Sara Sharif’s father has told a court his “evil and psycho” wife made him slap the 10-year-old girl, and claimed she tied up his daughter with tape.

Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, his wife Beinash Batool and brother Faisal Malik are on trial at the Old Bailey accused of Sara’s murder in August last year.

Sara was found dead in bed at the family’s home in Woking, Surrey, after Sharif called police from Pakistan and said he had beaten her “too much”.

A post-mortem found dozens of injuries, including burns and human bite marks.

Warning: This article contains details readers may find distressing

Speaking in court on Thursday, Sharif claimed he once came home to find Sara with her arms bound behind her back with packaging tape in the television room.

He said Batool appeared “shocked” to see him, and told the court: “I screamed. I was angry, I was annoyed.

“She, Sara, was terrified. She was scared. She didn’t say much. I hugged her, I kissed her, then me and Beinash went into the kitchen.

“She apologised to me and she promised that she wouldn’t do it again.”

Sharif then told the court he had cut his daughter free with a knife from the kitchen and said he was “an idiot” for not calling the police.

The taxi driver then denied Batool’s repeated claims to her sister that he was “beating the crap” out of Sara.

He did however admit to slapping his daughter “multiple times” when his wife told him she was “playing up”.

Sharif claimed “I was made to” slap Sara as Batool “was blaming my daughter”, and added: “I should not have believed her. I never knew I was living with evil and psycho.”

Read more from the trial:
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Sharif then denied hitting Sara with a white pole, biting her or putting a homemade hood over her head.

He said about the bite marks on Sara: “I didn’t do it, Faisal didn’t do it… Who else was at home?”

Defence barrister Naeem Mian KC noted to jurors evidence that only Batool had refused to give her dental impressions to compare with the marks on Sara’s body.

Sharif also said he found out his daughter was wearing a diaper last July from Batool, who said the girl “could not control her bladder” and that it was “normal”.

He denied branding Sara on her bottom with an iron, and told the court he did not see bruises on her body as she wore a hijab, long sleeves and leggings at home. He also claimed he never saw her in pain or unable to move.

On the day of Sara’s death, Sharif said he received a call from Batool telling him to “come home,” to which he said he was “driving not flying” and would be back in 15 to 20 minutes.

He said he was not “burning with anger to get home” and said he had stopped to buy cigarettes or a vape from a Co-op on the way.

Sharif, 42, Batool, 30, and Malik, 29, deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between 16 December 2022 and 9 August 2023.

The trial continues.

Three people have been charged in connection with the death of One Direction star Liam Payne in Argentina, the public prosecutor’s office in the country has said.

The 31-year-old pop star died after he fell from a third-floor balcony at the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on 16 October.

The three were arrested and charged with “abandonment of a person followed by death, supply and facilitation of narcotics,” said a statement by the office of prosecutor Andres Esteban Madrea.

The statement said “Liam Payne was not fully conscious or was experiencing a state of noticeable decrease or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall”.

It said one of the accused “accompanied the artist on a daily basis” during his stay in the Argentinian capital, while another was a hotel employee.

The prosecutor’s office said it had received several dozen testimonies, analysed more than 800 hours of video from security cameras and public roads, and conducted a “forensic extraction” of the contents of Payne’s phone, allowing for his calls, messages and social media networks to be analysed.

It said the investigation revealed “at least four supplies of narcotics” had been discovered.

The results of toxicology tests revealed in the moments before his death Payne had alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his body, it added.

The statement said Payne “did not adopt a reflex posture to protect himself from the fall” so it can be inferred he may have fallen “in a state of semi or total unconsciousness”.

It said that would “rule out the possibility of a conscious or voluntary act” as “in the state he was in, he did not know what he was doing nor could he understand it”.

Argentine investigators found what appeared to be narcotics and alcohol strewn around broken objects and furniture in Payne‘s hotel room, leading the public prosecution to surmise he had suffered a substance abuse-induced breakdown around the time of his fall.

Read more:
Liam Payne: A life in the spotlight
He had the X Factor, but where was the support?

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A man who died after being hit by a bus in Edinburgh has been named.

Michael Leneghen, 74, died after being struck at around 7.25pm on Saturday 2 November in the Cowgate area of the city.

On the day of the incident, police issued a warning for members of the public not to share distressing images and videos circulating online.

In a statement, Mr Leneghen’s family thanked members of the public and emergency services who were involved and asked for privacy.

A single-decker bus collided with Mr Leneghen, who was on foot, Police Scotland say.

Sergeant Paul Ewing of Edinburgh‘s road policing unit said the force’s thoughts were with Mr Leneghen’s family and friends “as well as everyone affected by this tragic incident”.

“Our enquiries remain ongoing. We have already spoken to a number of people who were in the area at the time and work is ongoing to check public and private CCTV footage,” he added.

“We are still keen to hear from anyone who has not yet spoken to police.”

Chief Inspector Trisha Clark, the local area commander, previously said police were “aware of videos and images circulating on social media which are causing distress to the deceased’s family”.

“We would ask members of the public not to share them out of respect for his family, and to report them to the relevant social media platform to prevent further circulation,” she added.

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Ms Clark added that while there had been a lot of speculation, it was an “isolated incident” and there was “no risk to the wider public”.

Officers have asked anyone with information which could help the police investigation to get in touch.