Schoolgirl Sara Sharif was discovered dead with “disturbing” injuries which included bitemarks, scalding and broken bones, in what has been described as a “campaign of abuse”.
She was found at her family home in Woking after her father, Urfan Sharif, called Surrey Police from Pakistan to say he had “legally punished” the schoolgirl but that she had died.
Officers discovered the 10-year-old’s body in a bedroom at an address on Hammond Road on 10 August last year, with a handwritten note from her father reading: “I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it”, before adding he was running away.
The court heard she had suffered “extensive” injuries over a prolonged period.
Urfan Sharif, 42, is standing trial at the Old Bailey alongside Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and her uncle Faisal Malik, 29, who are all accused of killing her.
The defendants, formerly of Hammond Road in Woking, have pleaded not guilty to her murder and to causing or allowing the death of a child between 16 December 2022 and 9 August 2023.
The trial before Mr Justice Cavanagh is due to go on until 13 December.
Key Points
- Urfan Sharif called Surrey Police to say ‘I’ve killed my daughter’
- Note found next to Sara’s body
- Prosecution say all three defendants are ‘responsible’ for her death
Trial adjourns for the day
16:12
Holly Evans
The trial of Sara Sharif’s father, stepmother and uncle has been adjourned for the day and will resume on Tuesday at 10.30am.
Defendants seeking to ‘deflect the blame’ onto one another
15:50
Holly Evans
The prosecutor told the jury that all three defendants “played their part” in the violence and it was “inconceivable” that just one of them had acted alone.
Mr Emlyn Jones KC said: “Each of them denies that they were the one responsible for any of that violence and abuse.
“Each of them seeks to deflect the blame onto one or both of the others, to shift responsibility away from themselves, onto someone else.
“In other words, they are pointing the finger at each other.”
Jurors were told Sharif’s case was that his wife, Batool, was responsible for Sara’s death and his confession was false to protect her.
Batool accused Sharif of being a violent disciplinarian and she was fearful of her husband, while Malik’s case is that whoever was responsible it was not him and he was unaware of what was going on.
Schoolgirl had suffered ‘disturbing’ bite marks
15:08
Holly Evans
Sara Sharif was “beaten” with objects and had suffered from human bite marks on her lower left arm and inner thigh, the court heard.
An examination of the 10-year-old’s body also found a “pattern of injuries” and “signs of traumatic brain injury”, the prosecution said.
Regarding the leg injury, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones said it had “marks which indicated that the teeth had been dragged across the surface and with central bruising probably the result of suction.”
While Sharif and Malik had provided dental impressions for comparison which had ruled them out, Batool had refused to do so.
Other injuries included to Sara’s ribs, shoulder blades, fingers and 11 separate fractures to the spine, Mr Emlyn Jones said.
Beinash Batool described Sara’s death as an ‘incident’
14:51
Holly Evans
Following media interest in Sara’s death, Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool appeared in a video clip which was shared and broadcast with Sky News.
In the short clip, Battol described her stepdaughter’s death as an “incident”.
She then went on to a “litany of complaints” about the conduct of the Pakistani police and their investigation.
She explains, at the end of the clip, that they have gone into hiding because they fear the police; but, she said, they were willing to comply with the UK authorities and to “fight our case in court”.
They were arrested a week later after boarding a flight to Gatwick on 13 September.
Audio call played of stepmother booking flights to Pakistan
14:37
Holly Evans
A recording has been played to jurors of Beinash Batool attempting to book flights to Islamabad with Southall Travel at 9.07pm on 8 August.
Describing her tone as “calm”, she can be heard asking about different flights and prices, but fails to book onto any of the journeys due to issues with different cards being declined.
Instead, Urfan Sharif contacted another individual who had owned a money transferring business that he had previously used, and they succeeded in paying for flights on Faisal Malik’s card.
CCTV shows them arriving at Heathrow airport the next day, before heading to Terminal 3 to board their 2pm flights.
Note left next to pillow sees Urfan Sharif admit killing his daughter
14:28
Holly Evans
A note was left next to the pillow where Sara was discovered from her father, in which he says it was not his intention to kill her, and that he was running away.
On the first piece of paper, he had written: “Love you Sara.”
A second piece read: “Whoever see this note its me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating. I am running away because I am scared but I promise that I will hand over myself and take punishment.’
“I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her but I lost it. My daughter is Muslim. Can you burry (sic) her like Muslim may be. I will be back before you finish the postmortem.”
Jurors heard that a handwriting expert had confirmed the writing to be that of Urfan Sharif.
Sara found in bedroom fully clothed in bunkbed
14:22
Holly Evans
Jurors have heard that Sara was discovered in the upstairs bedroom of the family home in Woking under a blue blanket.
Officers found her fully clothed, although Mr Emlyn-Jones said that it was believed she had been dressed in clean clothes after she had died.
At the time she was found, the only visible injuries were some bruises to her face and to one of her fingers.
Trial resumes
14:13
Holly Evans
The jury have re-entered the courtroom and the trial is set to resume.
Trial breaks for lunch
13:04
Holly Evans
The trial of Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik is breaking for lunch and will resume at 2pm.
We’ll continue to bring you the latest updates.
Jurors hear 999 call made by Sharif
12:58
Holly Evans
In a harrowing phone call that lasts over eight minutes, jurors heard Urfan Sharif reporting his daughter’s death to Surrey Police, telling them: “I beat her up, it wasn’t my intention to kill her but I beat her up too much.”
He can be heard crying down the phone, pleading with officers to visit the address and saying: “Can you send someone, my daughter is alone.”
Asked what had happened, he said: “I think she was naughty over the last three, four weeks and I was giving her punishment to sort her out and I did something and she died.”
When asked if she was breathing, he said: “I tried to resuscitate her I tried to give her CPR everything but I failed, I panicked.
“She is dead I am telling you.”
He adds that he will return to the property and told the operator: “It happened 36 hours ago, I’m a cruel father.”
Prosecution say all three defendants are ‘responsible’ for her death
12:39
Holly Evans
The court heard that at the “heart of this case lies a simple but depressing truth” - a young girl had died after being subjected to serious violence.
Outlining the Crown’s case, Mr Emlyn Jones KC said: “The prosecution case is that it is inconceivable that one of the adults alone, or two of them, could have carried out what amounts to a campaign of abuse without the complicity, participation, assistance and encouragement of the others.
“None of them ever reported Sara’s abuse to any outside agency, who could have intervened; Sara’s medical records tell us that none of the injuries she received was ever reported, or shown to a doctor, or to staff at her school; no outside help was called.
“None of the defendants did anything to prevent what was happening to Sara, as they surely would have done if they had not been complicit in what was happening.
“The prosecution case is that they are all responsible for her death, and they are all guilty of her murder.”
Schoolgirl had suffered ‘appalling’ and ‘brutal’ abuse for weeks
12:31
Holly Evans
Detailing the injuries Sara had suffered, Mr Emlyn-Jones KC said that an examination of her body had revealed a “terrible truth”.
He told the Old Bailey: “When Urfan Sharif said, in that call, ‘I beat her up’, he came nowhere near to describing the extent of the violence and physical abuse Sara had suffered; not just at the time of her death, but repeatedly, over time.
“She had been the victim of assault and physical abuse for weeks and weeks, at least.”
This included dozens of separate injuries both externally and internally, extensive bruising, burns, and broken bones.
“So no, Sara had not just been beaten up. Her treatment, certainly in the last few weeks of her life, had been appalling; it had been brutal. And throughout, these three defendants were the adults living in the house where Sara had lived; where she had suffered; and where she had died,” he said.
Note found next to Sara’s body
12:27
Holly Evans
Jurors heard that after providing the address, police attended the address in Woking which was “quiet and seemingly empty”.
“In an upstairs bedroom, on a bottom bunk bed, the police found the body of a little girl, lying in bed, under the cover, as if asleep. But she was not asleep. She was dead. Her name was Sara Sharif, and she had been just ten years old when she was killed,” Mr Emlyn-Jones KC said.
A note was discovered next to her body in Urfan Sharif’s handwriting, which read: “It’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating”, and “I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it”.
He had also written that he was running away as he was “scared”.
Urfan Sharif called Surrey Police to say ‘I’ve killed my daughter’
12:22
Holly Evans
Opening the prosecution’s case, Mr Emlyn Jones KC said: “We need to cast our minds back to Thursday 10th of August 2023, last summer. That Thursday, at 2.47am in the morning here in the UK, a call was made to the Surrey Police. The caller was the first defendant Urfan Sharif. His call to the police lasted for eight-and-a-half minutes and a recording of it was made.
“In that call, Urfan Sharif began by asking the operator to take down his address. It’s difficult to hear what he is saying because it sounds like he’s crying. The operator interrupts and says ‘take a deep breath and tell me what has happened’.
He continued: “999 operators are used to hearing all kinds of dreadful things, but this one cannot have expected the answer he got to that question. Urfan Sharif told him ‘I’ve killed my daughter’. He used an odd expression: ‘I legally punished her, and she died.’
“A little later, when asked for more detail, he added ‘she was naughty’, and then ‘I beat her up, it wasn’t my intention to kill her, but I beat her up too much’.”
Trial begins
11:52
Holly Evans
The jury in the trial of Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik have entered the courtroom at the Old Bailey.
Prosecutor William Emlyn-Jones KC is now expected to open the prosecution’s case against Mr Justice Cavanagh.
All three deny murder charges
11:26
Holly Evans
The defendants have pleaded not guilty to her murder and to causing or allowing the death of a child between December 16 2022 and August 9 2023.
Last week, a jury was selected in the trial of Sharif, Batool and Malik, formerly of Hammond Road in Woking.
The prosecutor is expected to open the trial this morning.
In pictures: Sara Sharif
10:26
Holly Evans
How long will the trial last?
09:59
Albert Toth
All three defendants, formerly of Hammond Road in Woking, have pleaded not guilty to her murder and to causing or allowing the death of Sara Sharif between 16 December 2022 and 9 August 2023.
The jury was selected last week with prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC due to open the case on Monday at the Old Bailey.
The trial before Mr Justice Cavanagh is due to go on until 13 December.
Sara Sharif trial to begin
09:59
Albert Toth
Urfan Sharif, 42, her stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and her uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of killing 10-year-old family member Sara.
They are all standing trial over her death.
The child’s body was found at her home in Surrey on 10 August.
