A new safeguarding review found Surrey services missed signs that 10-year-old Sara Sharif was at-risk and visited the wrong address the day before her death.
Sara was killed by her father and step mum in August 2023 after enduring years of escalating abuse, which left her with bruises, burns, human bite marks, and at least 25 fractures. Her body was discovered in a bunk bed at the family home after her father fled to Pakistan, leaving a handwritten note saying he had ‘lost it’.
The review outlined that on 7th August, the day before Sara died, the council’s home education team went to the family’s previous address. The error was only noticed upon returning to the office and a rescheduled visit wasn’t going to take place until September.
Meanwhile, the report also found that multiple agencies ‘at many points of her life’ failed to understand the danger she faced, urging services to ‘maintain the capacity to ‘think the unthinkable’.
Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool – Sara’s father and stepmother – were sentenced life in prison, with minimum terms of 40 and 33 years. Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, received 16 years for causing or allowing her death. The review said the ‘seriousness and significance of [her] father as a serial perpetrator of domestic abuse was overlooked, not acted on and underestimated by almost all professionals’.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson called Sara’s death ‘an appalling tragedy that could – and should – have been avoided’.
She added: ‘The review rightly highlights the glaring failures and missed opportunities across all agencies which led to Sara’s death – we will take every step to help make sure that no child is left invisible to the services that are there to keep them safe.’
Echoing a similar tone, Terence Herbert, chief executive of Surrey County Council, described Sara’s death as ‘absolutely devastating’.
‘We share our sincere condolences with all those affected,’ Terence continued. ‘The criminal proceedings resulted in some justice for Sara, and the people that are responsible for her murder are rightly facing long prison sentences.
‘The independent safeguarding review took place to consider the practice of all agencies throughout Sara’s life. We welcome both the national and local recommendations in the report and we take the findings with utmost seriousness.
“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.’
Photo: Ryan Stefan via UnSplash
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