The uncle of a 10-year-old girl who was found dead in a village in Surrey has claimed that she fell down the stairs and broke her neck, according to police in Pakistan.
The body of Sara Sharif was found at her home in Horsell near Woking after officers were phoned from Pakistan by her father, Urfan Sharif, on 10 August.
Sharif, 41, his partner, Beinash Batool, 29, and his brother, Faisal Malik, 28, are suspects in the investigation and travelled to Pakistan a day before Sara’s death was discovered.
Sharif’s brother, Imran Sharif, is being held in police custody for questioning but is not under arrest, Jhelum police in the Punjab region told Sky News. He is understood to be assisting police and denied knowing where Urfan and his family were.
According to Jhelum police, Sharif claimed that Sara died after an accident at home. He is said to have told officers: “Beinash was home with the children. Sara fell down the stairs and broke her neck. Beinash panicked and phoned Urfan.”
Sara’s exact cause of death remains unknown, Surrey police said. However, the force said last week a postmortem revealed she “suffered multiple and extensive injuries”, which they said were “likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time”.
Surrey county council has also said Sara was previously known to authorities.
It is believed that Urfan briefly returned to his family home in Jhelum after leaving the UK. His brother Sharif also told police: “My parents told me Urfan briefly came home very upset.
“He kept saying ‘they’ are going to take his children away from him.”
Pakistani police are seeking to arrest Urfan Sharif, who travelled to the country with Batool and Malik as well as five children ranging from one to 13 years old.
Batool’s family home in Mirpur was searched but the family of eight were not at the property, Jhelum police told Sky News.
Surrey police are continuing to appeal for information and would like to speak to anyone who knew Sara, or her family.
A statement from the force said: “No piece of information is insignificant, so if you can help, please contact us.
“If you would like to stay anonymous, you can report information to Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111.”
There is no formal extradition treaty between the UK and Pakistan but people have been extradited from the south Asian country before.
Surrey police are working with the Crown Prosecution Service, Interpol, the National Crime Agency and the Foreign Office to carry out their investigation and to liaise with Pakistani authorities.
