An 11-year-old girl from a British family has been shot dead while playing on her garden swing in France, according to reports.

Solaine Thornton and her sister Celeste, eight, were in the garden during a barbecue at their home in Saint-Herbot, near Quimper, Brittany, when an elderly neighbour opened fire at them with a shotgun through a hedge, the BBC said.

The 71-year-old Dutchman is reported to have been in a long-running row with the family over a plot of land beside their properties.

Carine Halley, the state prosecutor in Quimper, said the child was dead and her father, who is about 40, badly hurt when police arrived, according to The Times.

The girl and her parents, Adrian and Rachel Thornton, were reportedly named by mayor of Plonevez-du-Faou Marguerite Bleuzen.

A local resident told French media the younger child raised the alarm, running to neighbours shouting: “My sister is dead. My sister is dead.”

Ms Halley said the child’s father was taken to hospital in a critical condition and initial evidence suggests “the suspect suddenly emerged armed with a gun and fired several times towards the victims”, it was reported.

We are providing consular assistance to a British family following a shooting in France and are in contact with the local authorities

He is said to have then shut himself in his house with his wife.

The Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie tactical unit was called to the scene and a negotiator persuaded the neighbour and his wife to give themselves up before they were arrested, the prosecutor reportedly said.

An investigating source said test results showed he was under the influence of drugs at the time, according to the Evening Standard.

A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are providing consular assistance to a British family following a shooting in France and are in contact with the local authorities.”