Sara Sharif was tortured to death by her father after a catalogue of blunders by authorities who missed bruises under her hijab as they feared causing offence, a report reveals today.
The 10-year-old was beaten to death by Urfan Sharif after the risk posed by the serial domestic abuser was ‘overlooked, not acted on and underestimated by almost all professionals’ despite his 16-year history of attacking women and children, according to a damning safeguarding review.
In acts of brutality described by a judge as the worst crime he had ever encountered, Sara suffered over 100 injuries when she was tied up and hooded in a plastic bag secured with parcel tape around her head before being battered with a cricket bat, metal pole and a rolling pin, strangled until her neck broke, burnt with an iron and bitten.
Following her death in August 2023, her 43-year-old father fled to his native Pakistan with his accomplice wife Beinash Batool, 30, before phoning 999 to confess to the killing, thinking he had got away with it.
But he was captured and extradited to face trial at the Old Bailey where the murderous pair were jailed for life in December.
Now a safeguarding review has identified a catalogue of missed opportunities to rescue Sara, concluding ‘different actions could and should have been taken and the system failed to keep her safe.’
Mistakes included failing to probe why the Muslim schoolgirl was suddenly wearing a hijab as professionals feared causing offence.
The blistering report identifies how professionals failed to ‘join the dots’ as evidence of Sharif’s ‘extensive’ domestic abuse was ‘lost within the system’, inexperienced social workers under pressure to be ‘speedy’ did not carry out basic checks, safeguarding processes were not followed and home visits were delayed with fatal consequences.
There was also confusion about home schooling policies and fears about breaching data protection laws meant evidence of abuse was not shared.
Yet the review concludes that no one should face the sack as Sara’s death was not caused ‘by one specific malfunction within the safeguarding system’, instead the ‘blame for these killings lies with the perpetrators.’
Despite being repeatedly accused of attacking women and children including babies, Sharif managed to hoodwink police, teachers, social services and judges who ruled that he should be granted custody of Sara after professionals recommended the ‘safe and loving home’.
Sara Sharif pictured in the hijab she started wearing to cover the bruises inflicted by her father
Urfan Sharif was jailed for life for murder
The Old Bailey trial heard that a ‘campaign of torture’ started just days after that fateful family court hearing in 2019 which continued until Sara’s murder on August 8, 2023 when Sharif beat her with a metal pole as she lay dying in Batool’s arms having suffered 71 ‘fresh injuries’ and 29 fractures.
After she was placed in her father’s care, the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership found there were at least four missed opportunities to save ‘beautiful little girl with a lovely smile and a loud laugh’.
Even before Sara’s birth, Sharif was known for violence after being accused of attacking two children and three women, including Sara’s mother Olga Domin.
But he was never charged with any offence.
After arriving in the UK on a student visa, the taxi driver held one woman at knifepoint, choked another with a belt and imprisoned one girlfriend for five days while he sent her passport off for a marriage application in a bid to secure residency in the UK.
Yet Sharif managed to dodge blame and a child protection plan was closed in 2011 ‘without any evidence that father had addressed his abusive behaviour’.
Social services were called repeatedly after Sharif was accused of biting, hitting and slapping children but no further action was taken after he blamed Ms Domin.
Sara was taken into foster care in 2014 at the age of two, but despite the local authority believing she should be adopted, only a 12-month supervision order was put in place ‘without adequate safeguards’.
Meanwhile, her father spent his time drinking and gambling, eventually leaving Ms Domin to fly to Jhelum where he secretly married his cousin in an Islamic ceremony before he returned to embark on a third marriage with Batool.
In 2016 Sharif was ordered to go on a domestic violence perpetrator programme where he ‘admitted to extensive and wide-ranging domestic abuse’.
Beinash Batool, 30, the stepmother of Sara Sharif was also jailed for life for murder
The 10-year-old schoolgirl had never worn a hijab before 2021 and no one in her family wore one but social services did not question the decision
But he only attended eight of the 26 sessions and experts said there was ‘not enough evidence’ he had changed his behaviour.
Despite the report making ‘quite shocking reading’, its significance ‘became lost within the system’ when a social worker failed to complete an analysis and it was not added to Sara’s safeguarding report.
A family court later decided to award Sharif custody in 2019 based on a flawed report by an inexperienced social worker which had critical ‘gaps’ in information about Sharif as they were under ‘pressure to file the report on time’.
Sara’s Polish mother was made out to be ‘the problem’ and her ‘voice became lost’ because there was no interpreter to explain what was happening, leaving her ‘marginalised’ and ‘cut off’ from decisions about Sara’s fate.
The review described the judge’s decision as ‘pivotal’ adding: ‘A great deal of information, especially about the risks posed to her by Father was available across the system but opportunities were lost to join up all the dots and recognise the dangers faced by Sara once she moved in with her father and stepmother.’
Consequently, ‘red flags’ were missed as there was an ‘assumption that because the court had decided that Sara could live with him there was no need to be unduly concerned.’
Weeks later, Sharif took Sara to a walk-in centre claiming she had been slapped by Ms Domin, but the authorities failed to investigate who was really responsible.
Then during the Covid-19 lockdown, Sara ‘effectively disappeared from view’ when her father and stepmother began daily beatings.
By 2021, Sara’s demeanour had changed and she started wearing a hijab to hide the bruises, which was not questioned by social workers even though none of her family wore one.
The review found professionals failed to consider Sara’s ‘race, culture, religion or heritage’ including why a Pakistani father chose to pick on his dual-heritage daughter.
Teachers noticed Sara’s bruises in June 2022, but the scared pupil would pull down her hijab and brush off injuries as accidental.
Her school had no idea of Sharif’s history as it was not in their file.
Days later, Sharif announced she would be home schooled falsely claiming Sara had been bullied in class.
At the time, Sara was living in a two-bedroom flat with her parents, uncle and five children.
Neighbours often heard her screams, but feared being branded racist so they didn’t report it in a ‘defensiveness’ described as ‘white fragility’.
An occupational therapist sent to the home noted Sara was the only person wearing a hijab but didn’t think this was unreasonable, ‘although she has reflected that she may have been reticent to talk about it for fear of causing offence’.
Sara Sharif suffered more than 100 injuries before she died in August 2023
Sara later returned to school but in March 2023 she went off sick before returning to lessons with three facial bruises including a ‘golf ball size injury’ to her cheek.
The headteacher called social services but Sharif blamed another child and claimed Sara had injuries from birth.
After ‘superficial analysis’, the case was closed with no further action just six days later without any police inquiries.
The review found social workers were focused on being ‘speedy’ as they were under ‘relentless’ pressure to process seven cases a day and there was ‘no time to explore’ Sara’s file due to ‘tight timescales and volume of work’.
‘A focus on managing demand, meeting timescales and therefore lack of effective management oversight of the quality of day-to-day decision making led, in this case, to the risk of the likelihood of significant harm to Sara being missed.’
Social workers should have checked whether the other child was responsible, but schools believed they could ‘get in trouble’ for sharing information due to GDPR concerns.
Sara was withdrawn from class to be home schooled on April 17 and was never seen alive outside the home again.
A home education visit was supposed to take place within 10 days but was delayed due to staff sickness and annual leave.
When the team did visit, they got the wrong address on August 7. Two days later Sara was dead.
‘If Sara had been seen, it is likely that the abuse would have come to light’, the report concluded.
‘There were numerous times before Sara was born and throughout her life, that the seriousness and significance of Father as a serial perpetrator of domestic abuse was overlooked, not acted on and underestimated by almost all professionals who became involved with Sara and her family…
‘The review reveals many points at which different action could, and we suggest, should, have been taken. It is this accumulation of many decisions and actions over time that contributed to a situation where Sara was not protected from abuse and torture at the hands of her father, stepmother and uncle.’
Now the review has recommended new legal powers for professionals to see children being home schooled.
‘There can now be no doubt that Sara’s father and stepmother used home education to keep Sara hidden from view in the last weeks of her life,’ the partnership said.
‘Whilst it is important that this review does not become a catalyst for curtailing the freedom of parents to educate their children at home as is feared by the home education community, it is also important that Sara’s legacy is a much more coherent system which provides adequate safeguards for all children.’
The partnership has made a number of national recommendations for change, saying social workers must maintain the capacity to ‘think the unthinkable’.
Terence Herbert, Chief Executive of Surrey County Council said: ‘We are deeply sorry for the findings in the report related to us as a local authority. We have already taken robust action to address those relating to Surrey County Council, and that work will continue with every recommendation implemented in full.
‘We will also work with partners across the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership to ensure a joint action plan is implemented as quickly as possible.
‘Although the report does not find a single solution to address all the factors that affected Sara, or hold any one organisation accountable, there are important recommendations for many different agencies that can help reduce risk to children and we must collectively take action.’
