Sara Sharif's father issued chilling warning after 'having neck sliced open with tuna can lid in prison ambush'
3 January 2025, 19:18 | Updated: 3 January 2025, 19:22
Sara Sharif's father has been issued a chilling warning after he had his neck slashed with the lid of a tuna can in a prison attack.
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Urfan Sharif, 43, was ambushed by two inmates in his cell in HMP Belmarsh on New Year's Day.
He had his throat sliced open with the jagged lid of a tuna can, with there now being fears that others will attempt copycat attacks.
A source told The Sun: "He has a target on his back because of who he is and what he did.
"He will always be looking over his shoulder and, if anything, is even more of a target now.
"Other inmates will not stop because he has been attacked once.
"Just look at people like Ian Huntley, who is another child killer, and has been attacked multiple times inside."
They said the prison and its staff would "do their utmost to keep him safe", with him potentially being isolated.
However, they warned "he won’t be able to escape other cons indefinitely".
It comes after the paper revealed that Sharif was "sliced up badly" in a "planned" attack, with the attackers using a makeshift weapon.
“He was sliced in the neck and face, and is still in healthcare and in a very bad way," sources said.
“He was lucky to survive, has had to have stitches and will have scars as a permanent reminder of the attack. The guards tried to keep him safe because he obviously had a target on his back after the case was such big news.
“Something like this was always on the cards, and an attack was probably only a matter of time.
“Sharif has tried to keep his head down since coming into the jail, but word quickly got round about who he was.
“Inmates were not happy he is in there with them and, although the other prisoners are in for heinous crimes, a lot of them don’t like people who attack children.
“A lot of them are saying how it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy.”
Last night, the Prison Service said: “Police are investigating an assault on a prisoner at HMP Belmarsh on January 1.
“It would be inappropriate to comment while they investigate.”
A spokesman for the Met police told the Sun they are investigating “an allegation that a prisoner was assaulted at Belmarsh”.
He added: “The 43-year-old suffered non life-threatening injuries.”
Sharif was handed a life sentence just weeks ago after being found guilty of murdering his daughter, who was just 10.
He was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years after Sara was 'beaten to death' at the family home, with the judge highlighting “the degree of cruelty involved is almost inconceivable”.
Sara's step-mother, Beinash Batool, 30, was sentenced to 33 years in prison for her involvement in the case.
Her uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment after being found guilty of causing or allowing her death.
Former prison governor Vanessa Frake warned that they would be seen as "the lowest of the low" in prison.
She told the Mirror: "There is a hierarchical system between inmates. Those that murder, rape or molest children are seen as the lowest of the low.
"The dreadful abuse and murder of Sara Sharif has highlighted Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik to other prisoners.
"There will be no hiding from their crimes behind bars."
Sara'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, 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.
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.
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.
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.
Libby Clark, specialist prosecutor for CPS South East, previously 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."
