The grandfather of a 10-year-old girl who is believed to have been murdered has urged his son to cooperate with the police, as an international manhunt continues in Pakistan.
Urfan Sharif, 41, his wife Beinash Batool, 29, and his brother Faisal Malik, 28, left the UK for Islamabad the day before Sara Sharif’s body was found at the family home in Woking on 10 August.
A post-mortem examination found that Sara had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries” which were likely to have been caused over a “sustained and extended period of time”.
Sara Sharif was found with ‘extensive injuries’ at her home in Woking— (PA Media)
Surrey Police have been working alongside Pakistani authorities, who have revealed they are expecting to track down and arrest Sara’s father today after a series of raids on his family’s home.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Sharif’s father, Muhammad Sharif, 68, urged his son to come forward. “We want them to present themselves,” he said. “We want to resolve the matter as the privacy of our house is affected due to frequent police raids.”
He also revealed that his son had not informed him of Sara’s death when he briefly visited their home in the Punjab province after arriving in Islamabad.
Pakistani police are currently tracking a mobile phone sim card belonging to Sharif and are believed to be closing in on the group around the family’s hometown of Jhelum.
Nasir Bajwa, the police chief leading the case, said on Saturday: “With God’s will we will make the arrest by tomorrow night.”
The Rawalpindi region police chief, Syed Khurram Ali, added that the force was trying its “level best” and was “close to locating” the trio.
Sara’s father Urfan Sharifand his partner Beinash Batool— (PA)
So far, the police force has interrogated the father, brother and uncle of Sharif, as to their whereabouts.
Earlier this week, Sharif’s brother, Imran Sharif, claimed that Sara had died after falling down the stairs in an accident.
He reportedly told police officers: “Beinash was home with the children. Sara fell down the stairs and broke her neck. Beinash panicked and phoned Urfan.”
Surrey Police made the gruesome discovery at the family’s council house on Hammond Road during the early hours of the morning, after receiving a phone call from Sharif in Pakistan.
Neighbours lay flowers for Sara outside her home— (PA Wire)
It later emerged that Sara’s father, stepmother and uncle had bought one-way tickets to Pakistan alongside five other children, aged between one and 13.
A neighbour, identified only as Jessica by the BBC, said her daughter had told her that Sara had gone to school with injuries, but had claimed she had fallen off a bike.
“Just before the Easter holidays she was in school and had cuts and bruises on her face and her neck,” she said.
“My daughter had asked what had happened and she said she’d fallen off a bike and then kind of walked away. The next day the teacher announced she had left school and she was being home-schooled.”
Jacquie Chambers, headteacher of St Mary’s C of E primary school in Byfleet – where Sara had been a Year 5 pupil – said she would be “dearly missed” by pupils and teachers.
Surrey County Council confirmed that Sara had been known to the authorities and that a “thorough review process” was under way.
Surrey County Council confirmed that Sara was known to authorities— (PA Wire)
In their latest appeal for information, Detective Superintendent Mark Chapman, from the Surrey and Sussex Police major crime team, said: “It is now two weeks since Sara’s body was found and the impact of her tragic death continues to be felt deeply by the local and wider community, including our officers and staff.
“We would like to thank those people who have already come forward and reported information to us.
“However, we know that there will be lots of people in the Woking community and beyond who will have had contact with Sara who may not already have come forward, and we would encourage them to do so.
“Any information is better than no information – although you might think it’s insignificant, it might be vital to the investigation and in helping us to bring justice for Sara.”
