Sarah Sharif’s grandfather wins custody of her five siblings in Pakistan where they were taken by 10-year-old’s father and stepmother after couple killed her

DAILYMAIL.COM • 3h ago

By FRANCINE WOLFISZ, NEWS REPORTER 16:49 10 Oct 2026, updated 17:04 10 Oct 2026

Sara Sharif’s grandfather has been awarded guardianship of her five siblings by a court in Pakistan, following years of legal wrangling.

The 10-year-old was killed by her father and stepmother in 2023, before the couple fled with Sara’s uncle to Pakistan with their five children.

Now aged between four and 16, the siblings will continue living with their paternal grandfather, Muhammed Sharif, in Jhelum, Pakistan.

They had been asked to speak to the judge before the ruling was made, with the eldest stating they were comfortable and settled in Pakistan, BBC News reported.

All but the youngest are attending schools in the country.

Their relieved grandfather said after the court’s decision: ‘It is my responsibility to ensure they get the best possible education and care.’

He added that he would ‘help them to return to a normal life’, adding: ‘Hardships can happen to any person at any time, at any place.’

It is understood the children will retain their British passports.

The decision comes after Surrey County Council revealed in June that it had failed in its bid to return the children – who had been made wards of court in England after Sara’s death.

Schoolgirl Sara Sharif was found dead in a house in Woking, Surrey, on August 10, 2023.

In acts described by a judge as the worst crime he had ever encountered, the child had suffered more than 100 injuries when she was tied up and a plastic bag secured over her head with parcel tape.

She was then battered with a cricket bat, metal pole and a rolling pin, strangled until her neck broke, burnt with an iron and bitten.

By the time her body was found, her father Urfan Sharif and accomplice stepmother Beinash Batool, along with her uncle Faisal Malik, had fled to Pakistan, taking the children with them.

Sharif later phoned 999 to confess the killing, believing he had got away with it. But he was captured and extradited to face trial at the Old Bailey.

The children were found on September 11, 2023, after police raided Urfan’s father’s home in Jhelum.

They were placed in a childcare facility until October 2023 and handed into their grandfather’s temporary custody.

Sharif and Batool were arrested by police when they landed back in the UK on September 13, 2023, at Gatwick Airport.

The couple were later found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, while her uncle was found guilty of allowing her death and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Last November it was revealed a bombshell report detailing abuse committed by Sharif had been hidden because of the killer’s data protection rights.

The damning review revealed social workers had evidence of Sharif’s ‘extensive’ domestic abuse before he started attacking the 10-year-old child. However it was ‘lost within the system’.

It identified a catalogue of missed opportunities to rescue Sara, concluding ‘different actions could and should have been taken and the system failed to keep her safe’.

The mistakes included failing to probe why the Muslim girl was suddenly wearing a hijab as professionals feared causing offence.

Sharif was also ordered to attend a domestic violence perpetrator programme in 2016 after Sara’s mother accused him of hitting her and children.

He admitted to ‘extensive and wide-ranging domestic abuse’, but attended only eight of the 26 sessions. Experts concluded there was ‘not enough evidence’ that he had changed his behaviour.

Despite the report making ‘shocking reading’, a social worker failed to complete an analysis and it was not added to Sara’s safeguarding report.

As a result, a judge fatally decided to hand Sara to the care of her abusive father without appreciating the risk posed by a man who had a 16-year history of attacking women and children.

Within a short time, the 44-year-old began to torture his daughter in acts of brutality described by a judge as the worst crime he had ever encountered.

Last month, a coroner leading the inquest into Sara’s death ordered Surrey County Council to disclose more than 24,000 pages of documents.

The eight-week inquest, which will examine what state agencies knew about Sara before she was murdered, is scheduled for next October.

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