The father and stepmother of Sara Sharif have been jailed for life for murdering the 10-year-old at the end of a “despicable” campaign of torture and abuse.
Urfan Sharif, 43, and his wife Beinash Batool, 30, inflicted a catalogue of sickening injuries on young Sara before she ultimately died at their hands, with her body being left alone at home to be found by police.
Sara had suffered multiple broken bones across her body, she had bite and burn marks, and there was evidence she had been placed under a hood and tied up for long periods in the last months of her life.
Her father left a note with the body and later phoned police, essentially confessing to murder and blaming the horrific violence he had inflicted on Sara being “naughty”.
Mr Justice Cavanagh sentenced the killers to life in prison, ordering Sharif to serve at least 40 years in prison and handing Batool a minimum term of 33 years.
Sharif’s brother, Faisal Malik, 29, who was cleared of murder but convicted of causing or allowing the death of Sara was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The sentencing for Sharif was met with cheers from the public gallery, and a cry of “evil” was heard as the killers left the dock.
“Sara’s death was the culmination of years of neglect, frequent assaults, and what can only be described as torture of this small child, mainly but not entirely at the hands of you, her father, Urfan Sharif”, said the judge.
“The degree of cruelty involved is almost inconceivable.”
He said none of the defendants had “shown a shred of true remorse”, and added: “The courts of the Old Bailey are witness to many accounts of awful crimes, but few are more terrible than the account of the despicable treatment of this poor child the jury in this case have had to endure.”
He also paid tribute to Sara, a “beautiful little girl” with an “unquenchable spirit”, who died after “unbelievable” violence and abuse had become normal in her life.
The killers were branded “sadists”, “cowards”, and “executioners” by Sara’s grieving mother Olga, in an emotional impact statement read to the Old Bailey courtroom.
She watched court over a videolink from her native Poland, and said in her statement that Sara “was always smiling” and is “now an angel who looks down on us from heaven”.
“She is no longer experiencing violence”, she said.
“To this day, I can’t understand how someone can be such a sadist to a child.
“I hoped when Sara grew up we would meet but now that won’t happen. She left us too soon.
“I can’t understand what’s wrong with these people, how they allowed it.”
Speaking directly to the defendant, Olga said: “You are sadists, although even this word is not enough for you. I would say you are executioners.”
Sharif, Batool, and Malik all sat with their heads bowed as Sara’s horrifying suffering was detailed in court.
During their trial, Sharif pointed the finger at his “evil” and “psycho” wife, suggesting she was the one who had brutalised his daughter.
But in a shocking confession on the witness stand, taxi driver Sharif admitted he was responsible for attacks on Sara, including beating her with a cricket bat and a metal pole.
Both Sharif and Batool were convicted by a jury of murder, while Sharif’s brother, Faisal Malik, 28, was found guilty of standing by as Sara was relentless abused in the family home.
The judge concluded that Sharif was the main instigator of violence against Sara, and began beating her habitually from 2019 when she was placed back into his custody.
The little girl was treated as a “skivvy” within the family, while Sharif invented “unpleasant punishments such as standing against a wall holding her arms up, and making a small child do sit-ups”.
“You treated her as if she was worthless, you made no allowance for her age”, the judge added, saying Sharif boosted his “ego and sense of self-importance” by wielding power over Sara.
Naeem Mian KC, for Sharif, conceded Sara went through “horror” and her father “accepts at last that for which he is responsible”.
Caroline Carberry KC, for Batool, argued she played a secondary role in the abuse, and lived in an abusive marriage dominated by “controlling, manipulative, and violent” Sharif.
“He was the instigator of violence towards Sara and the long-term inflictor of violence on her”, she said.
She pointed to messages aired in the trial, in which Batool detailed Sharif’s anger, violent behaviour, and going “on the rampage”.
“Requests for help from her own family were ignored, and she was instructed to remain in the marriage, to make him happy”, she added.
The judge accepted Batool had, in brief moments, tried to help Sara by rubbing cream on her wounds and buying her new clothes. But he said she was a willing assistant in the violence and used make-up to conceal Sara’s bruises.
“You didn’t care enough about Sara to save her”, he said.
The judge accepted Batool had been in a controlling and coercive marriage, but concluded the stepmother had joined in the abuse of Sara towards the end of her life.
Detailing the “gruesome” abuse, he concluded Sharif and Batool had jointly tied up Sara using masking tape and skipping rope, before she was hooded with a plastic bag.
Batool was responsible for six bite marks on Sara’s body, and she had also helped Sharif to burn the ten-year-old with a household iron on her buttocks.
Sara is believed to have had boiling water poured on to her ankles, which were already wounded from being tied up.
Even when Sara lay dying, Sharif picked up a metal pole and beat his daughter, apparently to “punish” her for “faking” injury.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC told the court the “dreadful” murder of Sara did not fit the definition of sadistic murders which would usually qualify for a whole life prison sentence.
He detailed burns from a domestic iron, scalding from boiling liquid while Sara was restrained, and beatings with a cricket bat and broken high chair leg, and said the violence was planned.
“One aspect of the evidence that is perhaps absent is any evidence that pain was inflicted to Sara for the purpose of the defendants’ pleasure and personal gratification”, he said.
“The murder was not pre-planned, but we submit the violence to Sara was substantially premeditated - it plainly had become their routine attempts to discipline Sara for her perceived naughtiness or mis-behaviour.”
He added: “Unimaginable levels of pain, suffering, misery, and anxiety were caused to Sara for a long period prior to her death”, with no attempt to get medical help for her injuries and efforts instead put into covering up the crimes.
Batool was recorded “cooly” calling a travel agent within minutes of Sara’s death, to book flights for the family to Pakistan. Her body was washed and tucked into bed, while the home’s ring doorbell was removed and taken away.
At the end of the criminal trial, attention shifted to decisions taken during Sara’s short life that could have saved her from the abuse.
From birth, there were concerns for Sara’s safety as Sharif was already suspected of violence towards three separate women in his life, including Sara’s mother Olga.
Surrey County Council raised concerns about the family set-up, amid fears that Sharif was physically abusing her and her siblings.
However, the allegations were never tested in family court proceedings, and in 2019 Sara was placed in the custody of Sharif and Batool at their home in Woking, Surrey.
In 2013, there had been a report of another child being burned with an iron by Sharif, and the following year the same child had a bite mark on their arm.
Olga Sharif split from her husband during family court proceedings, and then said the allegations of abuse by him against the children were true.
The Old Bailey trial heard Sharif oversaw a “culture of violent discipline” within the family, including punishment beatings and sessions of restraint.
Sara was found dead on August 10 last year, two days after she had been murdered and after the family had already fled to Pakistan.
Sharif phoned police himself from Islamabad, saying: “I’ve killed my daughter. I legally punished her, and she died.”
A note was found beside the body, in which Sharif had written his confession.
But at trial he maintained his not guilty plea and tried to shift the blame on to his wife, suggesting she had been the violent one and he had been absent from the home for long periods while driving his taxi.
Six days into his evidence, Sharif cracked and said he “took full responsibility” for Sara’s death.
He made admissions about the violence he had meted out to his daughter, but cowardly refused to plead guilty.
Sharif was also insistent that he had not inflicted burn or bite marks on his daughter, while Batool stayed silent and did not give evidence.
Messages shown to the jury showed that Batool knew all about the violent ways of her husband.
Ms Carberry argued in mitigation that Batool had tried to stop the violence and leave the marriage.
“She expresses genuine remorse for Sara’s intended death, deep personal regret for remaining in her relationship with Urfan Sharif, and true sorrow that she did not remove (Sara) from harm.”
Malik, who arrived in the UK in December 2022, was a student at Portsmouth University and worked in McDonalds.
His barrister, Michael Ivers KC, highlighted he was cleared of murder, and had a “habit of getting out of the home, spending hours in nearby places”.
He argued there is “no evidence he was ever actually present when any violence took place”.
The trial also heard how school teachers had noticed bruising on Sara, which she attempted to hide.
She was forced to wear a hijab to try to conceal the signs of abuse, and then Sharif said he was withdrawing his daughter from school, in April 2023.
She was never again seen outside the family home.
In his sentencing remarks, the judge said all three defendants had been forced to return to the UK to stand trial because Sharif’s family “instructed you to do so as a result of the heat you were bringing on the wider family”.
The criminal case has led to calls for improvements in child protection and an overhaul of the law governing violence by parents to their own children.
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said: “What haunts me the most about Sara’s death is that her father used the words ‘I legally punished my child’, believing this to be a defence to murder.
“It is unthinkable that any parent or carer could hide behind our legal system to justify such cruelty – and yet, children living in England today have less protection from assault than adults.
“The law needs to change. The outdated defence in assault law that permits ‘reasonable chastisement’ of children must be removed as a matter of urgency.”
“Sara Sharif was a lively and joyful 10-year-old girl whose life was tragically cut short by the very people who should have protected and cared for her”, said Libby Clark from the Crown Prosecution Service.
“The evidence in this case painted a devastating picture of the suffering Sara experienced leading up to her death and the campaign of abuse she was being subjected to in her own family home.
“Her injuries revealed the extent of the cruelty inflicted upon her, while the defendants’ actions after her death demonstrated a shocking disregard for her life as they attempted to flee the country to evade justice, thinking only of themselves.”
