Initially, it may seem like a touching letter from a devoted daughter to her father. However, upon closer inspection, Sara Sharif’s poignant message, which was only found after her passing, turned out to be a plea for help in her time of desperation.
She wrote to her father Urfan: ‘I love you so much, our family is the best in town, we spread love around the world.’
Today the truth can finally be told about the brutal upbringing Sara and her siblings endured in a family where violence was ‘normalised’.
Revealing court records from her family’s case, made public following an intense legal struggle by the Mail and other news outlets to uncover the many instances where the 10-year-old was let down by the system, showcase a chilling portrayal of her early years.
Even prior to Sara’s birth in 2013, her father had already garnered a reputation with the police and social services, as law enforcement had been summoned to his residence on four separate occasions between 2010 and 2012.
Surrey County Council children’s services were in contact from 2010 due to concerns of neglect and violence against one of Sara’s siblings, referred to by the court as ‘Z’ and who was found alone in a shop aged just three.
Later that year, Sharif was arrested for assaulting Sara’s mother Olga Domin and hitting Z, leaving a hand-print on the child’s back.
In 2011, Z told teachers ‘daddy hit me’. But by the following year, the story had changed to ‘mummy hit me’ in the first of a series of warning signs that the children were being coerced to lie to protect Sharif.
Sara Sharif’s haunting note, discovered only after her death, was nothing more than a desperate bid for mercy
Police outside the home to Sara Sharif where her body was found at home on August 10 after her father fled the UK
Sara, 10, was found dead with at least 71 injuries including beating and burn marks and a broken bone in her neck
The same child was found with a burn mark and was again discovered alone in Woking town centre, half a mile from the family home.
Social workers recorded Z had ‘unexplained injuries’ as did another sibling, referred to as U. When Z was burned by an iron in 2013, visiting social workers found no light bulbs or bedding in the children’s bedrooms.
Sara was placed under a child protection order when she was born that gave the local authority legal responsibility for her and her siblings.
She was almost two when she was taken into foster care in November 2014 after Z complained of being bitten by Ms Domin and ‘pinched and punched’ by Sharif.
Carers noticed what looked like cigarette burns on Sara and U but Sharif said they were chickenpox scars.
In late 2014, Sara returned home with U but was placed in foster care again when her mother left the family home alleging domestic violence.
In the middle of care proceedings the following year, Ms Domin accused Sharif of hitting her and their children and of controlling and violent behaviour.
Police were aware of previous allegations of violence and false imprisonment from Sharif’s ex-girlfriends but no charges were brought and Sharif agreed go on a domestic violence course. When her parents separated, Sara started living with her mother at a women’s refuge with Sharif allowed only supervised contact.
Urfan Sharif, 42, was emotionless as he was found guilty of murdering his daughter
Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, wept as she was found guilty of murdering the girl
Social workers noted that when Sharif visited, Sara shouted ‘go away’ and U alleged that Sharif ‘hit Mummy in the mouth and made her bleed.’ But come Easter 2019, during a visit to Sharif’s home, Sara suddenly changed her tune, claiming that it was, in fact, her mother that had been violent.
She said Ms Domin had tried to drown her in the bath, burnt her with a lighter, slapped her, pinched her and pulled her hair.
Sharif recorded the allegations in a video but it seems no one questioned whether the man behind the lens might be the real perpetrator.
Despite previous allegations of Sharif’s violence, a social worker made the fateful recommendation that Sara and U should move back in with him.
And in October 2019, that decision was ratified when a judge at Guildford Family Court in Surrey agreed that Sara should live with her father and Batool, her new stepmother.
Court documents state Sara went to live with Sharif ‘by consent’.
The judge was aware of previous allegations but appears to have been hoodwinked by Sharif and Batool, with the latter claiming Ms Domin’s children ‘hated’ their mother, claiming they referred to her as ‘Shrek’ and ‘ogre’.
The judge blamed Ms Domin, suggesting she needed help for anger issues and praised Batool, saying it was ‘amazing’ of her to take on Ms Domin’s children because they needed ‘someone they can trust’.
Sara was described by teachers as a ‘spirited, bold and fierce’ child
Ms Domin was told by the judge: ‘It would be good if you could at least be courteous to her [Batool], be polite to her, be slightly grateful even to her.’
An expert went so far as to tell the court that Sara had ‘a really good relationship’ with Batool, which was ‘a point of safety’ for her. Within months of going to live with her father in West Byfleet, Surrey, neighbours heard banging and screaming. Yet they failed to call police.
Batool sent her sister Qandeela Saboohi countless messages about the attacks with pictures of Sara’s injuries but she too failed to raise the alarm.
It was around this time that Sara started wearing a hijab.
Teachers noticed injuries on her face in March 2023 but Sara dismissed it as a fall on rollerskates.
The school referred the incident to social services. After an investigation, the council said no further action was being taken but asked the school to ‘monitor’ the situation.
Days later, Sara came to school with another bruise, which Batool claimed had been caused by a pen.
Sharif then decided to home school Sara. She was never seen alive again outside the house. When she died on August 8 last year, the only family member who sought help was Sara’s sibling U, who texted a friend: ‘Hello. Urgent. My sister just passed away.’
Flowers and notes left outside the property where Sara’s body was found
The court heard that Sara’s bloodied body was likely carried through the house in a blanket in front of her siblings and jet-washed outside.
But Sharif was not finished. In a final sickening twist, he attempted to fool jurors over Sara’s injuries, saying: ‘It must have been the kids.’
He had even persuaded U to testify that he was not guilty – but before his child could perjure themselves, Sharif admitted he was ‘responsible for everything’.
Now, finally, it can be revealed exactly what he meant.
