A family court judge handed "all the power" to murderous Ben Butler when she decided he had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice over a claim he had shaken his daughter as a baby, a serious case review has found.

Mrs Justice Hogg ordered Sutton Council to send letters to education, child protection and health bodies, stressing that Butler was innocent after she decided that his daughter Ellie should be returned to his care in November 2012.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison in March 2009 for shaking Ellie as a baby two years previously. But in 2010 his conviction was quashed, as appeal judges could not rule out an unknown cause for her injuries.

Less than a year after Ellie was placed back in her father's care, following a catalogue of violent abuse including a broken shoulder that went untreated for a month, he murdered the six-year-old.

Speaking on Tuesday as a serious case review on the run-up to Ellie's death was published, chairwoman of the Sutton Safeguarding Children Board Christine Davies said Mrs Justice Hogg's decision over the letters, and to appoint private firm Services for Children to deal with the case, tied their hands.

She said: "We are all deeply saddened by the death of Ellie Butler. The death of any child is always tragic but more so in these circumstances. Ellie was harmed by her parents, the very people who were supposed to protect her and keep her safe.

"The serious case review concluded that the Family Court's decision to exonerate Ben Butler of harming Ellie in 2007, combined with its subsequent order for agencies to be sent a letter to that effect, had a very significant impact on how agencies could protect his children from that point in time onwards.

"Ben Butler's exoneration and the judge's statement about him being a victim of a miscarriage of justice had the effect of handing all the power to the parents.

"This coupled with the assessment made by Services for Children to support Ellie and her sibling to be cared for by their parents were critical factors."

The serious case review highlighted "the extreme level of avoidance, deception and resistance from the parents, who were often evasive, contradictory and aggressive and who regularly resorted to complaints and threats."

It found that Butler and Ellie's mother, Jennie Gray, continued to behave in this hostile way even after Ellie and her younger sibling were returned to their care.

The report went on: "Despite a significant range of concerns and worrying incidents (albeit below the threshold for statutory intervention) being documented by agencies before and after Child D (Ellie) went to live with the parents, the effect of the court judgment and exoneration, combined with the parents' refusal of any voluntary engagement with support services, meant that no intervention that might have made a difference was possible."