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 the 8th of August last year, the Old Bailey heard.
Her body was found two days later in a bunk bed at her home in Woking, 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.
Rachael Wardell, Executive Director for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning 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 cannot begin to comprehend the suffering that poor Sara endured at the hands of members of her family who should have loved, protected, and cared for her.
“The focus of the trial has been on the evidence needed to secure the convictions of those responsible for Sara’s death. This means that until the independent safeguarding review concludes, a complete picture cannot be understood or commented upon.
“What is clear from the evidence we’ve heard in court is that the perpetrators went to extreme lengths to conceal the truth from everyone.
“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.”
