Sara Sharif murder trial latest: Pathologist tells jury what caused 10-year-old’s death

Father Urfan Sharif, stepmother Beinash Batool and uncle Faisal Malik deny 10-year-old’s murder

Listen: Sara Sharif’s father tells 999 operator he’s killed daughter

Sara Sharif died as a result of “complications arising from multiple injuries and neglect”, a pathologist has said.

The school girl had suffered two traumatic injuries in the days before her death, as well as 71 recent injuries including bruises, abrasions, skin ulcers consistent with burns and probable bite marks.

On the third day of her murder trial on Wednesday, jurors were shown graphics outlining a string of injuries found on the 10-year-old’s body.

The Old Bailey previously heard her head was covered with “homemade hoods” made of plastic bags and parcel tape in the weeks before her death.

Fingerprints allegedly belonging to the schoolgirl’s father, Urfan Sharif, were found on one of the bags and a bit of parcel tape.

Earlier, the Old Bailey heard neighbour Chloe Redwin, who used to live above the family at a previous address in 2020, would hear “shockingly loud” sounds of “smacking” from their home followed by “gut-wrenching screams”.

Surrey Police discovered Sara dead in a bedroom at her home in Woking on 10 August last year.

Urfan Sharif, 42, is standing trial for her murder before Mr Justice Cavanagh alongside Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and her uncle Faisal Malik, 29.

Key Points

• Schoolgirl suffered at least 71 fresh injuries although true total unknown, jury told
• Pathologist details string of bruises, burns and injuries found on Sara Sharif’s body
• Sara Sharif’s head covered with ‘home-made hoods’ of plastic bags and parcel tape, court told
• Pictured: Note found by Sara’s body saying ‘It’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter’
• Police officer recalls finding Sara’s body under neatly placed white sheet

[15 October 2024 19:22 · Jabed Ahmed]

Full report: ‘Gut-wrenching screams’ and note that read ‘I lost it’: Sara Sharif jury told of campaign of abuse

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

[15 October 2024 19:02 · Jabed Ahmed]

Sara Sharif’s father sobbed as he confessed to killing his daughter, court hears

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.”

[15 October 2024 18:39 · Jabed Ahmed]

Listen: Sara Sharif’s father tells operator he’s killed daughter in harrowing 999 call

[15 October 2024 18:02 · Jabed Ahmed]

Neighbour heard ‘single high pitched scream’ two days before Sara died, court told

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.

[15 October 2024 17:18 · Tara Cobham]

Pictured: Note found by Sara’s body saying ‘It’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter’

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.”

A note that was found by Sara Sharif’s body in her father’s handwriting has been pictured in court (Surrey Police)

[15 October 2024 16:17 · Amy-Clare Martin]

Stepmother told sister Urfan Sharif beat Sara ‘black’ in messages dating back to 2019

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.

Sara Sharif’s stepmother Beinash Batool is on trial along with two others (Elizabeth Cook/PA) (PA Archive)