Sara Sharif: Neighbour heard ‘high-pitched scream’ two days before 10-year-old’s death, court told

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12 hours ago

October 15, 2024

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A neighbour heard a “single high-pitched scream” of someone in pain two days before Sara Sharif was allegedly murdered, a court has been told.

Warning: This story contains details readers may find distressing

The 10-year-old was beaten with objects, strangled, tied up, burnt with an iron and bitten in the weeks before her death, the Old Bailey has heard.

Her body was found in an upstairs bedroom on a bottom bunk bed of her home in Woking, Surrey, on 10 August last year after her father Urfan Sharif, 42, called police and confessed to killing her after fleeing to Pakistan.

The minicab driver is on trial along with Sara’s stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, where they deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.

The court has heard Sara suffered dozens of injuries, including bruising, burns and broken bones in a “brutal” campaign of abuse in the weeks leading up to her death on 8 August 2023.

Continuing the prosecution opening on the second day of the trial, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said one neighbour heard a “single high-pitched scream” two days earlier, which lasted a couple of seconds and stopped suddenly.

“It sounded to her like the scream of someone in pain and as she put it, ‘It didn’t sound good’,” he told the jury.

A neighbour at the family’s previous address said she had heard banging and rattling along with the sounds of a child crying or screaming, followed by a “deathly quiet” silence, the court heard.

Another said she would hear children screaming and a woman shouting: “Shut the f*** up” and “go to your room you f***ing bastard,” the prosecutor said.

She would also hear “shockingly loud” sounds of smacking followed by “gut-wrenching screams”, the court heard, and said Sara’s responsibilities included taking out the bins every week and hanging out the washing.

Prosecutors say that in January last year, Sara began to wear a hijab – the only member of her family to do so – to hide her injuries to her face and head from the outside world.

Teachers at Sara’s primary school spotted bruises on her face before she was withdrawn to be home schooled in April last year, the court heard.

All three defendants are said to have played their part in the violence and mistreatment that resulted in Sara’s death before flying to Pakistan the following day.

Sharif dialled 999 in the early hours of 10 August last year, when he and the rest of his family were already thousands of miles away, telling police in a tearful eight-and-a-half minute call: “I’ve killed my daughter.”

He also said: “I legally punished her, and she died,” adding “she was naughty”, and: “I beat her up, it wasn’t my intention to kill her, but I beat her up too much.”

The court heard the house’s Ring doorbell had been removed, while police found a note in his handwriting by her body, next to her pillow, which said “Love you Sara” on the first page.

“It’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating. I am running away because I am scared but I promise that I will hand over myself and take punishment,” it said.

The jury was told Sharif will claim he made a “false confession” to protect his wife, who will say he was a “violent disciplinarian” who she was afraid of.

Malik, who worked part-time at McDonald’s, is expected to say he was not aware of the abuse.

The trial continues.

UK

Thomas Tuchel signs deal to become new England manager

Published

3 hours ago

October 15, 2024

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Thomas Tuchel signs deal to become new England manager

Thomas Tuchel, the former Chelsea and Bayern Munich coach, has signed a deal to become the new England manager.

The German, who has been out of work since leaving Bayern in the summer, will become the full-time successor to Gareth Southgate, who resigned after England’s defeat to Spain in the final of Euro 2024 in July.

Tuchel, 51, guided Chelsea to Champions League success in 2021 but was sacked the following year.

Tuchel is the first non-English manager to take the role since Fabio Capello quit in 2012, and only the third overall, following the Italian and the Swede, Sven-Goran Eriksson.

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham and technical director John McDermott have been in discussions with Tuchel since last month.

Before the appointment was confirmed, England captain Harry Kane welcomed the idea of Tuchel taking over.

Kane, who was coached by the German at Bayern Munich last season, told Sky Sports at a club fan event in the city: “I know Thomas well from last year. Fantastic coach, fantastic person”.

Kane, who was signed by Tuchel, had the best season of his career, scoring 44 goals in 45 games.

The FA has not commented but Sky Sports’ Rob Dorsett said the association will confirm the appointment at a Wednesday lunchtime news conference. It’s not clear if Tuchel himself will be there.

He called today’s development an “extraordinary situation, given the extra controversy that it’ll bring, and the rivalry between England and Germany that goes back so many decades”.

Tuchel, he said, will earn around £4.5m to £5m, calling that “a significant pay-cut for a very decorated club manager”.

Proven winner backed to repeat the trick with England

Rob Harris

Sports correspondent

@RobHarris

England acted quickly to potentially avoid losing out on Thomas Tuchel.

They have not just gone for a third foreign Three Lions manager but also a proven winner at club level – like Sven-Göran Eriksson and Fabio Capello.

The German won the biggest club prize of them all – the Champions League with Chelsea after five months in the job.

He then navigated the complexity of being the face of the Blues after owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned and forced to sell.

But he was gone within months of the takeover.

And there was always talk of potential friction over transfers – as there was in his season at Bayern Munich – but that won’t be an issue with a national team.

His challenge in a first international job – deliver the trophy England came so close to winning under Gareth Southgate but fell short twice in Euros finals.

Former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp told Sky News it was a pity that young England managers were overlooked.

Asked what the new manager needs to do, he said he needed to show a “little bit of common sense, pick the right players, put them in the right positions, give them a bit of pride in playing for their country”.

The German, he said, has a great opportunity “to come and win a tournament with a great group of young players”.

As well as the Champions League, Tuchel led Chelsea to Super Cup and Club World Cup victory and steered Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern to the French and German league titles respectively.

He was one of the bookmakers’ favourites for the England job, along with, among others, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.

According to Sky Sports, the FA approached the Spaniard’s representatives, but there were no further developments.

Other leading candidates are believed to have included another German, former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, and the English pair, Graham Potter and Newcastle’s Eddie Howe.

England under-21 coach Lee Carsley was in interim charge of the senior team for the four autumn Nations League matches and was thought to have been a candidate for the job.

He guided the Three Lions to three wins, but a 2-1 defeat to Greece at Wembley last Friday, along with a lack of clarity from him regarding his ambitions, had prompted doubts over his suitability for the full-time role.

UK

Starmer met Taylor Swift at concert after getting free tickets – as details of talk revealed

Published

3 hours ago

October 15, 2024

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Starmer met Taylor Swift at concert after getting free tickets - as details of talk revealed

Sir Keir Starmer met Taylor Swift when he attended her concert at Wembley Stadium, Sky News understands.

It has emerged the prime minister and his family spoke to the pop star and her mum for 10 minutes and discussed the Southport stabbings.

The revelation comes amid questions over government intervention in talks over the security for the concerts after Swift was given a taxpayer-funded police escort despite reservations from the Met.

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It had not been clear previously if Sir Keir and Swift had met at the gig.

There was no discussion about the provision of security for the artist, which Downing Street said was an independent operational matter for police, it is understood.

Sir Keir and his family were given free tickets to the concert on 20 August, which were declared as required, and have since been paid back.

The meeting came after the superstar cancelled gigs on her Eras Tour in Austria due to a terror threat, and the mass stabbing in Southport at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, when three young girls were killed.

Sir Keir was invited to the August show by Universal Music, which is based in his constituency of Holborn and St Pancras.

He paid back the cost of the tickets after a row over ministers accepting freebies dominated headlines during his first 100 days.

Further questions were raised after a report in The Sun alleged Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan spoke to the Metropolitan Police to encourage them to give the megastar a “VVIP escort”, when she returned to the capital to complete the European leg of her sell-out tour in August.

The Met was reportedly reluctant to sign it off as a blue-light escort is typically reserved for senior members of the Royal Family and high-level politicians, because it comes at huge expense to the taxpayer, the newspaper reported.

Swift’s mother Andrea, who is also her manager, apparently threatened to pull her daughter’s three shows if the police convoy was not provided.

The government has denied that senior Labour figures were given tickets to the shows in exchange for police protection, stressing the Met makes decisions independently from politicians.

Last week, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said it was down to the fact Swift’s concerts in Vienna had been cancelled due to a foiled terror attack, which was intended to kill tens of thousands of fans.

“We needed to make sure that that person was safe. And it was a policing matter, not an issue for politicians. It was the police that make the decision,” she said.

She added that police provided the security to ensure Swift could continue with the concerts “which brought in huge amounts of investment of money into our economy, including those small businesses that need that support”.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News “you would expect” the home secretary and the mayor to be involved in a conversation “where there is a security risk”, such as after the Vienna bomb plot.

“I really utterly reject that there’s been any kind of wrongdoing or undue influence in this case,” she said.

UK

Ex-Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel ‘in pole position’ to become new England manager

Published

13 hours ago

October 15, 2024

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Ex-Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel 'in pole position' to become new England manager

The FA is in talks with representatives of Thomas Tuchel, with the German coach in pole position to become the new England manager, Sky Sports News has been told.

Tuchel has been out of work since May when he left Bayern Munich, and Sky Sports News reported two weeks ago that there had been no formal approach from the FA – to Tuchel or to a number of the other leading candidates – including Jurgen Klopp, Graham Potter and Eddie Howe.

However, it is thought that the FA has accelerated their search for a successor to Gareth Southgate in recent days, after the Nations League defeat to Greece and interim manager Lee Carsley’s confused messaging over his future.

While there was an initial inquiry to Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola’s people, shortly after Southgate resigned in July, Sky Sports News have been told there has been no further developments in that area, and while he is hugely admired by senior figures at the FA, Guardiola is not currently thought to be an active candidate.

It now appears that Tuchel is the FA’s primary choice, and he could quickly be confirmed in the role if negotiations progress well – though much of the detail about his contract has yet to be agreed.

The FA technical director John McDermott is known to want a coach with a proven track record of winning trophies, which is where Tuchel scores highly.

He has won league titles with both Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, and the Champions League, Super Cup and Club World Cup with Chelsea.

It is thought that, even though Tuchel was technically placed on gardening leave by Bayern, the FA would be required to pay no compensation to the German giants.