Murdered ten-year-old girl Sara Sharif was known to the authorities before she was found dead at her family home in Woking, the local council has confirmed.
This comes as detectives hunt Sara’s father Malik Urfan Sharif, 41, who fled to Pakistan from the UK with his partner Beinash Batool, 29, and brother, Faisal Malik, 28, a day before the girl’s body was discovered in the Horsell area of Surrey.
All three are now wanted for questioning over Sara’s murder.
Surrey County Council has said they are ‘working tirelessly’ to fully understand the consequences that led to Sara’s death – and have now revealed the girl was known to them before her death.
A spokeswoman told MailOnline: ‘We can confirm Sara Sharif was known to Surrey County Council but we cannot comment further while the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership’s thorough review process is ongoing.’
Murdered ten-year-old girl Sara Sharif (pictured) was known to the authorities before she was found dead at her family home in Woking, the local council has confirmed
Sara’s father, Malik Urfan Sharif, 41,fled the UK a day before the girl’s body was discovered at the family home in the Horsell area of Surrey
Police hold a crime scene and investigate at the home of Sara Sharif in Woking on Thursday
Tim Oliver, Leader of Surrey County Council said also said on Friday that a multi-agency review into child safeguarding practices is now underway.
He said: ‘An investigation is underway by Surrey Police following the tragic death of 10-year-old Sara Sharif and we are working tirelessly with our safeguarding partners to gain a full understanding of the situation as quickly as possible.
‘This is an incredibly sad situation, and our thoughts and deepest condolences are with everyone affected.
‘We can confirm that, in line with standard process following the death of a child, the National Child Safeguarding Panel has been notified of the death and a multi-agency Rapid Review is underway.
‘This Rapid Review will determine whether a Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review (LCSPR) is to be undertaken by the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership.
‘A Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review is a statutory process, bringing together partners including the Police, health, social care and education to review practice of all agencies involved, organisational structures and learning.’
Last week, Surrey Police revealed that Sara’s body was discovered on August 10th after Mr Sharif called them from Pakistan, which led police to search the £500,000 family council house.
Although post-mortem tests could not determine the cause of death, the results revealed bruises on her body which showed the little girl ‘had suffered multiple and extensive injuries, which are likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time.’
Mr Sharif, a local taxi driver in Surrey, originally comes from Jhelum, in the Punjab region in North-West Pakistan, where police fear he has returned with his partner and brother.
Last week, Imran Sharif, one of Mr Sharif’s brothers in Jhelum, revealed that his fugitive brother did visit the family home once on his own since returning to Pakistan, but left shortly afterwards. He denied knowing his suspect brother’s whereabouts.
Last night, Malik Imran, the investigating officer at Jhelum’s Saddar Police station, which is coordinating the investigation, said: ‘We are facing tremendous pressure from the authorities to find the location of Urfan Sharif.
‘The British High Commission in Islamabad is pressuring us to find [Urfan Sharif] immediately, or they will send their own investigators.’
He added: ‘We have been told to find out his location. But, how can we find the location as we believe he is not carrying any gadgets [mobile phones] through which we could locate him.’
Separately, Sara’s mother, Polish woman Olga Sharif, 36, who was married to Mr Sharif between 2009 to 2017, urged her ex-husband to ‘come forward and explain himself.’
Olga, who lives in Somerset, praised British police for doing a good job in trying to track him down.
She said: ‘The police are doing a good job finding him.’
The father’s brother Faisal Malik, 28, pictured, also fled the UK
Police fear Beinash Batool, 29, pictured, joined the two men and travelled to Jhelum, in the Punjab region in North-West Pakistan
Heartbroken Ms Sharif praised her daughter as ‘an amazing child,’ adding: ‘She was so beautiful. I can’t believe she’s dead.’
Ms Sharif hopes to bury her child back in her native Poland.
Detective Superintendent Mark Chapman, from the Surrey Police and Sussex Police Major Crime Team, said: ‘We now know that Sara had suffered multiple and extensive injuries over a sustained and extended period which has significantly changed the nature of our investigation, and we have widened the timescale of the focus of our enquiry.
‘As a result, we are trying to piece together a picture of Sara’s lifestyle but we cannot do this without the public’s help.
‘That is why we are appealing for anyone who knew Sara, had any form of contact with her, or has any other information about her, no matter how insignificant it might seem, to come forward as soon as possible.’
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