Sara Sharif’s father and stepmother ‘should never have been trusted’ with her care, damning review finds
Sara Sharif’s abusive father and stepmother “should never have been trusted” with her care, a damning review finds has revealed she was failed by the care system.
The 10-year-old was found dead in a bunk bed at the family home in Woking, Surrey, in August 2023 after suffering months of horrific abuse from Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool.
A report published by the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership found the Sheriff’s abusive past was ignored and underestimated, and numerous opportunities to intervene were missed despite authorities having “a wealth of information”.
These included a home visit that was supposed to take place in the days before Sara’s murder, but municipal staff went to the wrong address.
“There are clearly various points in Sara’s life, particularly in the last few months, where different measures could and should have been taken and where the system failed to keep her safe,” the 62-page report said.
Sara was found to have 71 recent injuries at the time of her death, including 25 broken bones, iron burns on her butt, scald marks on her feet, and human bites.
Last December, Sharif was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison, while Batool was sentenced to a minimum of 33 years for the couple’s “sadistic” crimes. Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, was convicted of causing or allowing her death and was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Described as a brave and cheerful child, Sara was known to social services and concerns were first raised within a week of her birth in 2013. His parents were known in social services since 2010.
Surrey County Council has repeatedly expressed “significant concerns” that Sara is likely to suffer physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her parents.
There were three series of family court cases involving Sharif and Sara’s Polish biological mother, Olga, but allegations that Sharif physically abused Sara and her siblings were never examined in court.
Sara was repeatedly placed in the care of her family before she was finally returned to her father and stepmother four years before she was murdered.
The investigation found that his death was not due to “a specific malfunction in the protection system”. “Numerous factors have come together over the years to establish the foundations of the severe abuse she suffered at the hands of her father and stepmother,” the letter stated.
The court found there were numerous occasions when Sharif’s history as a serial perpetrator of domestic violence was “ignored, disregarded and underestimated by almost all professionals” who were in contact with the family.
Sharif was granted custody of Sara in 2019, despite previous allegations of child abuse and arrests for controlling behavior towards ex-girlfriends. These allegations included two allegations of false imprisonment of other Polish women in 2007 and 2009, but she was never charged.
The review said text messages between Batool and his sisters, revealed during the police investigation, showed that Sara began being attacked by her father “soon after moving in with him”.
The report also found there was nothing in the evidence provided by children’s services to suggest that race, culture, religion or heritage had been taken into account properly. Sara’s biological mother was given inconsistent access to Polish interpreters and was denied an interpreter during civil proceedings in 2019.
He noted that in the years leading up to Sara’s death, there were many events that “required more robust safeguarding processes”, including a two-day absence from school in March 2023, after which she returned to school “quietly and timidly” and suffered bruises on her cheek, eye and chin.
While Sara’s school referred her to social services, the case was closed within a few days without contacting the police.
The following month, Sharif emailed the school to inform them that he planned to homeschool his daughter; The review concluded that this move was undoubtedly made “to keep Sara out of the public eye in the final weeks of her life.”
A series of missed opportunities followed, with delays in correspondence and an old home address in the digital system resulting in a council worker visiting the wrong location just two days before Sara died.
Sara started wearing the hijab in 2021 when she was eight years old. The review said this concealed bruising and injuries to his face and head from the last two years of his life.
He said that although the school had shown “due curiosity”, there was no evidence in children’s services or health records that race, culture, religion or heritage had been “appropriately taken into account”, while expert advice from the local Muslim community suggested it would be “highly unusual” for such a young child to decide to wear a headscarf when other family members did not.
The review concluded that despite the information available in the system, “opportunities were missed to connect all the dots and recognize the dangers Sara faced when she moved in with her father and stepmother.”
Woking MP Will Forster said Sara had been failed repeatedly by the state. He said the safeguarding review “confirmed exactly what I feared, which was that the state, and particularly Surrey County Council, had failed Sara at every stage.”
Among 15 recommendations, the review authors called for improvements in how referrals to children’s services are handled, including elements such as resourcing and capacity, staff experience and qualifications. They also called for legal guidance to require a formal meeting with parents and professionals if a child, previously known for child social care, seeks home education.
Education minister Bridget Phillipson said the review “rightly highlights the glaring failures and missed opportunities across all institutions that led to Sara’s death”.
Surrey County Council said it was “deeply sorry” and insisted it was “taking firm action” to address the failings, adding that it would continue to work to implement all the recommendations of the review.
