The father and stepmother of Sara Sharif have been jailed for life for killing the 10-year-old girl after years of “almost inconceivable” abuse.
Urfan Sharif, 42, and Beinash Batool, 30, were found guilty of Sara’s murder last week following a trial at the Old Bailey. Her uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, who lived with them, was convicted of causing or allowing her death.
At their sentencing on Tuesday, Urfan Sharif was given a minimum term of 40 years, while Beinash Batool was handed a minimum term of 33 years. Malik, who was convicted of causing or allowing Sara’s death, was jailed for 16 years.
In a victim statement read out in court, Sara sharif’s mother Olga Sharif described them as “executioners”, while a judge said Sara’s death was a “culmination of years of neglect”, “frequent assault” and “torture” for none of them had shown “a shred of remorse”.
The case has been described by prime minister Sir Keir Starmer as “awful” and the NSPCC as “absolutely shocking”. Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said it highlighted “profound weaknesses in our child protection system”.
Sara Sharif, 10, was subjected to years of horrific abuse. (PA)
Sara was found dead in a bunkbed at her home in Woking, Surrey, on 10 August last year 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.
Within hours of her death, Sharif and Batool had booked flights to Pakistan for the whole family, including her siblings and half siblings. They 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.
Sentencing all three on 17 December at the Old Bailey, 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”.
He went on to describe some of the 71 “fresh” injuries found on Sara’s body during the post-mortem, including two open burn wounds on her buttocks from an iron, a break in her hyoid neck bone, six human bite marks and a brain injury.
‘Sadists and cowards’
Earlier, Sara’s mother Olga Sharif described her killers as “sadists” and “cowards”.
A victim impact statement by Sara’s mother Olga Sharif read to the court by prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC said: “Sara was always smiling. She had her own unique character. The only thing I had left to give to my daughter was to give her a beautiful Catholic funeral that she deserves.
“She is now an angel who looks down on us from heaven, she is no longer experiencing violence.
“To this day, I can’t understand how someone can be such a sadist to a child.
Addressing the defendants in the dock, she said: “You are sadists although even this word is not enough for you. I would say, you are executioners.”
What did Urfan Sharif do?
Sharif hit Sara with a cricket bat and iron bar, throttled her, and threw a mobile phone at her head, the court was told over the weeks-long trial. She 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 heard.
Even as she lay dying in Batool’s lap on 8 August, Sharif came home and hit her in the stomach for “pretending”.
Batool 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 heard.
Urfan Sharif, 43, said he took full responsiblity for the violence meted out to Sara. (Reuters)
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.
Despite initially blaming Batool for the violence meted out to Sara, Sharif accepted “full responsibility” during his trial. He admitted beating the 10-year-old “severely” over several weeks because he had been angry at her for soiling herself and vomiting, including striking her across the abdomen with a metal pole as she lay dying.
However, he later appeared to backtrack, denying he had bitten or burned Sara or covered her head in a hood.
During sentencing, Sharif’s lawyer Naeem Mian KC sought mitigation saying his client “accepts responsibility for that which he did” and that no explanation had been given for the “horrific” burns and bite marks on Sara’s body that he had denied inflicting.
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”. (PA)
Batool declined the opportunity to give evidence herself at the trial, and in an interview with police answered only no comment – including when asked if she loved Sara.
At one point in proceedings, Sharif tried to shift responsibility onto Batool, branding her “evil” and a “psycho”,.
Under questioning, he suggested he was “made to” beat Sara on the 30-year-old’s instruction after his daughter was accused of fighting, hiding food, cutting her own hair or scribbling on walls.
He also claimed Batool was responsible for bite marks on Sara’s body which he denied inflicting.
Sharif and his brother Malik provided their dental impressions to show they were not responsible for the bite marks, but Batool refused to provide hers, the court was told.
Sharif also told the court he had returned home one day to find his wife had bound Sara’s hands with packing tape.
But despite his claims, he later dramatically accepted “full responsibility”, leaving jurors open mouthed and tearful.
What was Faisal Malik convicted of?
Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik was convicted of causing or allowing Sara’s death by knowing that she was being subjected to a sustained “campaign of abuse” in the family home he shared with her, her father and her stepmother.
The university student and part-time McDonald’s worker had moved in in December 2022 and was present when screaming and slapping was going on, the court heard.
Malik, however, claimed to have been unaware of what was going on, while Sharif also insisted that everything was kept separate from Malik because he would have told their father.