Authorities published a safeguarding review Thursday that concluded ten-year-old Sara Sharif's murder was preventable, exposing multiple failures across police, health, social care and education services. The 62-page report found the safeguarding system failed Sara throughout her short life, with officials stating there were "many points at which different action could, and we suggest, should, have been taken."
Sara died in August 2023 at her family home in Woking, Surrey, after suffering two years of abuse. A court convicted her father Urfan Sharif and stepmother Beinash Batool of murder in December and jailed them for life, with minimum terms of 40 and 33 years respectively. Sara's uncle Faisal Malik received 16 years for causing or allowing her death.
Missed Opportunities
The review identified critical missed opportunities in the months before Sara's death. A council worker attempted a home visit on August 7 – two days before Sara died – but went to an incorrect address due to a data input error.
Four months earlier, Sharif had removed Sara from school to home-educate her, causing her to effectively disappear from view. Surrey Council's policy required a home visit within ten days of such notifications, but officials did not follow this.
The report concluded: "It is likely that the abuse of Sara would have come to light, or (her) father's refusal to co-operate would have undoubtably raised a safeguarding alert."
System Manipulation
The review found that safeguarding professionals appeared to have been "groomed and manipulated" by Urfan Sharif. Almost all professionals overlooked, did not act on and underestimated his history of domestic abuse.
Officials placed Sara on a child protection plan before birth and she lived with her mother following her father's domestic abuse. In 2019, after Sharif alleged abuse by Sara's birth mother, officials placed her with him and Batool – a pairing the review called a "lethal combination" who authorities "should never have been trusted" with her care.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the review "rightly highlights the glaring failures and missed opportunities across all agencies which led to Sara's death," calling the tragedy one that officials could – and should – have prevented.
England's children's commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza stated officials could have prevented Sara's murder, calling for "desperate reform" of fragmented children's services.
Surrey County Council chief executive Terence Herbert expressed the council was "deeply sorry" and committed to implementing all recommendations.
The report described Sara as a "beautiful little girl, full of personality with a lovely smile," whose "reality was day-to-day abuse which became normalised."
Downing Street confirmed the government would "consider this report closely and implement the recommendations fully" to ensure no child remains "invisible to the services designed to protect them."
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
