The uncle of ten-year-old Sara Sharif who was tragically found dead in a house in Woking has reportedly told police she ‘fell down the stairs and broke her neck’ after being detained in Pakistan.
Sara was discovered by police at her family home on August 10, and police confirmed that three family members were believed to have fled to Pakistan the day before she was found.
Police were called by her father, 41, who is understood to have rushed to Islamabad with his partner Beinash Batool, 29, and his 28-year-old brother Faisal Mali, before they could be questioned in the UK.
The adults travelled with five children, aged between five and 13. Sara was one of six siblings.
Her uncle Imran Sharif has not been charged but is said to be assisting the hunt for his brother, Sara’s father, after it was reported police in Pakistan are under ‘tremendous pressure’ from the British High Commission to find him.
The uncle of ten-year-old Sara Sharif (pictured) who was tragically found dead in a house in Woking has reportedly told police she ‘fell down the stairs and broke her neck’
Urfan Sharif (left) fled the UK with his partner Beinash Batool (centre), brother Faisal Malik (right). They are wanted for questioning over Sara’s murder
Police in Pakistan have arrested Imran Sharif (pictured), an uncle of Sara Sharif, because they suspect he knows where her father, stepmother and another uncle, all wanted over her murder, are hiding
Sky News reports that Imran Sharif claims Sara had an accident at home.
He allegedly told officers: ‘Beinash was home with the children. Sara fell down the stairs and broke her neck. Beinash panicked and phoned Urfan.’
Surrey Police said a post-mortem revealed that Sara ‘suffered multiple and extensive injuries’, which they said were ‘likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time’.
Imran Sharif denied knowing where Urfan and his family were, Jhelum police said.
He reportedly told officers: ‘I found out what happened to Sara through the international media. My parents told me Urfan briefly came home very upset. He kept saying ‘they’ are going to take his children away from him.’
Sources told MailOnline that they have detained another of Mr Sharif’s brothers, Imran, because they are ‘convinced’ that he knows where the family is hiding.
It has also been claimed that Mr Sharif’s parents along with other relatives, who live in a large house in the city of Jhelum in Pakistan’s Punjab province, have also now gone into hiding.
A police source said: ‘We spoke to Imran and some of the family members last week and they insisted that they did not know where Urfan and his family are.
‘But we don’t believe them, there’s absolutely no way that they can’t know where eight of their relatives who have come from England are. They are telling us a pack of lies.’
Sara’s mother, Polish woman Olga Sharif, 36, pictured left, who was married to Mr Sharif between 2009 to 2017, urged her ex-husband to ‘come forward and explain himself’
Urfan Sharif (left) and Beinash Batool (right) are wanted for murder, leading to an international manhunt
Police hold a crime scene and investigate at the home of Sara Sharif in Woking on Thursday
An international manhunt has been launched for the three adults, but the UK has no formal extradition treaty with Pakistan.
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 revealed that his fugitive brother did visit the family home once on his own since returning to Pakistan, but left shortly afterwards. He denies knowing his current whereabouts.
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.’
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.
All efforts are currently focussed on finding Sara’s missing family members.
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.’
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.’
Sara’s family were known to both the police and local council, it was revealed at the weekend.
But police have not referred themselves to the IOPC, saying their knowledge of the family was ‘historic’ and that the case did not meet the threshold to do so.
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.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk