Inside Sara Sharif's life of violence and torture as father and stepmother found guilty of murder
11 December 2024, 19:43 | Updated: 11 December 2024, 19:53
Inside Sara Sharif's life of violence and torture as her father and stepmother are found guilty of murder.
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Sara Sharif's broken and battered body was found under bed covers in her family home on August 10 last year.
It came after police received a call from her father, Urfan Sharif, saying he had killed his daughter after he "beat her up too much".
Next to a pillow on her bed, he left a note reading: "I lost it."
A post mortem examination found that the 10-year-old died from a number of injuries and neglect - with her body left covered in bruises and bite marks. She had a traumatic head injury and multiple broken bones.
There were also signs of restraint with packaging tape and evidence of iron burns.
Homemade hoods made of plastic bags and a cricket bat with Sara's blood on it were uncovered during a search of the house.
It was a brutal end for a young girl who was remembered by her teachers as a "cheerful little soul". She loved singing and dreamed of going on The X Factor.
Sara's father and stepmother, Beinash Batool, were found guilty of her murder on Wednesday. Her uncle Faisal Malik was convicted of causing or allowing her death.
Giving evidence in his trial, Sharif initially blamed Batool for the violence, claiming he was working when his daughter was abused.
Batool and university student Malik refused to give evidence but denied involvement.
It was claimed on Batool's behalf that Sharif was the "sole perpetrator" of the violence against his "spirited, bold and fierce" daughter.
In the years leading up to Sara's death, authorities had repeated contact with her family amid concerns for her welfare.
Sara was born on January 11, 2013 at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough.
Before she was even born, Sara's family was known to police and children's services.
Police were involved four times between 2010 and 2012 while children's services were in contact from 2010, amid concerns over one of Sara's siblings.
Sara was under a care order soon after her birth, following several violent incidents with both of her siblings.
The local authority was given legal responsibility of all three children, with Sara being taken into foster care for a short period in November 2014.
Sara was initially returned to Sharif in 2015 on the understanding that his then-wife Olga Sharif moved out.
He had claimed Ms Sharif had bitten another child and "abused" Sara during their marriage.
She then accused Sharif of domestic abuse and child abuse leading to Sara being sent back to live with her.
In the intervening years, Sharif had supervised contact with his daughter then won custody again after Sara accused her mother of abuse in 2019.
Neither party was ever charged over their alleged abuse in the home and Sharif's pattern of behaviour went unchanged, the court was told.
Within two years of getting Sara back, Batool was confiding in her sister that Sharif "beat the c**p" out of his daughter.
She said she wanted to report what was going on - but neither Batool nor anyone else in her family acted.
A former neighbour recalled children's screams reaching "fever pitch" when she lived above the Sharif family's former flat in West Byfleet, Surrey, between 2018 and 2020.
She told jurors she would hear smacks coming from the flat as well as doors rattling as if in an attempt to open them.
Beinash Batool gives chilling lack of response as she's interviewed by police for murder
Chloe Redwin, who moved into the upstairs flat in November 2022, said she heard a smack and scream followed by "go to your room".
When she commented on Sara's hijab, Batool shut down the conversation saying the girl wanted to "follow her religion", even though none of the other females in the family wore a Muslim head covering.
To many others, the truth of what Sara was suffering behind closed doors remained hidden beneath a veneer of respectability.
Sara was always clean and well turned out with Sharif working hard as a taxi driver and Batool keeping the family home immaculate.
However, teachers saw a different side to Batool when she was caught swearing at children at the school gates.
More red flags were raised when Sara turned up at school with bruises on her face in June 2022 and again in March 2023, despite attempts to cover them in a hijab.
Sara's despair briefly surfaced when she came into class and buried her head in her arms on a desk.
When asked what was wrong, she turned away and would not talk about it.
A referral was made to social services after the second incident - only for that to be shut down within days.
Sara Sherif seen playing instrument in released footage
The next month, Sara was taken out of school entirely and the violence against her escalated in the final weeks of her life.
She was physically broken, causing her to vomit and become incontinent, giving Sharif even more excuses to beat her up for making a mess and soiling herself.
When that failed to satisfy her father's idea of discipline, she was put in a nappy, tied up with packaging tape and her head covered in a homemade hood and beaten even more, it was claimed in court.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said the reality was that violence against Sara had become so "normalised" no-one batted an eyelid at her bruises during a family barbecue.
Her spirit shone through on video taken just two days before her death showing her smiling and dancing at home, despite enduring the excruciating pain of multiple broken bones and iron burns on her bottom.
A handwritten notebook found after her death provided a further glimpse into Sara's inner world.
She wrote a fairystory in which "Sara" was a princess and "Beinash" was a queen.
Libby Clark, specialist prosecutor for CPS South East, said: "Seeing the footage of Sara laughing and joking even when she had signs of injuries to her body and knowing what a happy child she was at school, she loved singing and dancing and knowing what happened to her, those are the most affecting parts of the case."
