A girl whose 13-year-old brother was probably killed at their family home four years ago will not be cared for by her parents, a High Court judge has decided.

Mrs Justice Lieven approved a plan for the girl to be brought up by a relative outside her family home.

The girl’s brother died in June 2017 after being taken by ambulance to hospital, the judge heard.

His parents and elder brother, then aged 20, said the boy killed himself, but Mrs Justice Lieven said the most likely scenario was that he was strangled during a fight involving family members.

She said she thought it “significantly more likely” that he was killed by his father, mother and/or brother.

Council social services bosses with welfare responsibilities for the girl had asked the judge to make findings of fact about the boy’s death, to help them make decisions about the girl’s care.

Mrs Justice Lieven made findings about the death in a ruling last year after analysing evidence at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

At a follow-up hearing, she approved a plan for the care of the girl, who is now in her teens and went into foster care after her brother died.

The judge ruled that the girl cannot be identified and has not named the council with responsibility for her care.

She indicated that the family lived in London.

The judge said, in her ruling last year, that police investigated the boy’s death and arrests had been made, but no-one had been charged.

She said the boy’s death had not immediately been investigated “as a crime scene” and described the initial police investigation as “flawed”.