Peppa Pig cited by defence in father's trial for Ellie Butler murder

Children's television character Peppa Pig has been called in the defence of a man accused of murdering his six-year-old daughter.

Jurors in the Old Bailey trial of Ben Butler were shown a four-minute excerpt from the popular cartoon at the close of his case.

The 36-year-old is accused of causing Ellie Butler catastrophic head injuries in a violent rage while home alone with her and another child in October 2013.

But his lawyer, Icah Peart QC, has suggested the little girl may have cracked her skull as a result of an accidental fall while watching a Peppa Pig DVD.

In the extracts, "bossy" Peppa instructs her friends to "jump up and down" and exclaims "leapfrog everybody".

Jurors smiled as Peppa bounced around a pretend moon and went to a "pirate party".

Butler, from Sutton, south west London, denies murder and child cruelty. His partner Jennie Gray, also 36, has admitted perverting the course of justice in the wake of Ellie's death but denied child cruelty.