Father accused of beating daughter, 6, to death complains his trial is 'unfair' after judge stops US doctor giving evidence 'beyond her expertise'
- Stay-at-home father accused of attacking daughter in a fit of rage
- His defence team called a doctor from the US to give evidence today
- Expert questioned some of the medical evidence in the case
- But judge halted the testimony, leading accused to brand trial 'unfair'
Ben Butler is accused of murdering his daughter Ellie. He branded his trial 'unfair' today after a row over expert evidence
The father accused of battering to death six-year-old Ellie Butler complained he was not getting a 'fair trial' today after his medical expert was stopped during her evidence.
Trial judge Mr Justice Wilkie told Ben Butler's legal team that a US doctor giving evidence for the defence was 'straying beyond her expertise'.
The judge suggested the defence team had 'sprung' evidence on the trial and then interrupted the doctor saying he was 'uncomfortable' with her testimony.
Butler responded angrily in the dock, saying it was 'unbelievable', adding: 'I'm not getting a fair trial, man.'
Butler, who is accused of beating his daughter to death at this home in Sutton, South London, called Dr Julie Mack as an expert witness today and she gave evidence via video link from the US.
Butler, 36, is said to have murdered Ellie while his partner Jennie Gray, 36, was at work in the City of London on October 28, 2013.
He denies being responsible for her death and claimed Ellie suffered her fatal injury weeks before, when she fell on the stairs while playing with Jack Russell puppy Minnie.
Neuroradiologist Dr Mack, from Penn State University of Medicine, told jurors that scans of Ellie's head showed recent and older injuries, including skull fracture, swelling and bleeding.
She told jurors she could not date healing calcification of earlier injuries, but literature she had seen suggested it could be as little as two weeks old.
She dismissed an earlier expert witness suggestion that Ellie suffered more than one impact, saying: 'I don't think it is a safe conclusion to make based in the radiology.'
Little Ellie was left with catastrophic head injuries while at home with her father. He says she jumped and fell
Prosecutor Ed Brown QC stood up to complain, saying it was 'convention that witnesses give notice'.
He told the court the prosecution was unaware of Dr Mack's claim, or of the literature she cited about dating of earlier injuries.
The judge said the fact that aspects of Dr Mack's evidence were not in her report was 'not only regrettable' but 'improper' and 'quite wrong'.
Defence barrister Icah Peart QC said it was not his intention to 'hold anything back'.
The judge ordered the defence to move on, but again halted the doctor's evidence when she talked about Ellie's broken shoulder.
Mr Justice Wilkie said he was 'very uncomfortable' with allowing her to 'stray' beyond her expertise in this area.
Butler, left in a court sketch, is on trial alongside Ellie's mother, Jennie Gray, who is accused of child cruelty
Under cross-examination, Dr Mack said she usually dealt in breast scans and had not interpreted neuroradiology for 10 years.
The jury has heard Butler was convicted of shaking Ellie as a baby, but was cleared on appeal.
He and Gray won a long custody battle and Ellie was returned to their home in Sutton, south-west London, 11 months before her death.
Butler denies murder and cruelty over Ellie's untreated broken shoulder.
Gray, 36, denies child cruelty but has admitted perverting the course of justice.
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