The father and stepmother of 10-year-old Sara Sharif have been found guilty of her murder. She was found beaten to death in her home in Surrey last year. Follow latest updates.
Surrey police have released new pictures of Sara Sharif following the guilty verdicts.who is outside the Old Bailey, says.
"Despite coming to school with bruises and despite being taken out of school on two occasions and despite social services being aware of the family situation since she was young, this child still died."Detective Chief Inspector Craig Emmerson will read a statement outside the Old Bailey at around 2pm. He will not be answering any questions.Throughout her life, there were times they could have intervened - and opportunities missed.
"Did they truly understand the significance of the harm that she was facing and that ultimately saw the appalling injuries that she sustained?" he asks."Was information shared effectively?"At birth in 2013 she was made the subject of a child protection plan, something that happens when children are deemed to be at risk.
Last year, they moved to a three-bedroom house in Hammond Road, Woking, with uncle Faisal Malik and a total of six young children where a new neighbour Judith Lozeron said the family were strangely quiet. Sara Sharif was hooded, tied up, beaten with a cricket bat, burnt with an iron and even bitten in a"brutal" campaign of abuse in the weeks before her death on 8 August last year, the Old Bailey heard.
The 10-year-old's body was found in a bunkbed at the family home in Woking, Surrey, with dozens of injuries, including bruises, burns, broken bones and bite marks, after he and the rest of the family had fled to Pakistan.He made the admission under cross-examination from Batool's barrister Caroline Carberry KC as his wife sobbed in the dock.
She suggested:"In the weeks before she died she suffered multiple fractures to her body, didn't she, and it was you who inflicted those injuries?""I take responsibility. I take full responsibility," he said, admitting to causing at least 25 fractures by hitting Sara with a cricket bat or pole and breaking her hyoid neck bone.For those of you who aren't familiar with this tragic case, or perhaps just need reminding, here's a recap of what happened to Sara Sharif.
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Sara Sharif's father denies stripping and jetwashing his daughter's broken body after she was...Moment police board flight and arrest Sara Sharif's fugitive father, stepmother and uncle on suspicion of murdering schoolgirl and fleeing to Pakistan. Beinash Batool, Urfan Sharif, and Faisal Mallik had fled to Pakistan the day after Sara died.
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