Sara Sharif murder trial latest: Schoolgirl, 10, showed signs of starvation and had ‘unusual’ injuries, jury told

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 showed signs of starvation and had “unusual” injuries, the fourth day of her murder trial has heard.

An osteoarticular pathologist told the Old Bailey on Thursday that the 10-year-old’s bone marrow had been “unusual” in his examination of her body, and had shown up with a “bluey tinge”, which revealed itself to be gelatinous transformation of the bone marrow.

This can often be associated with starvation or the rapid removal of nutrition, although Professor Anthony Freemont could not say if this was a direct cause.

Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, her stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and her uncle Faisal Malik, 29, all deny her murder.

The court heard on Wednesday that the 10-year-old died as a result of “complications arising from multiple injuries and neglect”, according to a pathologist.

She 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.

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

The court heard earlier in the week that Sara’s head was covered with “homemade hoods” made of plastic bags and parcel tape in the weeks before her death.

Jurors were also told neighbour Chloe Redwin would hear “shockingly loud” sounds of “smacking” from their family home followed by “gut-wrenching screams”.

Key Points

• Sara Sharif showed signs of starvation and had ‘unusual’ injuries, jury told
• 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

[18 October 2024 09:45 · Tara Cobham]

In pictures: The famiy home where schoolgirl was found dead

Surrey Police discovered the schoolgirl dead in a bedroom on 10 August last year (Surrey Police)

The court heard that expert analysis of some of the child’s bruises concluded that they could have been caused by a pole or the buckle of a belt recovered from a children’s Wendy house in the garden (Surrey Police)

The garden of Sara Sharif’s family home on Hammond Road in Woking (Surrey Police)

[18 October 2024 08:53 · Holly Evans]

Full transcript of Sara Sharif’s father’s phone call to police

Sara Sharif’s father cried as he confessed to killing his daughter in a phone call to police from Pakistan, a court has heard.

Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of murdering 10-year-old Sara alongside her stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29.

On Thursday, jurors were played a recording of the eight-and-a-half-minute phone call Sharif made to the police non-emergency 101 number on 2.47am on August 10 2023, two days after Sara died.

Read the full article here:

[18 October 2024 07:00 · Holly Evans]

Stepmother of Sara Sharif requests ‘earliest possible’ flights after child’s death

[18 October 2024 04:00 · Holly Evans]

Sara Sharif had 71 injuries across her body

Giving evidence on Wednesday, forensic pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary said some of Sara’s external injuries, which included dozens of bruises, grazes and burns, were the result of “repetitive blunt trauma” and “blunt impact or solid pressure, or both.”

He told the court there were more than 71 injuries to the little girl’s body.

They included significant damage internally, including bleeding on her brain, multiple bruises on her lungs and multiple skeletal injuries, jurors heard.

Dr Cary presented his findings from a post-mortem examination of Sara’s body he carried out on August 15 2023 which took around three hours.

Sara had a height of 1.37 metres and a weight of 27 kilograms, with both measurements within the average bracket for a child her age but towards the lower end, the court heard.

[18 October 2024 02:00 · Holly Evans]

In pictures: Courtroom drawings show defendants in the dock

Beinash Batool, left, Faisal Malik, centre, and Urfan Sharif, right, deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child (Elizabeth Cook/PA) (PA Archive)

They have appeared each day at the Old Bailey for trial (PA Wire)

[18 October 2024 00:00 · Holly Evans]

Sara Sharif showed signs of starvation and suffered broken bone in neck weeks before death, jury told

Sara Sharif showed signs of starvation or the “rapid removal of food”, according to a pathologist who discovered an unusual indicator in her bone marrow, a jury was told.

A trial at the Old Bailey also heard how the 10-year-old schoolgirl had likely been strangled until a bone in her neck had broken, up to three months before she died last August.

It was one of many injuries the young girl suffered in an alleged “campaign of abuse”, which also included burns, broken bones and extensive bruising.

Read the full article from today’s court proceedings here:

[17 October 2024 22:00 · Holly Evans]

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

Schoolgirl Sara Sharif was forced to wear “homemade hoods” of plastic bags and parcel tape as she endured a campaign of abuse which lasted up to two years, a court heard.

The 10-year-old’s blood was found on a cricket bat and a vacuum cleaner at the family home, jurors at the Old Bailey were told.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC also alleged that bruises found on her body matched a belt buckle and plastic-coated metal pole found in an outhouse at the property – where police also found a rolling pin with traces of her DNA.

Read the full article from Tuesday here:

[17 October 2024 21:00 · Holly Evans]

Fractures to her hand and neck could be linked to 'direct blow’ or ‘manual strangulation’

Detailing her injuries, Professor Freemont said that Sara’s injury to the capitate bone in her left hand was “rare” in children, and was usually caused by “falling onto the outstretched hand or a direct blow to the hand”.

Asked if the fractures to her fingers were unusual, he responded: “They’re seen relatively frequently and they’re commonly associated with pulling the fingers apart.”

Of the fracture to her hyoid bone, he said: “It depends on the setting but in the setting of neck compression, it’s fractured in 25 per cent of cases, the most common type of cases is manual strangulation.”

[17 October 2024 20:00 · Holly Evans]

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

[17 October 2024 19:00 · Holly Evans]

Pictured: The three defendants on trial for Sara Sharif’s murder

Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik all deny her murder (Surrey Police/AFP via Getty Imag)