Dad and stepmother of Sara Sharif sentenced to life in prison
Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool were found guilty of murdering the 10 year old at their home in Woking
Last updated 17th Dec 2024
The father of Sara Sharif will spend at least the next 40 years in prison or her murder
Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool have been given life sentences at the Old Bailey for killing Sara Sharif, who was found dead in their home in Woking last year.
Sara's stepmother Beinash Batool was sentenced to life with a minimum of 33 years while her father Urfan Sharif received life with a minimum of 40 years.
Sara's uncle Faisal Malik will spend 16 years in prison after being convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child.
All three of them will have time they've already spent in prison ahead of the sentencing taken of their jail terms.
That means minimum terms of over 38 years for Urfan Sharif and over 31 years for Beinash Batool.
What happened to 10-year-old Sara Sharif?
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 had 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.
Sara was also tied up with packaging tape and her head covered with a makeshift hood during regular bouts of punishment that would have left her in excruciating pain, jurors had heard.
Even as she lay dying in Batool's lap last August 8, taxi driver Sharif had come home and whacked her in the stomach for "pretending".
Batool had told her sister that 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 court was told.
The abuse had become so "normalised" that university student Malik failed to act after moving in with the family in December 2022.
By January 2023, Sara began wearing a hijab to cover up the bruises at school.
Teachers had twice noticed marks on her face and referred her to social services last March, but the case was dropped within days and the following month Sara was taken out of school.
Flight to Pakistan
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 Gatwick airport.
In his trial, Sharif initially blamed Batool for the violence before dramatically accepting "full responsibility", leaving jurors open mouthed and tearful.
He later appeared to backtrack, denying he had bitten or burned Sara or covered her head in a hood.
Jurors heard that bite marks on Sara's arm and thigh did not match either Sharif or Malik and only Batool had refused to give impressions of her teeth.
Jurors heard that Sharif had been granted custody in 2019, despite earlier allegations of child abuse and arrests for alleged controlling behaviour towards ex-girlfriends.
Concerns raised about Sara's care
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 that 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.
Delivering his sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Cavanagh said Sara's death was a "culmination of years of neglect", "frequent assault" and "torture".
Addressing the defendants in the dock, he said what happened to the 10-year-old was "almost inconceivable" and that none of them had shown "a shred of remorse".
The judge added: "It is no exaggeration to describe the campaign of abuse against Sara as torture."
"Profound weaknesses in our child protection system"
Sir Keir Starmer described the case as "awful" and stressed the importance of safeguards for children being home-schooled.
Children's Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said the case highlighted "profound weaknesses in our child protection system".
Maria Neophytou, acting chief executive of the NSPCC, said it was an "absolutely shocking case" raising "crucial questions" about child protection.
Rachael Wardell, from Surrey County Council, said that until an independent safeguarding review has concluded, a "complete picture cannot be understood or commented upon".
"I ask God to please take care of my little girl"
Sara's mother, Olga Sharif, said in a statement: "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's siblings and half-siblings who were taken to Pakistan following her murder remain in the city of Jhelum, with their paternal grandfather. Efforts to return them to the UK are still ongoing.