Pakistani police insist they're 'closing in' on Sara Sharif's father

Pakistani police scramble to insist they’re ‘closing in’ on ‘murdered’ Sara Sharif’s father who fled UK before she was found dead at home

• Sar Sharif was found murdered after her father fled to Pakistan and called 999 

Police in Pakistan are scrambling to insist that they are ‘close to locating’ the family of 10-year-old Sara Sharif, who was found murdered at home in Woking after her father fled the country with relatives and contacted police.

Sara was found at a property on Hammond Road after Urfan Sharif, 41, took his partner and brother along with five children to Pakistan before making a 999 call about the daughter he had abandoned.

Sharif, his partner Beinash Batool, 29, and his brother Faisal Malik, 28, are being hunted by Pakistani officers, who had previously detained two of Sharif’s other brothers.

But a court in the country ruled on Thursday that police had questioned his father and detained the two brothers illegally – after they were held for multiple days without being arrested for any crime.

At the Lahore high court Jhelum Police officers were banned from detaining the brothers again, but announced their intention to continue questioning them.

Sara was found at a property in Woking after Urfan Sharif, 41, took his partner and brother along with five children to Pakistan before making a 999 call about the daughter he had abandoned 

Sara had been seen with bruises to her face and neck by a classmate the day before she was removed from school 

Police were called by Sara’s father, 41, who rushed to the flat to find her deceased at 2.50am two weeks ago 

It has been reported that the rest of the Sharif family have gone into hiding after Sara’s father briefly returned to the family home upon arriving back in his home country. 

In a statement to The Mirror, Rawalpindi Region police chief Khurram Ali said the force was trying its ‘level best’ to find Sharif, Batool and Malik, who fled with five children aged one to thirteen, and was ‘close to locating them’.

He added: ‘It’s a matter of great concern for our police as a child was brutally killed and it is painful for all of us.’

Mr Ali said the force has interrogated the father, brother and uncle of Mr Sharif.

A murder investigation was launched after British police found Sara with ‘multiple and extensive injuries’ at her home, although a post-mortem was unable to determine her cause of death, believed to be due to the severity of her injuries.

They are thought to have been received by Sara over a ‘sustained’ period of time. 

Imran Sharif, one of the brothers detained illegally by Pakistani Police, reportedly told officers: ‘I found out what happened to Sara through the international media.

‘Beinash was home with the children. Sara fell down the stairs and broke her neck. Beinash panicked and phoned Urfan.

‘My parents told me Urfan briefly came home very upset. He kept saying ‘they’ are going to take his children away from him.’

Police want to speak to Sara’a father (left), his partner Beinash Batool (right) and brother Faisal Malik

Urfan Sharif (left) fled the UK with his partner Beinash Batool (centre), brother Faisal Malik (right)

Mr Sharif’s uncle Faisal Malik is also on the run alongside her father Urfan and Urfan’s partner Beinash

Detectives are continuing to appeal for information to help them piece together a picture of Sara’s lifestyle prior to her death 

Today, Sara’s devastated mother, Olga Sharif, 36, arrived at the house to lay a floral tribute – pausing for a brief moment of reflection after she did so.

It followed revelations Sara had been seen with bruises to her face and neck by a classmate the day before she was removed from school – supposedly to be homeschooled due to being bullied for wearing a hijab. 

READ MORE: Murdered ten-year-old Sara Sharif ‘was seen in school with cuts and bruises to her face months before she was found dead at family home in Woking’, neighbour claims

It comes as Surrey Police issued a new appeal for information on Thursday, two weeks after Sara was found.

Detectives are continuing to appeal for information to help them piece together a picture of Sara’s lifestyle prior to her death.

They widened the timescale of their investigation after the post-mortem examination revealed that Sara had suffered multiple and extensive injuries, likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time.

Detective Superintendent Mark Chapman, from the Surrey Police and Sussex Police Major Crime Team, said: ‘It is now two weeks since Sara’s body was found and the impact of her tragic death continues to be felt deeply by the local and wider community, including our officers and staff.

‘We would like to thank those people who have already come forward and reported information to us.

‘However, we know that there will be lots of people in the Woking community and beyond who will have had contact with Sara who may not already have come forward, and we would encourage them to do so.

‘Any information is better than no information – although you might think it’s insignificant, it might be vital to the investigation and in helping us to bring justice for Sara.’

Sara was known to both police and Surrey council prior to her death. 

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