Sara Sharif: Could the 10-year-old’s death have been prevented?

Transcript

00:00Sara Sharif was just 10 years old when she was murdered by her own father and stepmother

00:05after enduring a campaign of horrendous abuse. She had multiple broken bones, bite marks and

00:11burn marks on her body and there was evidence that she had been tied up for long periods.

00:16Now Irfan Sharif and Benash Batool will spend decades in prison for the murder.

00:21Attention shifts to whether the authorities on 15 separate occasions could have stepped in

00:26to save Sara's life. Sara was placed under a child protection plan when she was first born

00:32because Irfan Sharif already faced allegations of violence towards three separate women and he

00:38was also suspected of hitting and biting children. In May 2013 when Sara was just a few months old

00:44there were reports of violent abuse within the household. The following year Sara was

00:49taken temporarily into foster care but she was then returned to her father. In 2015 Sharif was

00:55reported to have waved a knife around in the house and he faced allegations that he hit and

01:01kicked his then wife. In 2022 a bruise was spotted on Sara by a teacher who reported it to Batool

01:09but what happened next was a request for Sara to be removed from the school. Social services

01:14initiated an investigation but that was shut down after just six days and in April 2023 Sharif told

01:21the school that Sara would now be home-schooled. She was never seen again outside of the family

01:27home and died in August 2023. A criminal trial has now found that the people responsible for

01:33looking after Sara were actually cruel, sadistic and responsible for her murder.

01:38Inquiries will now look at whether anyone could or should have stepped in to avoid the tragedy.