The dark and chilling murder of 10-year-old Sara Sharif sent shockwaves globally, sparking widespread outrage against her father Ufran Sharif, who confessed to brutally killing his young daughter.
But the story doesn’t end with the “campaign of torture” leading to Sara’s death. The details of the tragedy are incredibly disturbing.
Behind bars, “word quickly got round about who [Ufran] was,” and the “sadistic” child killer was ambushed by fellow inmates, taking justice into their own hands.
On August 8, 2023, the world was left heartbroken when the story of Sara Sharif, a bright and loving 10-year-old girl, unfolded in the headlines.
The young girl “was hooded, burned and beaten during a ‘campaign of torture’ that lasted two years before her body was found at the family home in Woking, Surrey,” according to BBC.
When police arrived at the home, they found Sara in a bunkbed along with a confession letter – confirmed to be in her father’s handwriting – which read: “Whoever see this note, it’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating. I am running away because I am scared.”
Before explaining that he would “be back before the postmortem,” he shared “I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it.”
Equally shocking is that Sara’s father and two other family members fled to Pakistan the day before her body was found.
Following a weekslong international manhunt for those responsible in her horrific killing, Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, her dad, 42, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, were charged.
‘She died because of me’
Courts heard that Sara had more than 70 injuries, including injuries to her ribs, shoulder blades, fingers and 11 fractures to her spine, a puncture wound to the head, a traumatic brain injury, a burn on her buttock caused by a domestic iron, and human bite marks.
Since the arrest, the trio denied any involvement, but in court, Urfan changed his narrative and admitted that “she died because of me.”
On December 17, 2024, Sharif received a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years, and Batool was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 33 years.
During sentencing, Mr. Justice Cavanagh described their actions as “a campaign of torture” marked by ” the degree of
cruelty involved is almost inconceivable.” Malik was sentenced to 16 years in prison for causing or allowing the death of a child.