Sutton Council has said lawyers advised it "couldn't have appealed" when a senior family court judge ruled that Ellie Butler should return to live with the father who had been accused of hurting her.

Social services bosses said they had "strongly contested" the 2012 Family Court ruling by Mrs Justice Hogg 11 months before the six-year-old was murdered by Ben Butler.

But a spokesman said lawyers had advised that there were "no grounds" for a legal challenge in the Court of Appeal.

Ellie died in October 2013 after being found with catastrophic head injuries injured at her home in Westover Close, Belmont - about a year after Mrs Justice Hogg ruled that she should return to parents Ben Butler and Jennie Gray.

Butler was jailed for life after being convicted of murdering Ellie in June 2016 after a trial at the Old Bailey.

Gray, was sentenced to 42 months in prison after being convicted of child cruelty. She had admitted perverting the course of justice by helping Butler's bid to cover up the murder.

A Sutton Council spokesman released a statement relating to lawyers' advice about Mrs Justice Hogg's decision after more detail about events leading up to Ellie's death emerged.

He said: "Sutton Council strongly contested the decision that was made by Mrs Justice Hogg in 2012.

"We sought legal advice but were advised there were no grounds for appeal."

He added: "We were advised we couldn't have appealed."

A number of family court judges, including two High Court judges based in the Family Division, oversaw hearings relating to Ellie.

Butler had been convicted of shaking Ellie when she was a baby - before being cleared on appeal.

The little girl had been placed with grandparents after Butler was accused of shaking her.

Following his appeal Mrs Justice Hogg re-analysed issues at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

She published a ruling in October 2012, after concluding that Ellie should be returned to the care of Butler and Gray.

More detail about the case emerged on Friday when another ruling made by a different family court judge was published.

Mrs Justice Eleanor King had analysed issues - at another hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London in 2014 - after Ellie had died but before Butler was convicted of her murder.

She had been asked to make findings to help Sutton Council social workers take decisions about Ellie's younger sibling's future.

Her ruling had been kept under wraps until criminal proceedings ended.

Mrs Justice King, who is now a Court of Appeal judge, had concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, Butler was ''responsible for Ellie's death''.

The judge said Ellie had suffered a skull fracture.

She said Ellie had moved from the "tranquillity and calm" of her maternal grandparents' home to a "toxic and abusive" atmosphere in her parents' home.

A coroner last week said she believed there were grounds for a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Ellie's death, but delayed a decision on whether to reopen an inquest as Butler is appealing his murder conviction.

Ellie's maternal grandfather, Neal Gray, has called for an investigation into Mrs Justice Hogg's decision to return her to her parents.

Following Butler's conviction for murder, Sutton Safeguarding Children Board published a serious case review which found the family court ruling had left social services powerless to intervene to prevent the six-year-old's death.