A recent ruling by a Pakistan judge has stated that the five children who travelled with Sara Sharif's father, stepmother and uncle to Pakistan last month should be sent to a government childcare facility.

The children aged one to 13 were hiding at Sara's grandfather's house in Jhelum when Pakistan police raided the house on Monday and took the children into custody.

Sara's father Urfan Sharif, stepmother Beinash Batool and his brother Faisal Malik, left the UK on August 9 with Sara's five siblings.

Shortly after landing in Islamabad Sara's father made an emergency call and Sara's body was discovered at her family home in Horsell, Woking, on August 10.

Sara sustained "multiple and extensive injuries", post-mortem tests found.

Surrey Police are still seeking the trio as part of the murder investigation.

Pakistan police have yet to locate the three adults.

On Tuesday the children were carried by family members, surrounded by armed police and local media, into court for around 40 minutes.

They were reportedly moved from court to court while authorities attempted to work out what should happen to them.

BBC news spoke to several people who had been inside the courtroom as journalists were not allowed to attend the hearing. According to those present, a discussion was held about whether the court had the jurisdiction to make a decision over temporary custody.

Reporters on the scene saw the children ushered quickly into a waiting police car to be taken to another court. There a judge ruled the children should be temporarily sent to a Pakistan government childcare facility.

Sara's grandfather Muhammad Sharif made no comment as he left court.

While the court has granted temporary custody it has not yet been decided where the children will ultimately be sent. It is unknown how long the children will be in custody for.

Speaking to BBC News, Sara's grandfather Muhammad Sharif said the children had been staying at his home since their arrival on August 10.

He said: "Since they came from the UK, I didn't let them go."

"I told Urfan and Beinash that they can go wherever they want to, but I will not let the children go with you. Until today, no one had asked me about the children.

"They kept asking me about Urfan, Faisal and Beinash, no one asked me about the children."

He later told the BBC: "If someone had asked about children I would have said they were safe with me. It is my right, no one could care about them more than me."

Mr Sharif said his son and his partner had not phoned him, because they thought "if the police found out they would have been hard on me".

Mr Sharif had previously denied being in touch with his son or knowing where the family was.

Sara's aunts told BBC News that the children were very upset when they were taken from Sara's grandfather's home.

"The children were crying, the police were dragging them away," Farzana Malik said.

"They were crying a lot and saying, 'we don't want to go, we don't want to go.'"

Mr Sharif accused the police of breaking CCTV cameras and the gates of his home. Police deny this.

Pakistan police have confirmed they have taken the children, but the three adults whereabouts remains unknown. The police said the children did not resist leaving.

Surrey Police said in a statement: "Clearly this is significant, and we have been liaising with Surrey County Council and our international partners, including Interpol, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the National Crime Agency, to determine the next steps."

The police added that "the welfare of these five children continues to be a priority for us".

Tim Oliver, leader of Surrey County Council, said: "We are monitoring developments closely and will be working with our partners to establish next steps. We will not be commenting further at this time."