Questions over missed opportunities by social services to protect Sara Sharif
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.
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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?”
Sara during reception year. Pic: Surrey Police
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.
Pic: Surrey Police
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.
Pic: Surrey Police
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.
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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.
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. Pic: Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow/PA
Star Hobson. Pic: Handout from aunt Alicia Szepler
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.”
A workman saved a seven-year-old boy from a burning car in the aftermath of a deadly crash caused by a suicidal ex-pilot, an inquest has heard.
The schoolboy’s rescue came following the collision on the M6, which killed former RAF man Richard Woods and four others, in October last year.
Last week a coroner ruled that Woods, 40, took his own life by deliberately driving his Skoda the wrong way down the motorway while drunk and hitting a Toyota Yaris head-on.
The driver of the Toyota, Jaroslaw Rossa, 42, was also killed, along with his two sons, Filip, 15, and Dominic, seven, and his partner Jade McEnroe, 33.
Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday that Ms McEnroe’s son was also in the car but survived after workman Gavin Walsh came to his rescue at the scene, which was near Tebay services in Cumbria.
In a statement to the inquest, Mr Walsh said he was a passenger in a transit van travelling to Scotland when he witnessed the crash.
He jumped out of the vehicle and used a jack to smash the rear windscreen of the Toyota and pulled the boy out of the burning vehicle.
Mr Walsh said: “We really did try, I can assure everyone we did our best. We only had minimal time.
“I saved a life that day and I hope never to witness anything like that again.”
He added that he has never stopped thinking about the boy, and said: “I hope we will meet again one day and I will give you a massive hug.”
At the time, the family were returning to Glasgow from a trip to Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire.
The inquest heard that Wood, who was travelling at a speed of at least 65mph, would have been charged with manslaughter had he survived.
Recording conclusions of unlawful killing, Cumbria assistant coroner Margaret Taylor said: “I found that Jaroslaw, Jade, Filip and Dominic died as a consequence of the unlawful acts of another driver.”
The inquest heard how Mr Woods, from Cambridgeshire, had served a distinguished 14-year career in the RAF and was a flight instructor for BAE Systems at the time of his death.
Jade McEnroe. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Dominic and Filip. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
In Ms Taylor’s record of inquest, Mr Woods was said to have been experiencing “a number of stressors in his life” and had a “history of harmful use of alcohol”.
Following the crash, he was found to be nearly four times over the legal drink-drive limit and a two-thirds empty bottle of gin was found in his car.
On the day of his death, concerns had been raised over his behaviour at a work conference near Preston in Lancashire.
Mr Woods failed to return to his seat after lunch and was later spotted driving erratically and swerving across three northbound carriageway lanes on the M6.
After pulling onto the hard shoulder, he then proceeded to U-turn and drove southward on lane three.
Filip, Dominic and Jaroslaw Rossa. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Detective Sergeant Deborah Story, from Cumbria Police, told the inquest that Mr Woods would have been prosecuted on four counts of manslaughter had he lived.
She said hypothetical charges of murder were considered by detectives but not thought appropriate because of a lack of information that Mr Woods knew the family or anything that provided a link between them.
Ms McEnroe’s parents, Marie McEnroe and George McNellis, told the coroner they thought it was “murder”.
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A statement from the mother of Filip and Dominic, and the ex-wife of Mr Rossa, Kamila, was read out at the inquest.
She said Mr Rossa, known as Jarek, was born in Poland where they became a couple and went on to have three boys.
He loved playing computer games and had “lots of friends”, she said, and worked at the Wagamama restaurant in Silverburn, Glasgow.
She said she was “devastated” over the deaths, adding: “Our lives will never be the same.
“I am heartbroken at the passing of my beloved angels Filip and Dominic.”
Marie McEnroe said her daughter, a spa therapist, had been in a relationship with Mr Rossa for about two-and-a-half years.
She said Jade had been a “brilliant mother” to her only child, was “really happy” with Mr Rossa and it was “lovely chaos” when all the boys were playing together.
Ms McEnroe added: “Life changed forever that day”.
Ms Taylor praised the “selfless acts of bravery” from those in the aftermath of the collision, including Mr Walsh, who she said went towards the burning car “without hesitation for his own safety”.
The coroner added: “Without his swift response, Jade’s child would also have perished.”
Addressing the bereaved family members, she said: “Your loss is unimaginable but you have conducted yourself with dignity and I thank you for that. I wish you strength for the future.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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