The sickening abuse dished out to Sara Sharif by her killer dad and stepmum was a harrowing tale of unbelievable cruelty to an innocent child.
Shockingly her case is not isolated, as it emerged the tragic 10-year-old was just one of 485 youngsters attacked or killed in a year. Many were tots abused by people who were supposed to care for them the most – their relatives.
The under-ones suffered the most harm, representing more than a third of all incidents. Figures from the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel were released a day after Sara’s dad Urfan Sharif, 42, and her 30-year-old stepmum Beinash Batool were found guilty of murdering her last year.
The defenceless child was battered to death at home after suffering at least two years of beatings and torture. The authorities missed 15 chances to save her.
Keir Starmer described her case as “the most awful”. The PM said: “There’s going to be questions that need to be answered.”
The report into child abuse and deaths between April 1 last year and March 31 this year found of the 485 cases there were 330 serious incident notifications which are made by a local council when a youngster is killed or seriously harmed. Of these, 46% died.
And 16% of the youngsters ended their own lives – with 92% of those suffering mental health problems. Panel chair Annie Hudson warned the child protection system must change. She said: “Too often there are breakdowns in communication and the way in which information about what’s happening in a child’s life is not shared and put together in terms of the pieces of a jigsaw.”
Ms Hudson also said agencies involved in child protection are often working in their own “silos and parameters” and highlighted the need for teachers, nurses, doctors, social workers, police and other professionals to work together more closely. NSPCC interim chief executive Maria Neophytou added: “This report acts as a powerful reminder of the tragic consequences when children’s best interests are not placed at the heart of the decisions that affect them, whether by frontline safeguarding partners in health, children’s social care or policing, or government officials and policymakers.”
The report found children aged 16 to 17 made up the second largest age group of those abused or killed, overtaking 11-to-15s. And 43% of incidents featured a parent with an addiction to, or who misuses, alcohol and/or drugs.
Almost a quarter of serious incidents in the report happened outside the home by people who were not from the child’s family. These include attempted suicides, sexual and emotional abuse and non-fatal assaults.
It also emerged yesterday social workers had repeatedly raised fears Sara would suffer serious harm at the hands of her father who had a violent past. But she was repeatedly returned to live with him in Woking, Surrey, where he would go on to kill her, before fleeing to Pakistan with Batool.
The authorities were on alert about the child’s care within a week of her birth and she was the subject of three sets of court proceedings during her short life. Family court documents show Surrey county council first had contact with Sharif and Sara’s mum Olga Domin in 2010 in relation to her two older siblings, known only as Z and U.
One judge was told Sara was “observed to stand facing a wall” by carers and “doesn’t eat a lot”. Other disturbing incidents were reported but Guildford family court later allowed her to return to Sharif’s home.
Her dad was able to remove Sara from school when social services asked teachers to monitor her. Authorities also decided to take no action after the school reported bruising on the child’s face.
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza has said it was “madness” that parents can take a child out of education even if concerns about their safety had already been raised.
She added: “Being in school is a safeguard. They are safer under the eyes of teachers.” Surrey county council executive director for children Rachael Wardell said: “Sara’s death is incredibly distressing and we share in the profound horror at the terrible details that have emerged.”
Sharif’s brother Faisal Malik, 29, was convicted of causing or allowing the youngster’s death.
Isabella’s story
Scott Jeff is facing life in jail for the murder of two-year-old Isabella Jonas-Wheildon. Jeff had started a relationship with Isabella’s mother, Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, and subjected the toddler to sustained attacks.
The girl’s mum ignored Jeff’s brutality and they even walked Isabella’s body around in a pushchair to hide his crime. The pair, both 24, were arrested after leaving the toddler’s body in a locked bathroom.
She was found with “traumatic injuries from head to toe” in June last year. Gleason-Mitchell, previously of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, admitted charges relating to the death and child cruelty at Ipswich crown court. Jeff denied murder but was found guilty. They are due to be sentenced Friday.
Evelyn’s story
Five-month-old Evelyn MacFarlane was smothered by her mother while out walking in a park in Leeds.
Her mum Hayley, 39, admitted herself voluntarily to a mental health unit. She denied murder but her guilty plea to infanticide was accepted and she was given an indefinite hospital order.
A court heard her GP and the community psychiatric services “failed to recognise the level of psychosis”.
Ethan and Elizabeth’s story
A mother killed her two kids because she did not want her husband to have them.
Veronique John, 50, of Stoke-on-Trent, was subject to a trial of facts after she was deemed unfit to plead at Nottingham crown court. In June last year, police were called to a car wash on Campbell Road, Stoke, where a man had been stabbed.
He was taken to hospital for treatment and discharged the same day. Officers then went to John’s home and found Ethan, 11, and Elizabeth seven. They were both unresponsive with multiple stab injuries.
When police arrived at the property, John told them: “If you have a gun, shoot me. I am not a monster – he was going to take them from me.”
