The father and stepmother of Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old girl who was found dead in her home in Britain, were on Wednesday convicted of her murder after a trial which heard harrowing details of her treatment before her killing.
Sara was found dead in August 2023 at her home in Woking, a town southwest of London, after what prosecutors say was a campaign of “serious and repeated violence”.
The family fled to Pakistan immediately after she was killed, before they were arrested in September 2023 at London’s Gatwick airport after flying from Dubai.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones told jurors at the start of the trial that Sara had suffered a litany of injuries, including burns, broken bones and bite marks.
Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 43, and his wife Beinash Batool, 30, stood trial at London’s Old Bailey court charged with her murder, which they denied.
The jury convicted Urfan Sharif and Batool of Sara’s murder. Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik, 29, was found not guilty of murder but guilty of causing or allowing Sara’s death.
Urfan and Batool will be sentenced on December 17.
Emlyn Jones told jurors at the start of the trial that Urfan had called police and said: “It wasn’t my intention to kill her, but I beat her up too much.”
Urfan gave evidence and initially denied responsibility for Sara’s death. He accepted slapping Sara to discipline her but denied beating her in a regular or sustained way.
But, under questioning from Batool’s lawyer Caroline Carberry, he later said he took “full responsibility” for his daughter’s death.
Lawyers for Batool, who did not give evidence, said Urfan was violent and controlling and that she was scared of him.
