Pakistani father, stepmother jailed for life for killing 10-yr-old in UK

The father and stepmother of a 10-year-old girl whose body was discovered in her bed at Woking in Surrey, south-east England, after the family had fled to Pakistan were on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment.

Urfan Sharif, 43, and Beinash Batool, 30, had been found guilty of murdering Sara Sharif following what the court heard was a "campaign of abuse" and "torture".

While Sharif was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison before being considered for parole, Batool received a minimum term of 33 years. Sara's uncle, Faisal Malik, who was living in the house at the time, was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment for causing or allowing the death of a child.

"The degree of cruelty involved is almost inconceivable," Justice Patrick Cavanagh said during a lengthy sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court in London.

Last week, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was able to prove that all three were complicit in causing the death of the 10-year-old at the same court.

"None of us can imagine how appalling and brutal Sara's treatment was in the last few weeks of her short life. The injuries inflicted on her were absolutely horrendous," said Libby Clark, CPS Specialist Prosecutor at Complex Casework Unit.

"Sara was a happy, outgoing and lively child described as always laughing, who was cruelly abused and murdered by those closest to her… After Sara died, instead of calling 999, the three defendants immediately made plans to flee the country, thinking only of themselves and not telling police Sara was dead until they had safely landed in Pakistan," she said.

The jury heard that Sara was a victim of assaults and abuse for weeks, with injuries including fractures, burns, bruising and a traumatic head injury.

Such was the severity of her injuries leading up to her death that the post-mortem concluded that Sara died from complications from multiple injuries and neglect and could not give a definitive cause of death.

Specialist doctors and pathologists who examined Sara's body found evidence of around 100 separate internal and external injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, multiple broken bones, extensive bruising and scarring.

There was also evidence of burns, including one on Sara's buttocks that had been intentionally inflicted using a domestic iron and human bite marks. Many of the injuries that Sara suffered had been inflicted using implements, including a cricket bat, a vacuum, and a metal pole.

After Sara died at the family home on August 8 last year, her stepmother called a travel agency to enquire about flights to Pakistan. Her father eventually booked the one-way flights for the next day. Sharif, Batool, and Malik then fled the UK to Pakistan with five of Sara's siblings, aged between one and 13 years at the time. A note was found next to Sara's body in Sharif's handwriting, in which he admitted to being responsible for her death.

"This case has shocked and horrified not only those who knew and loved her but people across the country and around the world. On 10 August 2023, we received a phone call from [Urfan] Sharif in which he told the operator that his daughter had died as a result of his actions," said Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Chapman from the Surrey Police and Sussex Police Major Crime Team, which led the investigation.

The trio returned to the UK from Islamabad on September 13 last year and were arrested on arrival at the airport. Sharif, Batool and Malik all accepted that the abuse to Sara took place within the family home in the weeks leading up to her death, but all denied murdering her.

The CPS said that timelines were produced to account for the whereabouts of each defendant hour by hour and day by day during the relevant period. The court also heard evidence from neighbours of shouting and screaming, including a "single high-pitched scream" two days before Sara's death, which was described as sounding like a scream of someone in pain.

Sara started to wear a hijab to school from January 2023, which hid much of her face. The school noticed bruising to her face, which was only visible when the hijab moved away from her face. Soon, her father emailed the school to say Sara would be home-schooled with immediate effect.

The judge made a specific point about this practice, and coinciding with the case, UK Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson expedited the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill in Parliament to ensure that local authorities have the power to intervene if a child's home environment is assessed as unsuitable or unsafe.