Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old girl, was subjected to years of "torture" and "despicable treatment" by her father, Urfan Sharif, stepmother, Beinash Batool, and uncle, Faisal Malik. On Tuesday, the three were sentenced to a combined total of 89 years in prison at the Old Bailey.
Urfan Sharif, 42, and Beinash Batool, 30, were jailed for life, receiving minimum terms of 40 years and 33 years, respectively. Faisal Malik, 29, was sentenced to 16 years for causing or allowing Sara’s death.
And Sara’s case is tragically not an isolated incident, as other children were also murdered by their parents. These are some of the most shocking child murders that sent shockwaves through the nation last year.
1. Sara Sharif
The parents of Sara Sharif and her uncle have been sentenced to a combined total of 89 years in prison for the horrific abuse and murder of the 10-year-old girl, described by a judge as years of "torture" and "despicable treatment." On Tuesday, Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif, 42, and stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, were jailed for life at the Old Bailey for her murder. Sharif was handed a minimum term of 40 years, while Batool received 33 years. Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was sentenced to 16 years for causing or allowing her death. | Surrey Police Photo: x
2. Isabella Jonas-Wheildon
On June 30 2023, the body of two-year-old Isabella Jonas-Wheildon was discovered in a buggy at the temporary accommodation in Ipswich where Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, Isabella’s mother, and her partner Scott Jeff had been staying. It is believed Isabella died four days earlier, during the evening of June 26 2023. She had begun to have difficulty breathing and the pair claimed they attempted to perform CPR on her. Gleason-Mitchell stated when they realised she had died, she looked at her watch and it was 11.37pm. 30 minutes later, the couple went out to the shops and CCTV footage shows them joking, apparently unaffected by what had just taken place. On December 13 2024, Scott Jeff, 24, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 26 years after being convicted of Isabella’s murder. | Suffolk Constabulary Photo: Suffolk Constabulary
3. Charlie Roberts
A man accused of murdering a toddler claimed the child choked on a biscuit before becoming “floppy”, a court has heard. Paula Roberts, 41, left her son Charlie, aged one year and 10 months, in the sole care of her partner Christopher Stockton, 38, at her Darlington home while she went for an eye test, Teesside Crown Court heard. Sleep-deprived after a night of playing Xbox and watching TV, Stockton called 999 shortly after 9am on January 12, 2024, saying the toddler had become “floppy” for no apparent reason. | Family handout/PA
4. Jia Xin Teo
International student Jia Xin Teo from Malaysia, has been sentenced to life in prison after killing her newborn baby by placing her in a cereal box. Teo denied murdering her baby and said she had been hearing voices which told her to kill the baby, however the jury rejected that defence and found her guilty of murder. She was sentenced on Friday (October 25) at Warwick Crown Court to life imprisonment, to serve a minimum of 17 years. | CPS/West Midlands Police