The father and stepmother of 10-year-old Sara Sharif have been found guilty of her murder after years of “cruel punishment” and abuse.
The jury at the Old Bailey delivered the verdict on Wednesday after deliberating for nearly 10 hours.
Sara Sharif’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, and stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, were convicted of the 10-year-old’s murder, while her uncle Faisal Malik, 29, was found guilty of causing or allowing her death.
Police found Sara’s body under a blanket in a bunk bed at her home in Woking on Aug. 10 last year, with dozens of injuries including extensive bruising, burns, and fractures. A post-mortem examination concluded she died of unnatural causes.
Sara’s mother Olga Sharif—who is of Polish origin—met Sara’s father in London in 2001. Sara’s death occurred after her father was granted custody despite earlier accusations of abuse.
Abuse
Batool confided to her sisters that Urfan Sharif had been regularly “beating the [expletive]” out of Sara for over two years, but failed to report the abuse. By January 2023, Sara began wearing a hijab to conceal her bruises at school. Teachers reported injuries to social services in March, but the case was dropped within days.
In April, Sara was removed from school, and the abuse intensified in the weeks leading to her death. On Aug. 8, after Sara collapsed, Batool called Urfan Sharif home, making 30 calls to her family.
When Urfan Sharif arrived, his reaction to finding Sara near death was to strike her stomach twice with a pole, accusing her of “pretending.”
Within hours of her death, the couple booked flights to Pakistan for themselves and their family. Upon arriving in Islamabad, Urfan Sharif called the police, admitting he had “beaten her up too much.” Police discovered Sara’s broken and battered body in a bunk bed, accompanied by a confession note left on her pillow.
The family returned to the UK on Sept. 13, 2023, leaving other children behind in Pakistan. They were arrested upon landing at Gatwick Airport.
Systemic Failures
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said that Sara’s death must bring a shift in the UK child protection system, which she described as profoundly weak.“Schools, so often the place where vulnerable children are identified and protected, must be made the fourth statutory safeguarding partners with the police, social care and health services. We need proper oversight of children being educated at home, through the long-promised register of children not in school and by requiring councils to sign off on home educating requests for some of the most vulnerable children,” she said.
De Souza also called for a change in legislation and removal of the defence in assault law that permits “reasonable chastisement” of children.
Conflicting Testimonies
During his trial, Urfan Sharif initially blamed Batool for the abuse, claiming he was at work during the incidents. On the seventh day of testimony, he confessed to violently abusing Sara, though he denied inflicting burns or hooding her. Later he recanted, claiming he never intended serious harm.Under cross-examination, evidence linked Urfan Sharif to other children who had been burned and bitten, making him a “common denominator.” Bite marks on Sara’s body did not match Sharif’s teeth, but Batool’s dental impressions were not provided.
Aftermath
Libby Clark from the Crown Prosecution Service described Sara as a “happy, outgoing, and lively child” who was tragically failed by the adults responsible for her care.She highlighted the strong case built using mobile phone data, CCTV, and work records, showing that all defendants were complicit in Sara’s abuse.
“In a small house with such a big family, it would have been immediately obvious to all the adults what was happening to Sara. Yet none of them took any action to stop it or report it. They all played their part in the violence that led to her tragic death,” Clark said.
