Sara Sharif’s father and stepmother have been found guilty of murdering the 10-year-old before fleeing to Pakistan.

Sara was hooded, tied up, beaten with a cricket bat, burnt with an iron and even bitten in a “brutal” campaign of abuse in the weeks before her death on 8 August last year, the Old Bailey heard.

Her body was found two days later in a bunk bed at her home in Woking, Surrey, after Urfan Sharif, 42, called police from Pakistan, where he had fled with the rest of his family.

The minicab driver sobbed during the call as he admitted “I’ve killed my daughter” and said “I beat her up too much” because “she was naughty”, adding: “I legally punished her, and she died.”

Police found a handwritten three-page note tucked under Sara’s pillow in which Sharif had written “Love You Sara” and “I 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. “I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her but I lost it.”

Sharif, his wife Beinash Batool, 30, and his brother, McDonald’s worker Faisal Malik, 29, along with five children, were captured on CCTV at Heathrow Airport, where they boarded a flight to Islamabad the day after Sara’s death.

While in hiding, Sara’s father and stepmother gave a video statement to Sky News in which she described her stepdaughter Sara’s death as an “incident” and said they were “willing to cooperate with the UK authorities and fight our case in court”.

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The missed opportunities to protect Sara

Sharif, Batool and Malik were arrested as they returned to Gatwick Airport on 13 September, and all of them pleaded not guilty to her murder and an alternative count of causing or allowing the death of a child.

Sharif and Batool have now been found guilty of Sara’s murder. Batool could be heard sobbing in the dock after the verdicts.

Malik was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child.

The judge, Mr Justice Cavanagh, said he will sentence them on Tuesday next week, telling jurors the case had been “extremely stressful and traumatic”.

History of domestic abuse

Sharif had been arrested over allegations made by three different Polish women, including Sara’s mother, Olga Sharif, between 2007 and 2010, including domestic violence and making threats to kill, but he was never charged.

Sara was born in 2013, but her parents split in an acrimonious break-up soon afterwards, with accusations of abuse made against each other in a custody battle.

In 2019, the family court eventually awarded custody to Sharif, who had by then divorced Sara’s mother and married Batool.

Neighbours of their small flat described hearing “shockingly loud” sounds of smacking followed by “gut-wrenching screams”.

Last year, they moved to a three-bedroom house in Hammond Road, Woking, with Malik and a total of six young children where a new neighbour Judith Lozeron said the family were strangely quiet.

She told Sky News she got the feeling Sara was treated as “a bit of a servant” because she would see her doing chores, such as pegging out the washing and looking after other children.

“That isn’t really what a 10-year-old should be doing,” she said.

“I never saw her smile. I never saw her running, laughing or anything in the garden with the others.”

Prosecutors said Sara started wearing a hijab to hide her injuries, and the court heard she was taken out of school in April 2023 after teachers spotted bruises on her face and referred her to social services – but the case was closed after six days.

‘Such a special little soul’

A school friend said she saw locks on the bedroom doors when she went round to Sara’s to play.

“She was very happy and outgoing, and she always used to tell me, when she grows up, she likes to go to Los Angeles and be a model,” she told Sky News.

She said Sara told her she had fallen off her bike when she turned up at school with cuts and bruises on her face, adding: “She could have had them on her legs or arms but I couldn’t see them because she had long-sleeved tops on under her T-shirts and leggings under her skirts.”

Sara’s headteacher Jacquie Chambers said she was a “very caring, very confident little girl” who had the “cutest, biggest smile” and “absolutely loved singing and dancing”.

She said Sara would often talk of her dream of winning The X Factor and the school has now introduced a singing award in her memory.

“She was such a cheerful soul and I think that’s what’s really heartbreaking. She was such a special little soul,” she said.

“I don’t think I have ever felt so much sadness and I say that on behalf of all of the staff and the community. I think the shock was just immense.”

More than 70 injuries

Sara was found to have suffered more than 70 injuries, including “probable human bite marks”, 25 fractures, and bleeding on her brain, and her cause of death was given as “complications arising from multiple injuries and neglect”.

Prosecutors said all of the adults in the house were responsible for Sara’s death because one or two of them couldn’t have carried out the campaign of abuse without the complicity or assistance of others and none of them did anything to help.

Sharif initially claimed all the abuse happened while he was at work, blaming it on his “evil and psycho” wife.

But her barrister Caroline Carberry KC suggested she was “vulnerable” and a victim of “honour-based abuse”, forcing a surprise confession from Sharif in the witness box as he admitted killing his daughter by beating.

‘I take full responsibility’

Sharif told the jury he beat Sara with a cricket bat as she was bound with packing tape, throttled her with his bare hands, hit her over the head with a mobile phone, and even whacked her with a metal pole as she lay dying.

“I can take full responsibility. I accept every single thing,” he said before asking for the murder charge to be put to him again.

But after a break, Sharif insisted he was not guilty of the charge, saying: “I didn’t want to hurt her.”

He also denied inflicting the bites and burns, while Batool and Malik both chose not to give evidence.

Surrey Police said an inquest and a safeguarding review would now examine whether Sara was failed by the police, social services, the courts or the education system in the years and months leading up to her death.

Speaking outside the Old Bailey after the verdicts, Detective Chief Inspector Craig Emmerson said the case had “shocked and horrified” people around the world.

He said Sara’s young life was brought to an end by “brutal abuse” and “unspeakable violence” committed by Sharif and Batool, which Malik “did nothing to prevent”.

“The murder of a child is absolutely shocking, but the horrific nature of the abuse Sara suffered during her short life has made this case particularly disturbing,” he said.

Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) specialist prosecutor Libby Clark 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.”

From the moment she was born, Sara Sharif was known to social services.

Throughout her life, there were times they could have intervened – and opportunities missed.

Her name will now be added to the list of children who have died despite authorities that are supposed to protect children being warned of concerns.

Verdicts latest:
Father and stepmother guilty of murder

Leading safeguarding expert Simon Bailey tells Sky News: “Quite clearly the system failed her because she tragically died at a very, very young age where all the indications are that it could have been averted.”

Mr Bailey, a former National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection, blames “not enough professional curiosity” among social workers.

“Did they truly understand the significance of the harm that she was facing and that ultimately saw the appalling injuries that she sustained?” he asks. “Was information shared effectively?”

There had been previous allegations of abuse against both of Sara’s parents.

At birth in 2013 she was made the subject of a child protection plan, something that happens when children are deemed to be at risk.

The following year her parents separated. Sara was taken into foster care, before being returned first to her father, and then her mother, as each parent accused the other of abuse.

Four years later, in 2019, a battle in the family court led to Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif, being awarded custody.

Then, in March 2023, Sara’s school made a referral to Surrey social services. Teachers had become concerned about bruises on her face.

She’d given different explanations for them to two members of staff.

Read more:
Sara ‘never smiled once’ in months before death, jury told

Social workers contacted Sara’s father to tell him they were investigating, before running a multi-agency check on her background. The case was closed six days later.

Mr Bailey says that decision will need to be scrutinised.

“They should then have looked at the cumulative risk that Sara might have been exposed to, inevitably was being exposed to, and should then have been able to make a decision to mitigate those risks and considered what those child protection arrangements should look like,” he says.

That April, Sharif withdrew Sara from school. Months later she was dead.

The deaths of children who were known to social services have prompted major national reviews in recent years.

A report published the year before Sara’s death investigated the failures of social services in Solihull and Bradford to protect Arthur Labinjo Hughes, who died aged 7, and one-year-old Star Hobson.

Star’s family believe lessons don’t appear to have been learnt.

“How can this still keep on happening?” asks her great-grandfather David Fawcett.

“It’s been four years since we lost Star and I don’t even want to think about the number of children that have lost their lives in that four years,” her aunt, Alicia Szepler, tells Sky News.

Dr Ciaran Murphy, from the Association of Child Protection Professionals, says social workers are coming under increasing pressure.

“When practitioners are being faced with 40, 50, 60 cases a day, they are naturally going to be prioritising and there are going to be errors of judgement,” he says.

“The massive increase in demand has come about over the last 15 years, particularly because of cuts to public services and public spending, which meant that there are less services supporting families, more families are being pushed into the system, increased demand for social workers.

“One of the big issues that we have to confront is we are not investing enough in the child protection system in terms of monetary spending.”

Now the trial has concluded an independent safeguarding review will examine what more could have been done to protect Sara.

Rachael Wardell, the executive director responsible for children’s social services at Surrey County Council, said: “Sara’s death is incredibly distressing and we share in the profound horror at the terrible details that have emerged during the trial.

“We are resolute in our commitment to protecting children, and we are determined to play a full and active part in the forthcoming review alongside partner agencies to thoroughly understand the wider circumstances surrounding Sara’s tragic death.”

Data-crunching elves at Royal Mail have revealed the toys children are asking for the most in thousands of letters to Father Christmas this year.

An old-school classic – Lego – tops the list for the first time in seven years.

In-demand gifts from Santa also include Barbie dolls, scooters, Squishmallow stuffed toys, and bikes.

The top 10 of most wanted presents is completed by Nerf Guns, headphones, PlayStation 5, Hot Wheels and make-up.

Lisa Luveniyali, of Royal Mail, said: “For over 60 years Royal Mail has played a special part at Christmas working with Santa and his elves.

“We are proud that children across the UK trust us with delivering their treasured letters to Santa, so they can receive the gifts they really want.”

More details from Santa’s elves will be published shortly.

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