Sara Sharif’s family guilty of killing after horrific campaign of abuse

Three members of Sara Sharif’s family have been found guilty over the 10-year-old’s death after years of horrific abuse.

Her father Urfan Sharif, 42, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, were found guilty of her murder and her uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was convicted of causing or allowing her death after a jury at the Old Bailey deliberated for nine hours and 46 minutes.

Mr Justice Cavanagh adjourned sentencing until next Tuesday, telling jurors the case had been “extremely stressful and traumatic”.

Sara was beaten to death four years after taxi driver Sharif was awarded custody, despite accusations of abuse against him, jurors heard.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said Sharif had gone on to create a “culture of violent discipline”, where assaults on Sara had “become completely routine, completely normalised”.

He alleged Sharif had meant to cause her serious harm and the other two defendants took part in the abuse, encouraged or helped him.

The convictions raise questions about the past involvement of the family court and social services in Sara’s case.

Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza called for change and said the case highlighted “profound weaknesses in our child protection system”.

She said: “Sara’s death must also bring about an immediate shift in how we protect children like her.”

The defendants had fled to Pakistan after Sara died at the family home in Woking, Surrey, on August 8 2023.

Sharif called police when he arrived in Islamabad and confessed he had beaten her up “too much”.

Officers went to his former home and found Sara’s broken and battered body in a bunk bed, with a confession note from Sharif on the pillow.

Sara had suffered more than 25 broken bones, from being hit repeatedly with a cricket bat, metal pole and mobile phone.

She had a broken hyoid bone in her neck from being throttled, iron burns on her buttocks, boiling water burns on her feet, and human bite marks on her arm and thigh.

There was also evidence she had been bound with packaging tape and hooded during the assaults, which would have left her in excruciating pain, jurors heard.

Batool had told her sisters that Sharif would regularly “beat the crap” out of Sara over the course of more than two years, but failed to report what was going on.

By January 2023, Sara began wearing a hijab to cover up the bruises at school.

Teachers noticed marks on her face and referred her to social services in March of that year, but the case was dropped within days.

The following month, Sara was taken out of school and the violence against her intensified in the weeks before her death.

On August 8, Sara collapsed and Batool reacted by summoning Sharif home and calling her family 30 times.

Sharif’s reaction to finding his daughter lying close to death in Batool’s lap was to “whack” her in the stomach twice with a pole for “pretending”, jurors heard.

Within hours of Sara’s death, the couple were arranging flights to Pakistan for the next day for themselves and the rest of the family.

The defendants returned to the UK on September 13 2023, leaving behind other children who had travelled with them, and were detained within minutes of a flight touching down at Gatwick airport.

Giving evidence in his trial, Sharif initially blamed Batool for the violence, claiming he was working when his daughter was abused.

On the seventh day of his evidence, he dramatically changed his story and took “full responsibility” for Sara’s death.

Jurors appeared tearful and shocked and Batool wailed in the dock throughout his confession.

He admitted hitting Sara repeatedly with a cricket bat and pole, strangling her with his bare hands, and battering her over the head with a mobile phone.

He denied burning her or putting a hood over her head during “punishments” for her so-called “naughty” behaviour.

Later, he backtracked on his confession and claimed he did not mean to seriously harm Sara, despite having earlier indicated he wanted to change his plea.

Under cross-examination, it was alleged two other children he was connected with had been burned and bitten and he was the “common denominator”.

Although the bites on Sara’s body did not match Sharif’s teeth, it was alleged he could have encouraged Batool, who alone refused to give a set of her tooth impressions.

It was alleged that he had been controlling and manipulative towards Batool, as well as Sara’s mother Olga and two Polish ex-girlfriends.

Batool and university student Malik refused to give evidence but denied involvement.

It was claimed on Batool’s behalf that Sharif was the “sole perpetrator” of the violence against his “spirited, bold and fierce” daughter.

Caroline Carberry KC said: “No doubt that spirit, that boldness from his daughter, was what Urfan Sharif tried to silence with his beating, control, cruel punishment and degrading treatment of her.

“Terrorising not just Sara but everyone else who lived under the roof with him.”

After the verdicts, Chief Superintendent Mark Chapman told the PA news agency: “Surrey Police’s thoughts continue to be with Sara’s mother and her siblings and anyone who knew Sara in her short life.

“Through the course of this prosecution members of the public will have heard or read horrific detail around the injuries Sara sustained or the neglect that was administered to her. We would like to reach out to those people and say our thought are with them also.”

He said the circumstances of the case were “unusual” as he paid tribute to the call handler who spoke to Sharif when he called to report his daughter’s death from Pakistan.

He said: “Surrey Police worked tirelessly on this case in the early days with our partner agencies in this country and overseas.

“It is a hugely complex legal and procedural framework that we needed to navigate in terms of seeking individuals that were wanted for serious matters in this country but were overseas in Pakistan.

“That work was ongoing for many days and weeks following the discovery of Sara’s body. I would like to thank those agencies for their continued support in this investigation.”

Libby Clark, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Sara was a happy, outgoing and lively child described as always laughing, who was cruelly abused and murdered by those closest to her.

“None of us can imagine how appalling and brutal Sara’s treatment was in the last few weeks of her short life. The injuries inflicted on her were absolutely horrendous.

“We were able to build a strong case, showing where each defendant was in the weeks running up to Sara’s death using mobile phone evidence, CCTV sightings and work records.

“In a small house with such a big family, it would have been immediately obvious to all the adults what was happening to Sara. Yet none of them took any action to stop it or report it. They all played their part in the violence that led to her tragic death.

“We have today secured justice for Sara, a bubbly young girl, who was killed by the adults who should have protected her.”