The father, stepmother and uncle of 10-year-old Sara Sharif have been charged with murder after police found her body at their Surrey home in August.
Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif, 41, her stepmother, Beinash Batool, 29, and her uncle, Faisal Malik, 28, flew to Pakistan with five children in August. Shortly after arriving, Sharif called emergency services in the UK to report that Sara was dead at their house in Horsell, near Woking.
The discovery of her body sparked an international police search after a postmortem examination found she had sustained “multiple and extensive injuries” over a “sustained and extended” period.
The three have also been charged with causing or allowing the death of a child. They have been remanded in custody to appear at Guildford magistrates court on Friday.
The trio travelled to Pakistan a day before police discovered Sara’s body in Woking on 10 August.
They were arrested on Wednesday evening at Gatwick airport as they disembarked a flight from Dubai. They had left Sialkot airport in Pakistan on Wednesday morning after negotiations with the police and British authorities, sources told the Guardian earlier.
Police said Sara’s mother has been informed of the latest development and was being supported by specialist officers.
The three had disappeared after their arrival in Pakistan. It was assumed that Urfan Sharif’s five children, aged between one and 13, were with him, but it emerged on Monday that they had been staying with their grandfather Muhammad Sharif at his home in Jhelum. They were found after a police raid and have been taken into care in Pakistan.
The Guardian reported on Sunday that Muhammad Sharif was negotiating with local politicians and police for the fugitives to come out of hiding and be handed over to the British authorities. They were said to be frightened of ill treatment if they were dealt with by police in Pakistan.
A Jhelum police official told the Guardian they felt “relieved” to have concluded a “really complicated case”.
