Sara Sharif: Inquest opens into the death of 10-year-old girl as police widen search to locate family
Police in Pakistan are widening their search to locate the family members of Sara Sharif, who was found dead at home earlier this month.
An inquest to look into the tragic death of Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old girl who was found dead at her home in Woking, Surrey, is set to open on Tuesday morning (August 29) as Pakistan police are widening their search to locate her family including her dad who fled the country.
Sara’s body was discovered by police at an address in Hammond Road, Woking on August 10. Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif, his partner, Beinash Batool, and his brother, Faisal Shahzad Malik, all of whom are sought for questioning, flew to Pakistan the following day.
According to the BBC, Pakistan police had expanded the search to two more areas around the city of Jhelum, taking the total to four areas, having received new information from multiple sources.
Officers said Urfan, 41, made the 999 call from Pakistan, which led them to Sara’s body, shortly after landing in Islamabad. It later emerged Surrey Police had previous contact with the family, which the force described as “historic”.
Although the exact cause of her death remains unknown, a post-mortem examination revealed that Sara had "suffered multiple and extensive injuries," according to a statement from Surrey Police, indicating that these injuries likely occurred over an extended period.
This comes after Sara’s grandfather made a plea to his son, urging him to cooperate with the police as part of the ongoing investigation. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Muhammad Sharif, aged 68, urged his son and other family members to voluntarily come forward to the authorities. Police in Pakistan previously said they were “close to locating” them.
Muhammad said his son had briefly visited their family residence in Jhelum, Punjab province, earlier in the month before vanishing once again. He lamented that his son had not informed him about Sara’s tragic death.
He said: "We want them to present themselves. We want them to resolve the matter as the privacy of our house is affected due to frequent police raids."