Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Sara Sharif murder: Timeline of hunt for family

Sara Sharif was found dead in bed at her family's home in Woking, southern England, in August 2023.

Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik
Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik were arrested earlier this month following their return to the UK from Pakistan. (Image credit: Surrey Police)
Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik were arrested earlier this month following their return to the UK from Pakistan. (Image credit: Surrey Police)

THE discovery of 10-year-old Sara Sharif's body at her home in southern England triggered an international investigation after her father, uncle and stepmother flew to Pakistan.

The trio returned to the UK in September 2023.


August 9, 2023: Sara's father Urfan Sharif, a 41-year-old taxi driver who moved to the UK from Pakistan in 2001, travels from his family's home near Woking, southern England, to Islamabad.

He flies with his partner Beinash Batool, 29, brother Faisal Malik, 28, and his five children.

August 10: Urfan Sharif calls Surrey Police at around 2:50 am UK time (0150 GMT) and officers visit the family's semi-detached home. They find Sara's body and a murder investigation is launched, sparking an international manhunt.

August 15: A post-mortem examination is unable to establish the cause of death but reveals Sara had sustained "multiple and extensive" injuries likely to have been inflicted over a "sustained and extended" period of time.

Sara's mother Olga tells The Sun newspaper that her life "will never be the same again".

August 18: Surrey Police say they would like to speak to Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik over the death.

UK police talk with authorities in Pakistan, with which the UK has no formal extradition treaty, about trying to find and question them.

August 19: Pakistani police in the eastern province of Punjab seek to arrest Sharif, whose family home is believed to be in the city of Jhelum.

August 24: A Pakistani court rules that police cannot detain relatives of Urfan Sharif after police quiz two of his brothers over his whereabouts.

Police say they had been instructed by Interpol to question the family and that they were "close to locating" the trio.

August 29: A coroner's inquest opens but is told the precise cause of Sara's death is "not yet ascertained" but is likely to be "unnatural".

September 5: Urfan Sharif's father Muhammad Sharif tells the BBC in Pakistan that he had seen his son, who maintains Sara's death was "an accident".

September 6: Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool appear in public for the first time, sending broadcasters a video in which they say they are "willing to co-operate with the UK authorities and fight our case in court".

September 11: Pakistani police raid the home of Muhammad Sharif and remove Urfan Sharif's five children.

They are sent temporarily to a government childcare facility in Pakistan.

September 13: Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik land at London's Gatwick Airport and are arrested immediately after leaving the plane, at around 7:45 pm, on suspicion of murder.

September 15: In the early hours, Surrey Police announce that state prosecutors had authorised murder charges against the trio. They were also charged with causing or allowing the death of a child.

They appear in court in the southern town of Guildford. All three are remanded in custody.

More For You

Badenoch proposes stricter citizenship rules for all migrants

Kemi Badenoch delivers speech on January 16, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Badenoch proposes stricter citizenship rules for all migrants

CONSERVATIVE PARTY on Thursday (6) proposed a clampdown on all migrants by tightening citizenship rules and barring social benefit claimants from residency rights.

Kemi Badenoch, who took over from Rishi Sunak in November last year, outlined her first major policy agenda as Tory leader in a move seen as an attempt to win back the support of Conservative voters drawn to the far-right anti-immigrant Reform party.

Keep ReadingShow less
Theft and violence in retail shops hit record high in 2024

The Labour government has pledged to address the rise in retail crime through stronger measures to tackle shoplifting and anti-social behaviour

iStock

Theft and violence in retail shops hit record high in 2024

THEFT and violence against retail workers in Britain soared to record levels last year, driven partly by criminal gangs, and are “out of control”, according to a report last Thursday (30).

The British Retail Consortium's annual crime survey found that more than 20 million thefts occurred in the year to August 31, 2024 – an average of 55,000 a day – costing retailers £2.2 billion.

Keep ReadingShow less
Idris Elba wants zombie knives banned to tackle knife crimes

Idris Elba discusses solutions to the UK's knife crime crisis in his new BBC documentary

Getty Images

Idris Elba wants zombie knives banned to tackle knife crimes

Actor Idris Elba believes banning zombie knives is a step forward, but it won’t solve the UK’s knife crime crisis. In his BBC documentary, Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis, he explores the issue and highlights the need for early intervention to protect young people from violence.

Elba argues that schools must step in earlier to prevent children from turning to crime. He also suggests that kitchen knives could be redesigned to be less dangerous. "Not all kitchen knives need a point. You can still cut food without it," he says, offering an different approach to reducing knife-related crimes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Iqbal Mohamed

Asian MP 'concerned' over proposed ban on first-cousin marriages

A BRITISH INDIAN MP has expressed his concerns over a new bill tabled in the House of Commons that seeks to ban marriages between first cousins over the greater risk of children’s birth defects associated with the practice.

The Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Bill got its first reading in Parliament on Tuesday (10) when backbench Tory MP Richard Holden used the 10-Minute Rule process to introduce his proposals.

Keep ReadingShow less
'Covid bereavement rates in Scotland highest among Asians'
Ethnic groups were found to be two-and-a-half times more likely to have experienced the loss of a close family member.

'Covid bereavement rates in Scotland highest among Asians'

THE bereavement rates due to Covid in Scotland have been highest among those identifying with ‘Any other’ ethnic group (68 per cent), followed by Indians (44 per cent) and Pakistanis (38 per cent), a new study revealed. This is significantly higher than the national average of around 25 per cent.

Ethnic groups were found to be two-and-a-half times more likely to have experienced the loss of a close family member during the Covid crisis.

Keep ReadingShow less