Sara Sharif latest: Father and stepmother of murdered schoolgirl face sentencing at Old Bailey

Every time such a tragedy occurs, there is an outpouring of grief and anger, followed promises of lessons learned and systemic reforms. Yet here we are again, asking the same devastating question: Why do these failures keep happening?

As someone deeply involved in child protection and policy through Manchester Met’s Institute for the Future of Children, particularly in my work on child practice reviews and safeguarding responses in Wales and wider work across England in safeguarding partnerships, these cases are personal.

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Separately, a report released by the Child Protection Practices Review Commission a day after the verdict in Sarah’s case found that 485 children in England died or were seriously injured by abuse or neglect between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.

Commission chair Annie Hudson described Sarah’s case as “painful” as it called for a collaborative approach to child protection, with the need for teachers, nurses, doctors, social workers, the police and other professionals to share information to understand what is happening in a child’s life.

Surrey County Council said an independently-led safeguarding review – known as the Local Child Protection Practice Review (LCSPR) – of all professionals who had contact with Sarah’s family was underway.

Such reviews aim to identify learning from cases and although no time frame is given, reports are usually expected to be published within six months.

Sara Sharif’s case is “completely unspeakable”, said the education secretary.

Bridget Phillipson told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “What we have seen and heard throughout the progress of the criminal trial is beyond words.

“The level of violence that the poor young girl experienced was absolutely sickening.”

She added: “I am pleased that her killers will face justice today at sentencing.”

As part of the previously announced social protection reforms for children, the Government announced that it will introduce a new obligation for parents that, if their child is under investigation for child protection or is on a child protection plan – which means that the child is suspected of being at risk of significant harm – they will need the consent of the local authorities to educate them at home.

The plans, under the Child Welfare Act, also include requiring local authorities to keep records of out-of-school children, to avoid children slipping under the radar.

The bill has not yet started to go through parliament, but it is understood that it could be introduced in the Commons as early as next week.

England’s children’s commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, described it as “madness” that a child at risk could be taken out of school and called for a change in the law to prevent children suspected of being victims of abuse from being educated at home.

She called on the Government to introduce its reforms “without delay”.

The Department for Education said its plans would bring greater safeguards for home-schooled children “so that this can never be used to cover up abuse”.

Sara Sharif’s grandfather says he will fight to keep her siblings in Pakistan, calling it “the safest place for them”.

Muhammad Sharif, the paternal grandfather of the murdered 10-year-old, said he would appeal to the High Court in Pakistan to prevent Sarah’s five siblings from returning to the UK, the Sunday Times reports.

Sara’s siblings remain in the city of Jhelum, and efforts to get them back to the UK are still ongoing.

Their identities are protected by a court order.

They were taken to Pakistan by Urfan Sharif, Sarah’s stepmother Beinash Batool and her uncle Faisal Malik on August 9 last year, the day before Sarah’s body was discovered on a bunk bed at the family’s home in Woking, Surrey.

Upon arrival, they were left in the care of their paternal grandfather, but were taken into state care after Pakistani police discovered them during an attempt to locate Sharif, Batool and Malik.

The children are now back in the care of their grandfather.

He told The Sunday Times: “Legal proceedings regarding the custody of the children are ongoing in the Lahore High Court.

“They are enrolled in a reputable school, and we ensure their safety by personally transporting them to and from school.

“I am their guardian and this is the safest place for them to live, they have a relationship with me and they don’t want to leave me. We will win the case.”

Following the conviction of Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, for her murder and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, for causing or allowing her death, previously unreported details of the family’s contact with social services and the courts have emerged.

– Concerns were raised about Sara’s care within a week of her birth in 2013, and her parents Urfan and Olga Sharif were known to social services as early as 2010.

– Surrey County Council has repeatedly raised “significant concerns” that Sarah is likely to suffer physical and emotional abuse from her parents.

– There were three sets of family court proceedings, but allegations that Urfan Sharif physically abused Sara and her siblings were never tested in court.

– Sara was returned to her parents’ care several times before she was finally placed with her father and stepmother in their home in Woking in 2019, four years before she was killed there.

At his trial, Sharif initially blamed Batool for the violence before dramatically accepting “full responsibility”, leaving jurors speechless and in tears.

He later appeared to backtrack, denying that he bit or burned Sarah or covered her head with a hood.

Jurors heard that the bite marks on Sara’s arm and thigh did not match Sharif or Malik, and only Batool refused to take impressions of her teeth.

Jurors heard that Sharif was granted custody in 2019, despite previous allegations of child abuse and arrests for allegedly controlling ex-girlfriends.

Documents later released by the family court revealed they were concerned about Sarah’s care within a week of her birth in 2013 and her parents were known to social services as early as 2010.

Surrey County Council has repeatedly raised “significant concerns” that Sarah is likely to suffer physical and emotional abuse from her parents.

There have been three sets of family court proceedings, but allegations that Sharif physically abused Sarah and her siblings were never tested in court.

Sara was returned to her parents’ care several times before she was finally placed with her father and stepmother, four years before she was killed.

Even as she lay dying in Batool’s lap last August 8, taxi driver Sharif came home and punched her in the stomach for “faking it”.

Batool told her sister that Sharif was going to “beat the whore” out of his daughter, but she did nothing to stop it, even calling him home from work to hand out punishments, the court was told.

The abuse became so “normalized” that student Malik did not react after he moved in with his family in December 2022.

By January 2023, Sara has started wearing a hijab to cover her bruises at school.

Teachers noticed marks on her face twice and referred her to social services last March, but the case was dropped within days and Sara was taken out of school the following month.

Within hours of Sara’s death, Sharif and Batool booked flights to Pakistan for the entire family, including her siblings and half-siblings.

The accused returned to the UK on September 13, 2023 – leaving the children behind – and were detained within minutes of the flight landing at Gatwick Airport.

Sara Sharif’s father and stepmother would later be convicted of murdering the 10-year-old after years of horrific abuse.

Last week, Urfan Sharif, 42, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, were found guilty of her murder after a trial at the Old Bailey.

Her uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, who lived with them, was convicted of causing or facilitating her death after the jury deliberated for nine hours and 46 minutes.

The three defendants will return to the Old Bailey on Tuesday when Mr Cavanagh’s sentencing is expected to be broadcast from the court.

Sarah was found dead in a bunk bed at her home in Woking, Surrey, after her father called police from Pakistan to admit he had “beat her too much”.

She suffered more than 25 broken bones, iron burns on her bottom, burn marks on her legs and human bites during a campaign of abuse that lasted at least two years.

Sharif hit her with a cricket bat and an iron bar, choked her and threw a mobile phone at her head.

Sara was also bound with duct tape and her head was covered with a makeshift hood during regular attacks that would leave her in excruciating pain, jurors heard.