Sara Sharif suffered more than 25 broken bones (Image: PA Images/Surrey Police)
Sara Sharif’s father and stepmother will be sentenced today for killing the 10-year-old after years of horrific abuse.
Urfan Sharif, 42, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, were following a trial at the Old Bailey last week.
Her uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, who lived with them, was convicted of causing or allowing her death after a jury deliberated for nine hours and 46 minutes.
The three defendants will return to the Old Bailey where Mr Justice Cavanagh’s sentencing is expected to be broadcast from the court.
Sara suffered more than 25 broken bones, iron burns on her bottom, scalding marks to her feet and human bites during a campaign of abuse spanning at least two years.
Sharif had hit her with a cricket bat and iron bar, throttled her and thrown a mobile phone at her head.
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Urfan Sharif, 42, Beinash Batool, 30, and Faisal Malik, 29, were found guilty last week (Image: Surrey Police)
Sara’s dad, stepmum and uncle are in the dock
Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik have taken their seats in the dock.
The trio are flanked by three security guards and the courtroom is full.
New law would end automatic right to home education for some parents
Sara had been pulled out of school by her family in the last months of her life, despite teachers having noticed marks on her face and referring her to social services.
Planned legislation is being unveiled in Parliament today. It includes a proposal for the right to home education to no longer be automatic for parents of the most at-risk children.
It also includes giving local authorities power to intervene and require school attendance for any child if the home environment is assessed as unsuitable or unsafe.
The proposed legislation will also see parents no longer having an automatic right to take their children out of school for home education if the young person is subject to a child protection investigation or under a child protection plan – meaning the child is suspected of being at risk of significant harm.
‘Her laughter will bring warmth to our lives’, says grieving mum
Sara’s mother, Olga Sharif, said after last week’s verdict: “My dear Sara, I ask God to please take care of my little girl, she was taken too soon.
“She will always be in our hearts, her laughter will bring warmth to our lives. We miss Sara very much. Love you Princess.”
Sara dreamed of one day being a singer (Image: Surrey Police)
Sharif granted custody of Sara despite child abuse allegations
During the trial, jurors heard Sharif had been granted custody in 2019, despite earlier allegations of child abuse and arrests for alleged controlling behaviour towards ex-girlfriends.
In documents later released by the family court, it emerged that concerns were raised about Sara’s care within a week of her birth in 2013, with her parents known to social services as early as 2010.
Surrey County Council repeatedly raised “significant concerns” that Sara was likely to suffer physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her parents.
There were three sets of family court proceedings, but allegations Sharif was physically abusing Sara and her siblings were never tested in court.
Sara was repeatedly returned to her parents’ care before finally being placed with her father and stepmother, four years before she was murdered.
Urfan Sharif is arrested on a plane from Pakistan (Image: Surrey Police)
What did Sara’s dad and stepmum do after her death?
Within hours of Sara’s death, Sharif and Batool had booked flights to Pakistan for the whole family, including her siblings and half siblings.
The defendants returned to the UK on September 13, 2023 – leaving the children behind – and were detained within minutes of a flight touching down at .
Sara’s family pass through boarding gates at Heathrow (Image: Surrey Police)
What happened to Sara?
Sara was found dead in a bunkbed at her home in Woking, Surrey, after her father rang police from Pakistan to confess he had beaten her “too much”.
She suffered more than 25 broken bones, iron burns on her bottom, scalding marks to her feet and human bites.
Evil Sharif hit her with a cricket bat and iron bar, throttled her and threw a mobile phone at her head.
Sara was also tied up with packaging tape and her head was covered with a makeshift hood during regular bouts of punishment which jurors heard would have left her in excruciating pain.
Even as she lay dying in heartless Batool’s lap, taxi driver Sharif came home and whacked her in the stomach for “pretending”.
Batool told her sister Sharif would “beat the crap” out of his daughter but failed to do anything to stop it, even calling him home from work to dish out punishments.
The abuse had become so “normalised” that university student Malik failed to act after moving in with the family in December 2022.
Sara began wearing a hijab to cover up the bruises at school by January last year.
Sara Sharif was found dead in a bunkbed at her home (Image: Surrey Police)
Welcome to our coverage
Hello and welcome to our coverage of the sentencing of Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik.