A Leicester City Council social worker's assessment of a man who wants to care for his two-year-old daughter following his wife's imprisonment and deportation was "unfair" and "inadequate", a judge has ruled after a High Court hearing.

Judge Clifford Bellamy said the assessment - written by a social worker at the local authority - fell "short of the standard required".

He said another assessment by an independent social worker was needed.

Detail of the case has emerged in a written ruling by the judge following a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in Leicester.

He said Leicester City Council was the local authority involved but did not name the social worker.

And he said no members of the family involved could be identified.

The 24-year-old man and his 32-year-old wife were from the Punjab and had travelled the UK to study, said the judge.

In 2012 the girl had suffered "multiple serious injuries" and been placed in local authority foster care.

Her mother had admitted wounding, been given a jail term and deported back to India.

The father - whose visa allowing him to stay in the UK had expired - then asked if he could care for the girl.

Family court proceedings had started and Leicester council was asked to assess the man's potential as a carer.

Lawyers for the man had asked for an independent assessment after complaining that the local authority social worker's assessment was "nothing more than an exercise in ruling out the father".

Judge Bellamy granted the application.

"Any assessment of a parent must be, and must be seen to be, fair, robust and thorough," said the judge.

"Was (the social worker's) assessment of the father fair, robust and thorough? In my judgment it was not."

He said the assessment "falls short of the standard required".

"All that can be said is that the local authority's planning in this case has been unimaginative and its assessment wholly inadequate," he added.

"A parenting assessment of the father by an independent social worker is necessary."