A damning report on Sara Sharif’s father will not be released to protect the killer’s data protection rights, it has emerged. Surrey County Council have reportedly refused to publish the bombshell review, claiming it could breach Urfan Sharif’s rights.
A bombshell review in November revealed the failings of authorities who came into contact with Sara, saying the girl should never have been placed in the care of her father and stepmother. Details revealed how social workers had evidence of Sharif’s “extensive and wide-ranging domestic abuse” before he killed 10-year-old Sara, but it was “lost within the system”.
The primary school girl was murdered in August 2023, after undergoing what has been described as “torture” during a violent series of abuse that left the 10-year-old covered in fractures, bruises and burns.
Sara’s body was later found in her bunk bed at the family home after her father, Urfan Sharif, made a call from Pakistan admitting to having “beaten” and “killed” his young daughter.
Sharif had previously been ordered to attend a domestic violence perpetrator programme in 2016 after Sara’s mother accused him of hitting her and the children.
He admitted to “extensive and wide-ranging domestic abuse” but attended only eight of the 26 sessions. Experts later said there was “not enough evidence” that he had changed his behaviour.
The review found that despite the report making “shocking reading”, a social worker failed to complete an analysis and it was not added to Sara’s safeguarding file.
As a result, a judge later placed Sara in the care of her father without being fully aware of the risk posed by a man who had a 16-year history of attacking women and children.
Within a short time, Sharif began abusing his daughter in acts later described by a judge as among the worst crimes he had encountered.
Sara suffered more than 100 injuries. She had been tied up, a plastic bag secured over her head with parcel tape, and was beaten with a cricket bat, metal pole and rolling pin. She was also strangled, burnt with an iron and bitten.
Despite the findings, Surrey County Council has refused to release the domestic abuse report under Freedom of Information laws, saying publication would breach Sharif’s data protection rights, reports the Daily Mail.
Woking MP Will Forster has called for the council to be placed into special measures.
He said: “This is absolutely appalling. This man is in prison for killing his daughter and Surrey County Council are concerned with data protection. If they cared as much about protecting vulnerable children, perhaps this would never have happened.
“This report was an opportunity to save her, but it was lost within the system. Now this is about ducking responsibility.”
It has also emerged that Sharif was granted permission by the council to transport children with special educational needs before Sara’s death, after intelligence was not shared between departments.
A child safeguarding practice review published last November found that professionals had been aware of Sara’s unexplained injuries since her birth but failed to “join the dots”.
The review said the risk posed by Sharif was “overlooked, not acted on and underestimated by almost all professionals”.
Sharif fled to Pakistan with his wife Beinash Batool after Sara’s death before being extradited. The pair were jailed for life in December 2024.
A council spokesperson said: “This request relates to the personal data of a living person. Data protection legislation determines what can and cannot be shared about a person’s data and, as a public authority, Surrey County Council must observe all data protection principles when processing personal data.”
Council leader Tim Oliver added: “An independent safeguarding review was published last year. We are deeply sorry for the findings that related to us as a local authority. We take the findings with utmost seriousness.”