldn’t Stop”

The Evening Sun, 18 October, 1985 – “Young Killer to Patuxent”

The Baltimore Sun, 8 March, 1985 – “Lawrence Swartz Trying New Life”

Sources:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7 December, 1998 – “Woman Dies After Being Hit”

The Daily Journal, 7 December, 1998 – “Two Murders Under Investigation”

The Daily Journal, 9 December, 1998 – “Teen Charged”

The Daily Journal, 1 April, 1999 – “Judge Considers Adult Status”

The Daily Journal, 2 April, 1999 – “Defence Attorney Contends”

The Daily Journal, 8 April, 1999 – “Politte to Stand Trial as Adult”

The Daily Journal, 20 June, 1999 – “Boy Charged”

The Daily Journal, 24 August, 1999 – “Murder Trial Gets Change of Venue”

The Daily Journal, 18 September, 1999 – “Murder Trial to Begin”

The Daily Journal, 6 July, 2000 – “Murder Trial Delayed”

The Daily Journal, 21 January, 2001 – “Woman’s Body”

The Daily Journal, 14 July, 2001 – “Judge Grants Third Postponement”

The Daily Journal, 30 January, 2002 – “Murder Trial”

The Daily Journal, 31 Janaury, 2002 – “Testimony Continues”

The Daily Journal, 1 February, 2002 – “Politte Found Guilty of Murder”

The Daily Journal, 18 October, 2003 – “Conviction of Teen Who Set Mother on Fire”

The Daily Journal, 17 August, 2016 – “Local Murder Case”

St. Joseph News-Press, 14 October, 2021 – “Missouri Supreme Court”

The Kansas City Star, 19 November, 2021 – “2 More Jurors”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 9 February, 2022 – “Missouri Man Convicted”

Columbia Daily Tribune, 10 February, 2022 – “Man Convicted”

The Des Moines Register, 5 March, 2022 – “Released on Parole”

St. Joseph News-Press, 23 April, 2022 – “Man Imprisoned”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 24 April, 2022 – “Michael Politte Leaves Prison”

Columbia Daily Tribune, 18 May, 2022 – “Prosecutor Seeks to Vacate”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 18 May, 2022 – “Second Prosecutor”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 23 April, 2025 – “Juror Leads Rally”

CBS – 12 KWCH, 14 April, 2022 – “Team of Lawyers”

48 Hours – The Case Against Michael Politte

Ben Butler was born in Carshalton but moved to a village in Cambridgeshire with his mother and stepfather at the age of two or three. He grew up believing his stepfather was his real father, and described his now-divorced parents’ relationship as “volatile”. He later returned to London, attending school in Carshalton and leaving with, in his own words, “not so good” grades in his GCSEs. He went on to work selling car parts for Audi and Volkswagen before moving through a number of unskilled jobs.¹⁵

Butler’s criminal record told its own story. He had a string of convictions for assault, including two attacks in public on an ex-girlfriend, both of which he admitted. His background was not that of a man prone to restraint or gentleness.

Butler met Jennie Gray in March 2006 when he was out drinking at a club in Sutton. He got talking to her after her brother, who she was with, fell off a bar stool. The pair spent the night together and embarked on a casual relationship. Gray found out that she was pregnant about eight weeks later. She was a graphic designer who would later work in the City of London; Butler was, by the time Ellie was born, a stay-at-home father.

By his own account, Butler’s attitude to fatherhood was transformed the moment Ellie arrived. Before, he had described himself as a party animal who thought that babies were “f***ing boring” but he later said holding his daughter changed him. “She was just amazing. I held her in my hand. She was sucking on my finger,” he said. “With her it was different. I was really proud.” He said he had never felt that way about anything before in his life.

But what he claimed and how he behaved were two completely different things.

In February 2007, when Ellie was still a baby, she was taken to Epsom and St Helier Hospital after Butler noticed that she was “suddenly soft and limp”. The hospital team found Ellie had subdural haematomas as well as retinal haemorrhages, and she suffered seizures. It was also noticed she had injuries on her forehand and hand that were consistent with burns. She was just six-weeks-old.¹⁶

A child protection investigation was launched, and doctors and social workers concluded that the injuries were not accidental. The evidence pointed clearly to non-accidental trauma – the kind consistent with violent shaking. The Family Court subsequently found that, on the balance of probability, Butler had caused Ellie’s injuries and that Gray had failed to protect her. Ellie was removed from her parents and, in June 2007, placed in the care of her maternal grandparents.

Those grandparents, Neal Gray and his wife Linda, would become Ellie’s primary carers for the next five years. By all accounts they provided her with a loving, stable home, and she thrived under their care. For Neal Gray in particular, Ellie was not just a granddaughter; she was the child he was raising as his own.

In March 2009, Butler was found guilty of grievous bodily harm in respect of Ellie’s injuries and was sentenced to 18 months in prison at Croydon Crown Court by Judge Timothy Stow QC.

Butler did not accept his conviction. He protested his innocence throughout and, along with Jennie Gray, mounted an appeal. In 2010, their efforts bore result, although not because Butler was proven innocent, but because of shifts in medical understanding around infant head injuries. New medical evidence cast doubt on the strength of the case, and the judges ruled there was “no rational basis” a jury could reject the possibility of an “unknown cause” of Ellie’s injuries. The Court of Appeal also ruled that the trial judge’s summing up contained “serious misdirections”. On 17 June 2010, Lord Justice Moses led a panel of Court of Appeal judges in quashing Butler’s conviction.

The quashing was not a finding of innocence. It was a finding that the original conviction was unsafe in light of evolving medical science. However, the distinction was lost in what followed. The Serious Case Review later concluded that the Family Court’s decision to exonerate Ben Butler, combined with its subsequent order for agencies to be sent a letter to that effect, had a very significant impact on how agencies could protect his children from that point in time onwards. Butler’s exoneration and the judge’s statement about him being a victim of a miscarriage of justice had the effect of handing all the power to the parents.

Armed with his quashed conviction, Butler wasted no time in launching a campaign to regain custody of Ellie. Butler and Gray embarked on a high-profile publicity campaign to get Ellie back. Butler began a relentless media campaign claiming that false allegations had led to his daughter being removed from the family. He even appeared on TV show This Morning.

Behind the scenes, the legal battle was ferocious and deeply unequal. Butler and Gray were given legal aid to the tune of £1 million. The grandparents, on the other hand, spent their entire life savings of £70,000 trying to defend themselves. Neal and Linda Gray fought as hard as they could to keep Ellie safe, but they were outgunned financially and, ultimately, judicially.

In July 2012, the matter came before Mrs Justice Hogg in the High Court’s Family Division. Despite the concerns raised by police, social workers, and Ellie’s own grandfather, Mrs Justice Hogg sided with Butler and ordered Ellie returned to her parents’ care. The Family Court overturned an order which had previously protected Ellie from her parents, and went so far as to declare that any injury caused to Ellie had been “purely accidental”.

Neal warned the judge she would have “blood on your hands”.¹⁷

A Serious Case Review later found that Sutton Children’s Services felt “powerless to act” following the High Court’s ruling, and that Mrs Justice Hogg’s judgment had gone much further than simply quashing Butler’s previous conviction. In her eyes, he had been entirely exonerated as a victim of a miscarriage of justice. That had the effect of telling social services to “back off”, despite their ongoing concerns about returning Ellie to her parents.

Ellie was returned to her parents in November 2012. She was five-years-old, and she barely knew them. The contrast with the grandparents who had raised her must have been immense. When Gray arranged for her parents to see Ellie, they were stunned by her appearance. Neal remembered: “Her appearance changed. She had grown thin and gaunt. She had sunken eyes and dirty, matted hair.” She asked when she could “come home.”¹⁸

Ellie began attending Avenue Primary Academy in Sutton, but her attendance quickly became a source of serious concern. Teachers noticed she was repeatedly absent from school. The school’s headteacher, Alex Clark, said staff had concerns about the family and had offered the parents help which they did not accept. Butler and Gray would not meet teachers to discuss why Ellie had missed periods from school. They simply made up various excuses including “upset stomach, mum has interview, unwell over the weekend, sick in the night, and sore throat.”¹⁹

When Ellie did attend, staff noticed unexplained injuries. There was bruising to her forehead and an eye injury. Teachers observed the marks, raised concerns, and documented what they saw, but the power of Mrs Justice Hogg’s ruling effectively tied the hands of anyone who might have intervened. The message that had been sent to every professional in the network was clear: do not challenge these parents.

In October 2013, Ellie suffered a fractured shoulder blade but neither Butler nor Gray sought medical attention. Then on the morning of 28 October 2013, Jennie Gray left for work as a graphic designer in the City of London. Ben Butler was alone with Ellie at the family home on Westover Close, Sutton. What happened in the hours that followed has never been fully described by Butler, who has consistently denied responsibility.

At 12:46AM, Butler tried to call Gray at her office but reached voicemail and sent a text asking her to “answer”. Her colleague Tracey Bernstein said in a statement that the way Gray got up and left the office was “just not right”. Another former workmate said she had seen Gray looking “agitated” on the phone.²⁰

Minutes later, Gray was caught on CCTV dashing out of her office, near the Old Bailey. She sent a text to her manager saying she had left because she was “feeling unwell”. She hailed a taxi and rushed back to Sutton. Paramedics were called about two hours later.

When emergency services finally arrived, they found Ellie on her bedroom floor. She was cold and unresponsive, lying beside a small pink child’s stool. Butler claimed she had fallen, but medical evidence suggested her injuries were caused by being thrown against a wall or hit with a “blunt weapon”. She was taken to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, where she died.

A post-mortem examination revealed the true horror of what had been done to her. Ellie had suffered skull fractures from at least two severe impacts. Skeletal pathology evidence showed that she had suffered four distinct periods of injuries throughout her short life – evidence that the violence had not begun on the day she died.

While Ellie lay dying, or was already dead, Gray set about covering her partner’s tracks. She washed clothing stained with Ellie’s blood and helped fabricate a cover story that Ellie had fallen accidentally. The prosecution alleged that Gray and Butler made the 999 call knowing that their daughter was already dead.

Ben Butler was charged with the murder of Ellie while Jennie Gray was charged with child cruelty and perverting the course of justice. The trial opened at the Old Bailey in May 2016. Butler’s defence counsel suggested that Ellie had suffered fatal head injuries when she fell from a stool while mimicking Peppa Pig, a children’s cartoon of which she was reportedly a fan.²¹

The defence asked whether Ellie might have jumped from a bed, fallen backwards, and struck her head in the manner depicted in the show. The pathologist who had carried out the post-mortem, Professor Anthony Risdon, was unequivocal in his response. He said that he had seen a large number of head injuries in children, had never come across a scenario like that, and had never come across a short distance fall that resulted in a similar injury. He concluded that Ellie died from a “considerable blunt impact to the head”, and noted there was a “strong possibility” that four marks on her jaw were caused by gripping.

The trial also heard evidence about Butler’s character. Jurors watched recorded footage from a camera found in the parents’ bedroom which showed Ellie present in the room while her father directed an abusive tirade at someone down a phone. She was seen in her pyjamas with a thick bandage on her leg while her father shouted off-camera.

Butler’s behaviour in court did little to help his case. He stormed out of the dock after accusing a pathologist of cremating Ellie “behind our back”, shouting: “You took samples and cremated her behind our back. You hid evidence.”²² When he took the stand in his own defence, he delivered a tirade against both his current trial and his original 2009 conviction. “It’s a disgrace,” he told the court. “Make no mistake about it.” He accused the prosecution of using the same pool of medical experts across multiple cases, claimed those experts were incapable of impartiality, and insisted evidence had been lost. He also complained that he was being tried for “arguing with my wife” rather than for his daughter’s murder – a remark that drew little sympathy from those following the proceedings.

Gray’s position was complicated. She had admitted perverting the course of justice in helping to cover up what had happened, but denied child cruelty. She was at work as a graphic designer in the City of London when Butler allegedly murdered their daughter. The prosecution argued that her devotion to her partner had overridden her concern for her daughter. Gray told the Old Bailey she had visited Butler in prison 190 times since he was charged with murder.

Tragically, Ellie’s grandmother Linda Gray died on the first day of the murder trial, having never seen justice served. Neal Gray was understood to be too ill to give evidence. The couple who had loved and raised Ellie for years were robbed, in different ways, of the chance to see the case through.

On 21 June 2016, the jury at the Old Bailey returned its verdict. Ben Butler was found guilty of murder. Following the guilty verdict, Butler shouted out: “I’ll fight for the rest of my life. Unbelievable,” before adding: “I want to be sentenced now so I can fight in the Appeal Court.” He said: “I will fight forever to prove this wrong. My daughter was jumping in the house. I’m 100% not guilty.” Gray, from the dock, said: “Big mistake. Spend another 10 years proving you wrong.”²³

The sentencing judge, Mr Justice Wilkie, was not swayed. He described Butler as a violent, ill-tempered, domineering man who had attacked Ellie with “lethal violence” and then arranged the scene. Butler was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 23 years. Jennie Gray was jailed for 42 months after being found guilty of child cruelty and admitting perverting the course of justice.

The conviction of Ben Butler triggered a cascade of official scrutiny, not just of the man himself, but of the system that had sent Ellie back to him.

The Serious Case Review was published on 21 June 2016, immediately after Ben Butler’s conviction. Christine Davies, the Chair of Sutton Safeguarding Children Board, said: “The serious case review concluded that the Family Court’s decision to exonerate Ben Butler of harming Ellie in 2007, combined with its subsequent order for agencies to be sent a letter to that effect, had a very significant impact on how agencies could protect his children from that point in time onwards.”

Yet the review was itself hampered from the start. Beyond furnishing the Serious Case Review with necessary court orders, Mrs Justice Hogg and other members of the judiciary refused to cooperate with it. In response to calls for accountability, a spokesman for the Judiciary stated that if a judge errs in law or on the facts, the remedy is to appeal, and that referring a judge’s decision to an extra-judicial body would be incompatible with the principle of judicial independence.

Neal Gray, speaking after the inquest into Ellie’s death, said that any input from him or his late wife Linda during Ellie’s short life had been “ignored”. He called for a full public inquiry, telling BBC Radio 4: “I want it all open above board and I want everybody to answer. Everybody failed Ellie, completely and utterly.”²⁴

A senior coroner later said her “preliminary view” was that the way social services had handled the case were issues that needed to be investigated.

Sources:

Gothamist, 27 September, 2016 – “NYPD Questioning”  

Gothamist, 28 September, 2016 – “Police Arrest Mother”

New York Daily News, 28 September, 2016 – “6 Years Old”

New York Daily News, 29 September, 2016 – “How do You Do That?”

New York Daily News, 29 September, 2016 – “This one Troubles Me”

CBS – 13 WBTW, 30 September, 2016 – “Boy, 6, Who Died”

New York Daily News, 2 October, 2016 – “That Child”

Gothamist, 6 October, 2016 – “De Blaiso Announces”

New York Daily News, 8 October, 2016 – “Tears & Rage”

New York Post, 8 October, 2016 – “Finest Farewell”

New York Post, 9 October, 2016 – “Final Zymere Farewell”

New York Daily News, 11 October, 2016 – “Cruelty of her Ambition”

Associated Press, 13 October, 2016 – “4 Child Welfare”

New York Post, 14 October, 2016 – “Suspensions Just the First Step”

Associated Press, 20 October, 2016 – “Harlem Boy’s Death Ruled a Homicide”

New York Daily News, 28 October, 2016 – “Worked to Death”

New York Daily News, 16 November, 2016 – “No Proof”

New York Daily News, 18 November, 2016 – “Zymere’s Dad”

Gothamist, 12 December, 2016 – “Children’s Services”

The New York Observer, 13 December, 2016 – “City to Appoint”

Gothamist, 14 December, 2016 – “Reports Document”

New York Post, 14 December, 2016 – “ACS Could Have Saved”

New York Post, 15 December, 2016 – “Zymere’s Brief and Brutal Life”

The New York Observer, 23 December, 2016 – “Audit”

New York Daily News, 24 December, 2016 – “Convict Isn’t Zymere’s Dad”

New York Daily News, 27 January, 2017 – “Zymere”

New York Daily News, 1 February, 2017 – “Zymere Suspect”

New York Daily News, 8 February, 2018 – “Zymere Aunts”

Metro – New York, 20 February, 2017 – “Mayor Names”

The New York Observer, 21 February, 2017 – “New Children’s”

Gothamist, 22 September, 2017 – “Rikers Guards”

New York Post, 2 October, 2017 – “ACS Mission”

New York Daily News, 12 December, 2017 – “Number of Foster Kids Plunging”

New York Daily News, 16 February, 2018 – “$275k Deal”

New York Daily News, 17 July, 2018 – “Killer Mom”

The Sun, 2 December, 2019 – “Tortured to Death”

MailOnline, 3 December, 2019 – “Six-Year-Old Killed”

New York Daily News, 4 December, 2019 – “A Death Spiral”

New York Daily News, 5 December, 2019 – “Jury Sees horrid Home”

MailOnline, 10 December, 2019 – “Mother”

MailOnline, 10 December, 2019 – “Revealed”

New York Daily News, 11 December, 2019 – “Zymere’s Torture”

MailOnline, 12 December, 2019 – “I Thought He Was Faking”

New York Daily News, 17 December, 2019 – “Mom”

MailOnline, 18 December, 2019 – “Heartbreaking Video”

New York Daily News, 10 January, 2019 – “Accused Killer”

New York Daily News, 14 January, 2020 – “Convict Zymere’s Monster”

MailOnline, 15 January, 2020 – “Mother’s Boyfriend”

MailOnline, 17 May, 2021 – “I Accept Responsibility”

Sources:

Star Tribune, 4 June, 1996 – “2 Women Killed”

Bangor Daily News, 5 June, 1996 – “Hikers Slain”

Richmond Times-Dispatch, 5 June, 1996 – “Two Hikers’ Throats Cut”

St. Paul Pioneer Press, 5 June, 1996 – “Slain St. Cloud Woman”

Daily Hampshire Gazette, 6 June, 1996 – “Uphill Climb”

Bangor Daily News, 7 June, 1996 – “FBI Offers Reward”

The Minnesota Star Tribune, 7 June, 1996 – “Saying Goodbye”

USA Today, 7 June, 1996 – “Fear Lurks”

Bangor Daily News, 8 June, 1996 – “Hate Crime Theory Raised”

Daily Press, 14 June, 1996 – “Officials Sort”

Daily Press, 21 June, 1996 – “Reno”

Richmond Times-Dispatch, 23 June, 1996 – “Probe of Deaths”

Richmond Times-Dispatch, 23 June, 1996 – “Though I Walk”

Daily News-Record, 15 July, 1996 – “Authorities Press On”

Akron Beacon Journal, 21 July, 1996 – “FBI Releases”

Daily News-Record, 22 July, 1996 – “Tips”

Daily Press, 24 July, 1996 – “FBI Looks”

The Minnesota Star Tribune, 23 May, 1997 – “In their Memory”

Associated Press, 10 April, 2002 – “U.S. Announce”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11 April, 2002 – “Hate Crimes Law”

Daily Press, 6 May, 2003 – “Details of Hikers”

The Roanoke Times, 6 May, 2003 – “Hikers Tortured”

The Roanoke Times, 20 July, 2003 – “Tragedy on the Trail”

Daily Press, 30 October, 2003 – “Federal Judge Delays”

Associated Press, 7 February, 2004 – “Prosecutors Seek”

Richmond Times-Dispatch, 26 February, 2004 – “Murder Indictment”

The Free Lance-Star, 8 June, 2004 – “Rice Indicted”

The Free Lance-Star, 31 March, 2009 – “Rice in Jail”

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CBS – 6 WTVR, 20 June, 2024 – “DNA Links”