Sara Sharif murder trial latest: Body of schoolgirl found with more than 70 injuries, says pathologist

The Old Bailey heard that Sara Sharif began wearing a hijab to school in January 2023 and was the only one in her household to wear one.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC told the jury: “The prosecution suggest that the fact that Sara began to wear the hijab at around this time is indicative of the need to conceal injuries to her face and head from the outside world.”

The court heard that Sara’s primary school noticed a bruise under her left eye in June 2022 as well as a bruise on her chin and a dark mark on her right eye in March 2023.

When her year four and five teacher asked Sara about “two distinct bruises” in March 2023, the child “acted coy and tried to hide them”, Mr Elwyn Jones said.

He continued: “[The teacher] observed that Sara would often pull her hijab to hide her face if she did not want to speak or was being told off.

“Sara gave multiple conflicting stories as to how she got the bruises.”

• The father of Sara Sharif fled to Pakistan after allegedly killing the 10-year-old and called police to say “I legally punished her and she died”, the court heard.

• The Old Bailey was told that Sara had suffered dozens of injuries including “probable human bite marks”, a burn from an iron and scald burns from hot water before her death. A post-mortem examination also revealed she had been “beaten” with objects and had suffered damage to the brain, jurors were told.

• Opening the trial on Monday, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said all three defendants had played a part in a “campaign of abuse” against Sara leading to her death.

• He said police found Sara’s body in a bunk bed in her home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 last year after her father called police at 2.47am and confessed to killing her. During the eight-and-a-half minute call, he told the operator: “I’ve killed my daughter. I legally punished her, and she died.”

• On arrival at Hammond Road, police found the property was quiet, very tidy and seemingly empty before discovering the body next to a note in her father’s handwriting, Mr Emlyn Jones said. The note allegedly stated: “It’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating. I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it. I am running away because I am scared.”

• The prosecutor told the jury that all three defendants “played their part” in the violence and it was “inconceivable” that just one of them had acted alone.

• Jurors were told Sharif’s case was that his wife, Batool, was responsible for Sara’s death and his confession was false to protect her.

• Batool accused Sharif of being a violent disciplinarian and she was fearful of her husband, Mr Emlyn Jones said.

• Malik’s case is that whoever was responsible it was not him and he was unaware of what was going on, the prosecutor added.

Read the full report on the second day of the trial from our crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin:

Sara Sharif’s father sobbed as he confessed to killing his daughter, saying “I’m a cruel father” in a phone call to police, the court heard.

During the call from Pakistan, which lasted eight minutes and 34 seconds, the taxi driver can be heard crying as he confessed to killing his daughter, refusing to reveal his location and saying he would hand himself in to Woking police station.

In the phone call, played to jurors on Tuesday, an emotional Sharif asked the operator to write down his address, spelling out his postcode, and telling them to “send someone” to his home on Hammond Road, Woking.

In the recording, Sharif said Sara had been “naughty” over the last three to four weeks and he was “giving her punishment” to “sort her out”, adding “I did something and she died”.

Earlier in the call, the operator can be heard asking Sharif “is everything okay?” to which he responds: “Nothing is okay.”

At one point, Sharif can be heard getting so emotional that the operator says he cannot understand what he is saying and tells him to “take a deep breath”.

Sharif continued: “I did legally punish my daughter and she died.

“I left the home in a panic.

“I killed my daughter. I killed my daughter.”

Neighbour heard a “single high-pitched scream” of “someone in pain” two days before Sara Sharif died, jurors were told.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said neighbours who spoke to police after the 10-year-old’s death said “they had never seen or heard anything which caused them any concern”.

However, a woman had recalled that “she heard a noise that she considered very much out of the ordinary run of the noise from a family house” on 6 August 2023, the prosecutor said.

He continued: “It was a single high-pitched scream, which lasted a couple of seconds and stopped suddenly.

“It sounded to her like the scream of someone in pain, as she put it ‘it didn’t sound good’.”

The prosecution allege Sara died two days later on 8 August last year and the defendants flew to Pakistan the following day.

A note that was found by Sara Sharif’s body in her father’s handwriting has been pictured in court.

On arrival at the 10-year-old’s family home, police found the property was quiet, very tidy and seemingly empty before discovering her body next to a note in her father’s handwriting, the Old Bailey heard.

The note allegedly stated: “It’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating.

“I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it.

“I am running away because I am scared.”

Sara Sharif’s stepmother told her sister if “something happens to Sara I will not be able to forgive myself” in messages documenting two-years of abuse, the court heard.

Beinash Batool had blamed her husband Urfan Sharif for beating the 10-year-old “black” in a series of WhatsApp messages dating back to 2019, the Old Bailey was told.

In May 2021, she messaged her sister: “Urfan beat the crap out of Sara. She’s covered in bruises, literally beaten black.

“I feel really sorry for Sara, poor girl can’t walk. I really want to report him.”

However the prosecution allege Ms Batool, 30, minicab driver Mr Sharif, 42, and his brother Faisal Malik, 29, all played a part in Sara’s death.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC told jurors: “As a minimum, it shows that Sara was being hurt and injured as long ago as spring of 2021 - so that is more than two years before her death - and that Beinash Batool was aware and even on her version of events, she didn’t stop it.”

In February 2022, the court heard she told another sister that Mr Sharif was “beating Sara up ... ‘cos she’s being naughty”, adding: “Something happens to Sara I will not be able to forgive myself.”

That summer Ms Batool complained that she could not cover up the bruises, saying: “He beat Sara up yesterday and I can’t send her to school on Monday looking like that.”

Sara was taken out of school in April 2023 and died four months later.

Police constable George Van Der Waart told the court he was dispatched to the Sharif family home shortly before 3am on 10 August, following Mr Sharif’s 999 call.

Giving evidence, he said he entered through an unlocked rear door and found the downstairs clean with no signs of any disturbance.

He discovered Sara’s body on a bunk bed in an upstairs bedroom with a fan switched on, he added.

“There was a blanket on the bed and…underneath the white sheet I could see a human shaped figure,” he told the Old Bailey. “I pulled back the cover and underneath was the body of a 10-year-old girl.”

He described her as being “placed” on the bed, where she was lying on her back. Asked about the sheet, he added: “It was neat on top literally like it had been laid there.”

In a harrowing phone played to the court, jurors heard Urfan Sharif reporting his daughter’s death to Surrey Police, telling them: “I beat her up, I it wasn’t my intention to kill her, but...I beat her up too much.”

He can be heard crying down the phone, pleading with officers to visit the address and saying: “Can you send someone, my daughter is alone.”

Asked what had happened, he said: “I think she was naughty over the last, three four weeks and I was giving her punishment, but she… to sort her out.”

When asked if she was breathing, he said: “I tried to, to give her CPR, everything but I fail [sic], I left in a panic... She is dead I am telling you.”

He adds that he will return to the property and told the operator it happened about 36 hours ago. He added: “I’m a cruel father.”