LONDON: A court in London has sentenced the Pakistani father and stepmother of 10-year-old Sara Sharif to life imprisonment for killing her last year.
The 43-year-old father Urfan Sharif and his wife Beenish Batool, 30, were a few days ago convicted of murder at the Old Bailey after an eight-week trial. His brother, Faisal Malik, 29, was found guilty of causing or allowing Sara’s death and sentenced to 16 years in jail.
After sentencing the couple, the judge ruled that Sharif would have to languish in jail for at least 40 years and his wife 33 years in jail. There will be no chances of release after completing the minimum sentence except a decision to be taken on parole.
It may be recalled that Sara Sharif was found dead in the southern UK town of Woking on August 10, 2023, and a postmortem test revealed she had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries” over a sustained period, British police had said.
The police had said that Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, his partner Beinash Batool and his brother Faisal Malik had fled to Pakistan to take refuge with relatives before the girl’s body was found, sparking an international manhunt.
The trio, along with five children, flew from the UK to Pakistan a day after Sara died. Police believed the trio left the country on Aug 9, a day before Sara’s body was discovered, and that they spent up to 5,000 pounds on one-way tickets to Pakistan for three adults and five children.
The British-Pakistani father of Sara later returned to England from Pakistan and stood trial there.
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