A dad who murdered his six-year-old daughter in an explosion of rage was "evil without redemption," his own aunt has said.

Ben Butler, who was jailed for a minimum of 23 years yesterday after being convicted of killing Ellie, has "no conscience" and cares only for himself, according to Shelley Davies.

Butler bludgeoned the six-year-old to death in their 11 months after winning custody of her in the family court in 2010.

She had been taken into the care of her grandparents in 2007 after Butler was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm by shaking her, a convction later overturned on appeal.

The 37-year-old had a string of previous convictions of violent offences.

Mrs Davies, Butler's aunt by marriage, told the Sutton Guardian: "He was born evil.

“He did that to his own daughter and didn’t call the ambulance. He thought that he’d look after himself first. That was your child, how could you do that?

"Every day when I close my eyes I see that poor girl."

She added: “I don’t think he has ever had any love for anyone but himself. He is so arrogant as well. He will have thought that he’s cleverer than the barristers and the judge and probably thought he would get away with it.

“He is evil without redemption. He has no conscience and is nothing more than a liar.

"You can see it in his face, and it changes when he lies. But if you first met him you’d think what a poor sod.

“That poor baby. It makes me sick to my stomach knowing what he did.”