Council told to disclose 24,000 pages of Sara Sharif files

Sara Sharif in a green shirt. She has long brown hair and is wearing makeup and earrings.

A coroner leading the inquest into the death of Sara Sharif has ordered Surrey County Council to disclose more than 24,000 pages of documents.

Sara, 10, was found dead at her family home in Woking, with her father Urfan Sharif and stepmother Beinash Batool jailed for life in 2024 for murder.

A pre-inquest review heard that the inquest, originally scheduled for April, will be pushed back by a further six months to October 2027.

The eight-week inquest will examine what state agencies knew, or ought to have known, about Sara's safety before she was murdered.

At the hearing in Woking on Thursday, senior coroner Richard Travers told the county council that he wants "all of the pages" to be disclosed to him by 2 October.

He said he would call the local authority's chief executive Terence Herbert to appear before the court if he did not have them.

Alethea Redfern, representing the authority, argued against the full disclosure of the documents, saying that many were "irrelevant" to the inquest.

But Travers said he does not understand what the council's "issue" was with him obtaining the files.

Sara Sharif in a black hijab.

He said: "This is going to be an order of the court. It is not up to Surrey County Council to decide what's to be disclosed and what's not to be disclosed."

Three individuals due to give evidence at the inquest also applied for anonymity in press reporting. Travers said he would make a decision on that application at a later date.

In July, lawyers for Batool asked for the inquest to be held in front of a jury, who it was argued would have a "helpful perspective".

Sara Sharif was violently abused in a "campaign of torture" lasting two years.

'Robust action'

A review into her death found that services in Surrey failed to properly investigate why Sara started wearing a hijab - that covered her bruising - for "fear of causing offence".

Concerns were also raised about Sara's care within a week of her birth in 2013, and her parents were known to social services as early as 2010, it has been reported.

Surrey County Council has previously apologised for what happened and said it had taken "robust action" to address earlier findings.

Sara's uncle, Faisal Malik, was found guilty of causing or allowing Sara's death and jailed for 16 years.

Additional reporting by PA Media.

Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram and listen to BBC Radio Surrey on Sounds. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.

Original source Council told to disclose 24,000 pages of Sara Sharif files

Back to home