Murdered schoolgirl Sara Sharif ‘was a victim of domestic abuse from birth’

Sara Sharif was murdered after a series of failures by the safeguarding system that should have saved her life, a damning review has found.

The 10-year-old was found dead in her Woking family home in August 2023, after suffering ‘horrific abuse’ at the hands of her father Urfan Sharif and stepmother Beinash Batool.

Sara had been ‘a victim of domestic abuse from birth onwards’, the latest report found.

Her father’s cruelty had been overlooked and underestimated, it said, with even safeguarding authorities appearing to have been ‘groomed and manipulated’ by him.

Missed opportunities included a council worker being sent to the wrong house as the address had not been updated in the digital system – just two days before Sara died.

When her father emailed her school to say he intended to educate his daughter at home, he undoubtedly intended ‘to keep Sara hidden from view in the last weeks of her life’, the report concluded.

The review, which looked into the handling of Sara’s care by various different services including police, health, social care and education, found there were ‘many points at which different action could, and we suggest, should, have been taken’.

Sharif and Batool were found guilty of Sara’s murder last year, and both were jailed for life with minimum terms of 40 years and 33 years respectively in December.

Her uncle, Faisal Malik, was found guilty of causing or allowing her death and jailed for 16 years.

Will Forster, the Liberal Democrat MP for Woking, called for a full parliamentary investigation to take place into the failings.

He said: ‘It is now painfully clear that Sara’s murderers exploited loopholes in the home education system to conceal their abuse.

‘Legislation is urgently needed to prevent this happening again.’

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the local child safeguarding practice review ‘highlights the glaring failures and missed opportunities across all agencies which led to Sara’s death’.

Terence Herbert, the chief executive of Surrey County Council, said the local authority was ‘deeply sorry for the findings in the report’.

He said: ‘We have already taken robust action to address those relating to Surrey County Council and that work will continue with every recommendation implemented in full.

‘We will also work with partners across the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership to ensure a joint action plan is implemented as quickly as possible.

‘In recent years children’s services in Surrey have gone from “inadequate” to “good”, and we are absolutely determined to keep making improvements that can help keep children safe.’

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