FAILING authorities missed at least 15 opportunities to put Sara Sharif in a safe home before she was beaten to death.
They included reports from her siblings of dad Urfan Sharif’s violence as long as ten years before she died.
Failing authorities missed at least 15 opportunities to put Sara Sharif in a safe home before she was beaten to death
PASara’s school also logged bruises on their internal computer, without formally passing those concerns on to social services[/caption]
Social workers spotted burn marks on children and were told Sharif slapped a child around the face and that he waved a knife around the home.
Sara’s school also logged bruises on their internal computer, without formally passing those concerns on to social services.
The Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, said it showed Britain’s child protection system had a “profound weakness” which “we have failed time and time again to correct”.
And Sara’s MP in Woking, Will Forster, called for an immediate inquest to understand how the system let her down.
He said: “It is heartbreaking to think of the warning signs that were missed that allowed her to die at the hands of those who were meant to protect her.”
But Surrey County Council said: “It is clear the perpetrators went to extreme lengths to conceal the truth from everyone.”
It will now launch a safeguarding review, which is expected to appoint a cultural adviser.
Sara was known to social services from the day she was born in 2013 — yet 15 opportunities were missed by authorities.
JANUARY 2013: Sara was made subject to a child protection plan at birth because of Urfan Sharif being accused of attacking three women including her mother, as well as hitting and biting two children.
But she was allowed to remain with her father.
FEBRUARY 22, 2013: A month after Sara was born, social services and police were told that Sharif had slapped a child around the face.
Nothing was done.
MAY 7, 2013: A social worker spotted a burn mark on a child’s leg.
Sharif failed to report the incident and claimed it was a barbecue accident. Nothing was done.
OCTOBER 7, 2013: A child was seen with a burn mark made by a domestic iron.
Sharif told social services the child had bumped into the appliance.
No action was taken.
2013 TO 2014: A child told a social worker that Sharif smashed up a TV and punched Sara’s mother Olga.
NOVEMBER 2014: Sara was taken into foster care after a child told a social worker about a bite mark.
But she later returned to live with her father following a family court hearing in October 2019 where social services recommended Sara lived with her father because that was her preference.
JANUARY 2015: Sharif was reported to social services for waving a knife around at home in what he said was a zombie game.
Social workers noted that Sharif hit and kicked Olga at home and the pair threatened to kill each other.
FEBRUARY 2015: A child told their foster carer that Sharif used to hit them on the bottom with a belt.
In September that year the child was heard to say to Sharif: “When you’re at home you hit and kick me every day.”
2015: Olga told social services about Sharif tightening a belt around her neck.
Around this time social workers complained Sharif was coercive and derogatory towards them.
A male social worker was then appointed to the family.
DECEMBER 2016: A child told a social worker they did not like Sharif because he punched them all over their body and gave them lots of bruises.
Social workers saw Sara flinch when Sharif told her off during supervised contact and seem surprised when he cuddled her.
JUNE 6, 2022: A teacher reported that Sara had a bruise under her eye, using the school’s online child protection monitoring system.
Sara initially would not say what happened, before later saying another child hit her.
But no referral was made to social services.
PASara was known to social services from the day she was born in 2013[/caption]
MARCH 10, 2023: A teacher saw bruises on Sara’s face.
Sara said she had fallen on roller skates.
When she gave a different story to a safeguarding lead, the school made a referral to social services.
Six days later social services decided to take no further action.
It is understood there had been no contact between social services and Sara’s family for four years at this point.
Social services categorised the case as the second highest priority and asked other agencies for information.
When nothing came back, the case was closed.
MARCH 20, 2023: A report was logged on the school’s internal system after Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool was overheard referring to children as “motherf***er, sister f***er, b**** and whore” in the playground.
But no details were passed to social services.
MARCH 28, 2023: Batool claimed a mark on Sara’s face was caused by a pen.
The teacher told the school safeguarding lead.
APRIL 17, 2023: Sharif decided to home-school Sara.
School staff rang the council for advice and were told they should make a referral if there were concerns.
Staff saw Sara later that day at school pick-up and she seemed fine so they decided against it, even though she had been beaten earlier that day.
She was never seen outside the home again.
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel said: “Her death is a heartbreaking reminder of the profound weaknesses in our child protection system that, as a country, we have failed time and time again to correct.
“We have been here before — and each time we have said ‘never again’. Sara’s death must also bring about an immediate shift in how we protect children like her.”
Rachael Wardell, executive director for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning at Surrey County Council, said: “We are resolute in our commitment to protecting children, and we are determined to play a full and active part in the forthcoming review alongside partner agencies, to thoroughly understand the wider circumstances surrounding Sara’s tragic death.”
Sharif fled to Pakistan after the horror
Beinash Batool also fled the country with Sharif and his brother Faisal Malik
Hijab used to hide injuries
By Ed Southgate
AUTHORITIES are facing questions over whether cultural and religious issues affected decision-making in the Sara Sharif case.
It is expected a cultural adviser will be appointed to the safeguarding review to examine how it would affect certain areas.
Ten-year-old Sara was forced to wear a hijab to conceal injuries — but her wicked stepmum Beinash Batool did not wear one.
Ex-neighbour Chloe Redwin told jurors she spoke with Sharif and Batool when she first saw Sara in a headscarf, commenting that she looked nice in it.
Ms Redwin said Sharif claimed Sara was “learning about the faith”, and that she “wanted to explore more”.
She also said the way Batool spoke to her about it was “abrupt, almost as if she wanted the conversation to end”.
Another neighbour said he felt it was odd Sara had only her eyes covered, as nobody else in the family wore Asian dress.
He never saw any injuries, but could not know as she was so covered.
One witness who saw Sara with bruises said she wore a headscarf that was “very low”.
Rather than simply covering her hair, as would be the norm, it was worn “very low, almost covering her forehead”.
Friends of Sara’s birth mum Olga also claim a Muslim social worker once told her to stop being “selfish”, to return to Poland, and to let Sara enjoy an upbringing in a Muslim family.
‘Locked up’ over a man
SARA Sharif’s stepmother Beinash Batool was abused by her own family.
At 18, they objected to a man she wanted to marry and she was held against her will at her uncle’s house in the UK for weeks.
Batool was also assaulted by her grandad.
She was born to a “very traditional” Pakistani family with three sisters and a brother, and was said to be instrumental in courts deciding Sara should live with her and Sharif.
But she refused to give dental impressions after bites were found on Sara’s body.
Brother but an outsider
FAISAL Malik was born to a large family in Pakistan in 1995 — but he did not grow up with his brother Urfan.
Malik travelled to the UK in 2022 to study at Portsmouth University.
It was the first time he had left Pakistan.
He was not close to Urfan who felt obliged to let him live with his family.
Malik, 29, worked at McDonald’s and would often leave the home to escape tensions between Urfan and Batool.
His barrister suggested that after the trio fled to Pakistan it was Malik who first said he was returning to the UK.
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