Sara Sharif's Grandfather Wins Custody of Five Siblings in Pakistan
Court grants guardianship to paternal grandfather after children were taken to Pakistan by father and stepmother following 10-year-old's murder.
Sara Sharif's paternal grandfather, Muhammed Sharif, has been awarded guardianship of her five siblings by a court in Pakistan. The ruling comes after years of legal proceedings concerning the children, who were taken to Pakistan by their father and stepmother following the murder of 10-year-old Sara in 2023.
The siblings, aged between four and 16, will continue to live with their paternal grandfather in Jhelum, Pakistan. According to BBC News, the children were asked to speak to the judge before the decision. The eldest child reportedly stated that they were comfortable and settled in Pakistan, with all but the youngest attending school in the country.
Muhammed Sharif expressed relief at the court's decision, stating, "It is my responsibility to ensure they get the best possible education and care." He added that he would "help them to return to a normal life," acknowledging that "Hardships can happen to any person at any time, at any place." The children are understood to retain their British passports.
The court's decision follows efforts by Surrey County Council in England to secure the children's return. The council had failed in its bid to bring the children back to the UK after they had been made wards of court in England following Sara's death.
Sara Sharif was found dead in a house in Woking, Surrey, on August 10, 2023. An investigation revealed she had suffered more than 100 injuries, including being battered with a cricket bat, a metal pole, and a rolling pin, strangled, burnt, and bitten. Her father, Urfan Sharif, and his accomplice stepmother, Beinash Batool, along with Sara's uncle Faisal Malik, fled to Pakistan with the five siblings shortly before Sara's body was discovered.
Urfan Sharif contacted emergency services to confess the killing from Pakistan, leading to his arrest and extradition to the UK. He and Batool were arrested at Gatwick Airport on September 13, 2023, upon their return to the UK. Both were subsequently found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Faisal Malik was found guilty of allowing Sara's death and received a 16-year prison sentence.
The children were located in September 2023 at their paternal grandfather's home in Jhelum. They were placed in a childcare facility until October 2023 before being handed into their grandfather's temporary custody.
An earlier review highlighted significant failures in child protection services concerning Sara. A report detailed evidence of extensive domestic abuse by Urfan Sharif that had been previously overlooked due to data protection concerns. The review identified missed opportunities to intervene and protect Sara, noting that different actions could have been taken. Specific oversights included failing to investigate why the young girl began wearing a hijab, with professionals reportedly concerned about causing offense. The report also noted that Sharif had admitted to extensive domestic abuse in 2016 after accusations from Sara's mother but only attended a fraction of a required perpetrator program, with experts concluding his behavior had not changed.
A social worker reportedly failed to complete an analysis of this information, which was not added to Sara's safeguarding report. This led to a judge placing Sara in her father's care without fully appreciating the risks posed by his history of violence. An inquest into Sara's death is scheduled for October, with the coroner having ordered Surrey County Council to disclose over 24,000 pages of documents related to what state agencies knew about Sara before her murder.