Sara Sharif: Five children who left UK with dead girl’s father ‘to be taken into care’ in Pakistan
Five children who travelled to Pakistan with the father and stepmother of Sara Sharif will be taken into custody, a judge in Pakistan has ruled.
Ten-year-old Sara was found dead at her home in Woking by officers in August, after they were called to the family residence by her fugitive father Urfan Sharif from overseas.
The children, aged between one and 13, will be taken into the care of the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau, Sky News has reported.
It comes after the children were found on Monday at the home of her grandfather, Muhammad Sharif, in the northeastern city of Jhelum, the BBC reported.
He said he had been hiding them there but refused to say for how long.
Police are still searching for Sara’s father, Urfan, 41, stepmother Beinash Batool, 29, and uncle Faisal Malik, 28, who all travelled to Islamabad the day before Sara’s body was found.
A post-mortem examination revealed Sara had suffered “multiple and extensive” injuries which are likely to have been caused over a “sustained and extended” period of time, but the cause of her death is still unknown.
Last week, Ms Batool issued a video statement claiming Sara’s death was an accident.
“Sara’s death was an incident,” she said. “Our family in Pakistan are severely affected by what is going on. All the media have been giving the wrong statements and are making up lies.
“Imran did not give a statement that Sara fell down the stairs and broke her neck. I’m very worried about Imran’s safety. All the family are in hiding.
“No one is leaving the house as the adults are unable to leave their homes out of fear of safety. That is why we have gone into hiding.
“We are willing to cooperate with the UK authorities and fight our case in court.”
The statement comes after Sara’s mother Olga Sharif told Polish TV station TVN she couldn’t recognise her daughter when identifying her body in the mortuary.
“One of her cheeks was swollen and the other side was bruised,” she said. “Even now, when I close my eyes I can see what my baby looked like.”
Sara’s mother is currently being supported by specialist officers and has not been in contact with the father, police have said. She did not have custody of Sara after losing a custody battle in 2019 and learnt of her death from police.
Ms Sharif told The Sun she had only seen Sara and her 13-year-old son, Sara’s brother, twice in the past four years, after they went to live with their father.
