The father, stepmother and uncle of a 10-year-old girl found dead in her U.K. home are due in court on murder charges Friday after being arrested and deported from Pakistan
ByThe Associated Press
September 15, 2023, 3:52 AM
Police officers escort a relative and a child of a couple wanted by British police in connection with last month’s death of the couple’s young daughter on the outskirts of London, to appear in a court in Jhelum, Pakistan, about 175 kilometres (110 miles) northwest of Lahore, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. Sara Sharif, 10, was found dead at her British home on Aug. 10. A Pakistani court ordered her five siblings put in the custody of a children’s protection center. The police are continuing their search for the girl’s father and stepmother. (AP Photo/Tahir Mahmood)
The Associated Press
LONDON — The father, stepmother and uncle of a 10-year-old girl found dead in her U.K. home are due in court on murder charges Friday after being arrested and deported from Pakistan after an extensive police search.
Sara Sharif was found dead with extensive injuries at her home in Woking, 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of London, on Aug. 10. An autopsy did not establish a cause of death but showed that she had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries, which are likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time,” British police said.
Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 41; his partner Beinash Batool, 29; and his 28-year-old brother Faisal Malik were charged early Friday with murder and causing or allowing the death of a child. They were due to appear later at Guildford Magistrates’ Court near Woking.
The three suspects, along with five children, had travelled to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, a day before police discovered the girl’s body.
Pakistani police began a search and detained 10 relatives of Urfan Sharif, including his father, brothers and cousins, for interrogation in an attempt to pressure the couple to surrender.
The three suspects were arrested by police in Pakistan on Wednesday and put on a flight to Gatwick Airport, where they were arrested.
The girl’s five siblings, ranging in age from 1 to 13, were recovered by Pakistani police on Monday evening from Urfan Sharif’s family home in central Pakistan. A court ordered the children to be placed in the custody of the Child Protection Bureau in Rawalpindi city, close to Islamabad.
