Sara Sharif's father told police 'I’ve killed my daughter,' court hears

Jurors were told Sara was burned by an iron, scalded by hot water and probably suffered bite marks before she died, ITV News Ellie Pitt reports from the Old Bailey

The father of 10-year-old Sara Sharif, who fled to Pakistan after his daughter died, told police "I’ve killed my daughter," a court has heard.

Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, 42, called police at 2:47 am about an hour after his family’s flight landed in Islamabad, Pakistan, on August 10 last year.

Shortly after, Sara's body was found in a bed at a home in Woking, Surrey.

During the eight-and-a-half-minute call, a crying Urfan told the operator: "I’ve killed my daughter. I legally punished her, and she died.”He added “she was naughty”, saying: “I beat her up, it wasn’t my intention to kill her, but I beat her up too much.”

Urfan stands on trial for murder at the Old Bailey alongside Sara’s stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 28.

At the trial on Monday, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said the defendants ran a "campaign of abuse" against Sara.

He said that doctors found Sara had dozens of injuries, including extensive bruising, burns and broken bones.

Mr Jones described what police saw at the family home, saying: “In an upstairs bedroom, on a bottom bunk bed, the police found the body of a little girl, lying in bed, under the cover, as if asleep. But she was not asleep. She was dead.“Next to her body was a note in Urfan Sharif’s handwriting. It echoed what he had said in that 999 call.”

The note allegedly stated: “It’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating.“I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it. I am running away because I am scared.”

Jurors were told that Urfan's wife, Batool, was responsible for Sara’s death and he faked his confession to protect her.

Mr Jones added that Urfan’s claim to have beaten up his daughter came “nowhere near to describing the extent of the violence and physical abuse Sara had suffered” for weeks.“Sara had not just been beaten up. It had been brutal. And throughout, these three defendants were the adults living in the house where Sara had lived, where she had suffered, and where she had died," he said.

All defendants have denied murder.

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Mr Jones explained: "Each of them denies that they were the one responsible for any of that violence and abuse.“Each of them seeks to deflect the blame onto one or both of the others, to shift responsibility away from themselves, onto someone else.“In other words, they are pointing the finger at each other.”

The trial is due to go on until December 13.

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