The key dates in Sara Sharif’s tragic death after alleged ‘campaign of abuse’

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Ten-year-old Sara Sharif died after an alleged “campaign of abuse” in the home she shared with her father, stepmother and uncle.

A court heard on Tuesday that a “high pitched scream” was heard two days before the 10-year-old was killed and her family fled to Pakistan.

Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of his daughter’s murder alongside Sara’s stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29.

Police found Sara’s body in a bunk bed in her home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 last year following a call from Sharif in Pakistan saying he “beat her up too much” for being “naughty”, the court has heard.

It is alleged Sara had died two days before following a campaign of abuse and within hours the defendants had booked a flight out of the country.

A post-mortem examination found Sara had suffered dozens of injuries including “probable human bite marks”, an iron burn and scalding from hot water.

There was also evidence that she had been restrained, jurors have heard.

Here is a timeline of how events unfolded, according to the prosecution.

– April 2023

Father Urfan Sharif informs Sara’s school that she will be home-schooled with immediate effect.

– April 6 2023

Sara and her family move to a three-bedroom house in Hammond Road in the Horsell area of Woking.

– August 8 2023

8.38pm – A child sends a WhatsApp message to a school friend labelled “urgent”, saying that Sara had “just passed away”.

9.07pm – Beinash Batool, Sara’s stepmother, calls Southall Travel agency to ask about flights to Pakistan but after 50 minutes the call ends without flights being arranged.

10pm – Sharif contacts Nadeem Riaz, who works for a money transfer business, and says he needs a flight to Pakistan the next day.

– August 9 2023

9.25am – CCTV captures Sharif and his family arriving at Heathrow Airport to take a flight to Pakistan at 2pm.

– August 10 2023

2.47am – Sharif has arrived in Pakistan and phones police in the UK, saying: “I’ve killed my daughter. I legally punished her, and she died. She was naughty. I beat her up, it wasn’t my intention to kill her, but I beat her up too much.”

Police go to the family home in Woking and find Sara’s body in a bed with a note by the pillow in Sharif’s handwriting.

– August 15 2023

A post-mortem examination is undertaken which concludes Sara’s death was not a natural one. There were alleged signs of blunt force trauma inflicted over several weeks, bruises, iron burns to the buttocks, restraint marks and suspected human bite marks, jurors heard.

– September 6 2023

Sharif and Batool appear in a short video clip provided to and broadcast by Sky News in which Batool refers to Sara’s death as an “incident”.

– September 13 2023

Sharif, Batool and Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik take a flight into Gatwick and are met by police who arrest them on the plane.

– October 14 2024

The three defendants, of Woking, Surrey, go on trial at the Old Bailey, having denied murder and causing or allowing Sara’s death.