Sara “stood up for herself” and had an “unquenchable spirit”, Justice Cvanagh said as he sentenced the girl’s family members, father Urfan Sharif, 42, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, for her murder. Sharif was handed a minimum term of 40 years and Batool given 33 years.
Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, who was found guilty of causing or allowing her death, was jailed for 16 years.
In a televised sentencing at the Old Bailey, Justice Cavanagh said that Sara’s death “was the culmination of years of neglect, frequent assaults and what can only be described as torture”, mainly at the hands of Sharif.
The judge paid tribute to the “beautiful little girl” who was “full of personality” and “adored” her younger brother.
He quoted a description of Sara from a teaching assistant at her primary school, who said she was a “bubbly, confident, chatty and engaging child” who was “a little feisty” and “wasn’t afraid to answer back”. He also referenced a tribute from Sara’s mother, Olga Sharif, in which she said her daughter was “always smiling” and “had a unique character”.
“The jury was shown a video of Sara dancing in front of the TV a few days before she died. It is clear that, by this stage, her mobility was impaired, but, despite everything, she smiled at the camera,” Justice Cvanagh said in his sentencing remarks.
Addressing the defendants, Judge Cavanagh said pieces of writing done by Sara were ‘among the most heartbreaking pieces of evidence’ in the case, including a birthday card addressed to her father which read ‘Happy Birthday Dad, I love you so much’. The judge said Sara had written a short story in which she described her stepmother ‘as a queen who is ‘beautiful and young’ and a letter to Sharif and Batool where she had apologised for answering back, and wrote ‘please forgive me I am so sorry’.
Addressing her father, Judge Cavanagh said that Sara was a brave, feisty and spirited child, and not at all submissive, as he wanted her to be.
The judge’s voice shook as he described some of the injuries found on Sara’s body during the post-mortem examination, including two open burn wounds on her buttocks from an iron, a break in her hyoid neck bone, six human bite marks and a brain injury.
The Sara Sharif case
Sara was found dead in her bed in August 2023 at her empty family home. A post-mortem examination revealed she had 71 fresh injuries and at least 25 broken bones.
The day she died, Sharif hit Sara twice in the stomach with the metal leg of a high-chair as she lay unconscious on her stepmother’s lap.
After finding her dead, the family fled to Pakistan and only returned to the UK after a month on the run. They were arrested from London’s Gatwick Airport in September 2023. There has been anger in the UK that Sara’s brutal treatment was missed by social services after her father withdrew her from school four months before she died. The trio was convicted of their crimes last week.
Sharif and his first wife, Olga, were well-known to social services. In 2019, a judge decided to award the care of Sara and an older brother to Sharif, despite his history of abuse.
Her teacher told the court how she later arrived in class wearing a hijab, which she used to try to cover marks on her body which she refused to explain.