Sara Sharif’s family denied sentence appeal bids

The father, stepmother and uncle of 10-year-old Sara Sharif have lost their Court of Appeal bids to reduce their sentences after she was killed.

Urfan Sharif, 43, and Beinash Batool, 30, were jailed for life in December, with minimum terms of 40 and 33 years respectively, after being found guilty of Sara’s murder.

Her uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was found guilty of causing or allowing her death and was jailed for 16 years. All three were seeking leave to appeal their sentences, while the Solicitor General wanted Sharif’s sentence increased.

In a decision on Thursday, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, sitting with Mr Justice Soole and Mr Justice Goose, declined to alter the sentences.

Dismissing Sharif’s appeal, Lady Justice Carr said: “We can see no arguable basis to challenge the conclusion of the trial judge.”

And dismissing Batool’s bid to reduce her sentence, she said there was no reason to conclude that the sentencing judge “made any material error”.

The Solicitor General had separately asked judges to increase Sharif’s “unduly lenient” sentence to a whole life order, but Lady Justice Carr said that was a sentence of “last resort”.

Someone handed a life sentence can be released from prison on licence after serving a minimum term, but a whole life order means a person can never be released, except in exceptional compassionate circumstances.

Baroness Carr added: “We are not persuaded that anything less than a whole life order was unduly lenient.

“The court should give very great weight to the assessment of the trial judge. He was in the very best position to make the assessment that he did.”

Caroline Carberry KC, for Batool, had earlier said her sentence was too long and did not properly reflect her secondary role.

The barrister also said Batool had significant mitigation.

“Nothing we say today on behalf of Beinash Batool detracts from the horror of Sara’s treatment,” she told the court.

Sara was found dead in a bunkbed at their family home in Woking, Surrey, in August 2023.

She suffered 71 injuries, including 25 broken bones, iron burns on her bottom, scalding marks to her feet and human bite marks.

Sharif, Batool and Malik fled to Islamabad, Pakistan, on 9 August 2023, the day before her body was found.

Next to her body was a note in her father’s handwriting, which read: “Whoever see this note, it’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating.”

Additional reporting from PA Media.