The stepmother of murdered 10–year–old Sara Sharif has been told an inquest into her death will ‘not be a retrial’ – after she asked for it to be held with a ‘diverse’ jury.
Beinash Batool was jailed for life following the discovery of the schoolgirl’s body in a house in Woking on August 10 2023.
In acts described by a judge as the worst crime he had ever encountered, the child suffered more than 100 injuries when she was tied up and a plastic bag was secured over her head with parcel tape.
She was then battered with a cricket bat, metal pole and a rolling pin, strangled until her neck broke, burnt with an iron and bitten.
Sara’s father Urfan Sharif and Batool were jailed for minimum terms of 40 years and 33 years respectively in December 2024.
Her uncle Faisal Malik was found guilty of causing or allowing her death and jailed for 16 years.
Batool has now requested that an inquest into Sara’s death is held with a ‘diverse’ and ‘local’ jury.
Representing Batool, Anton van Dellen argued at a pre–inquest review at Surrey’s Coroner’s Court today that there was sufficient reason for a jury to attend.
Sara Sharif was tortured to death by her father after a catalogue of blunders by those scared of ‘causing offence’, a report revealed
Beinash Batool, the stepmother of Sara Sharif, was jailed for life for murder
Alison Hewitt, counsel to the inquest, said the inquest’s scope would be decided during further hearings.
The court was told previously it could consider whether fear of accusations of racism affected the response to managing and responding to safeguarding concerns around Sara’s treatment.
On this item, Mr van Dellen asked that the coroner may consider ‘a diverse local jury would be well positioned to evaluate’.
Batool and Sharif attended the hearing via video links from prison.
Senior coroner Richard Travers said whether the inquest will be held with a jury would be put on the agenda for the next pre–inquest review.
But he informed Batool at one point in the hearing that the inquest ‘was not a retrial’.
He said: ‘These inquest proceedings are not a retrial – you understand that, don’t you?
‘We are not going behind any findings that were made by the criminal court.’
Sara Sharif pictured in the hijab she started wearing to cover the bruises inflicted by her father
The next pre–inquest review will be held on September 10 and the full inquest into Sara’s death is set to begin next April.
A safeguarding report previously found that in the run–up to the 10–year–old’s murder, neighbours heard bloodcurdling screams but failed to report it as they ‘feared being branded as being racist, especially on social media’.
An occupational therapist sent to the home two years before she was killed noted that Sara, then aged eight, was the only person in the house wearing a hijab but failed to question it, ‘although she has reflected that she may have been reticent to talk about it for fear of causing offence’.
It was later revealed the head covering was hiding bruises inflicted on Sara by her father and stepmother.
The review said it was ‘concerning that race was a bar to reporting possible child abuse’, noting that ‘white fragility – or a defensiveness’ is ‘triggered when white individuals encounter racial stress’ causing them to focus on their ‘own feelings of victimisation’ rather than those being harmed.
The Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership found there were at least four missed opportunities to save ‘a beautiful little girl with a lovely smile and a loud laugh,’ concluding ‘different actions could and should have been taken and the system failed to keep her safe.’
England’s Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, said Sara was ‘killed by those who should have loved her, but let down by every service.’
The Muslim schoolgirl was beaten to death by her father 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 the safeguarding review.
Urfan Sharif was jailed for life for murder after the risk posed by the serial domestic abuser was ‘overlooked, not acted on and underestimated by almost all professionals’
Following her death in August 2023, Sara’s 43–year–old father fled to his native Pakistan with his accomplice wife 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 pair were jailed for life.
Last month it emerged Sara’s five siblings would remain with their grandfather, who they had been living with in Jhelum, Pakistan since October 2023.
Their future whereabouts, and who would ultimately hold custody of them, were at the centre of a two–and–a–half year court battle in Pakistan between the UK council and the family.
The children were made wards of court in England after their sister’s death, and Surrey County Council has since been pushing for their return to the UK.
However the local authority can no longer continue its legal action in Pakistan. The council had been seeking jurisdiction over the children through the Pakistani courts, but proceedings in the UK are drawing to a close.
While the final decision remains pending, neither of the possible outcomes would result in the children returning to Britain, despite an English court order requiring their return.
The grandfather’s lawyer argued the children hold dual nationality and will be free to return to the UK in the future should they choose to do so.
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