Sara Sharif’s father sobbed as he confessed to killing his daughter, court hears

Sara Sharif’s father sobbed as he confessed to killing his daughter, saying “I’m a cruel father” in a phone call to police, a court has heard.

Urfan Sharif, 42, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of murdering his daughter, alongside her stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 29.

Jurors were told that the police non-emergency 101 number had received the call at 2.47am on August 10 2023, two days after Sara died.

The court previously heard that all three defendants had fled to Pakistan after allegedly murdering the 10-year-old.

During the call from Pakistan, which lasted eight minutes and 34 seconds, the taxi driver can be heard crying as he confessed to killing his daughter, refusing to reveal his location and saying he would hand himself in to Woking police station.

In the phone call, played to jurors on Tuesday, an emotional Sharif asked the operator to write down his address, spelling out his postcode, and telling them to “send someone” to his home on Hammond Road, Woking.

In the recording, Sharif said Sara had been “naughty” over the last three to four weeks and he was “giving her punishment” to “sort her out”, adding “I did something and she died”.

Earlier in the call, the operator can be heard asking Sharif “is everything okay?” to which he responds: “Nothing is okay.”

At one point, Sharif can be heard getting so emotional that the operator says he cannot understand what he is saying and tells him to “take a deep breath”.

Sharif continued: “I did legally punish my daughter and she died.

“I left the home in a panic.

“I killed my daughter. I killed my daughter.”

Sharif can then be heard telling the operator he left his front door keys under the mat and repeatedly asking police to go to his address.

He said: “My daughter’s dead. I panicked and left home.”

The operator then asks who killed Sharif’s daughter, to which he responds “It’s me. Her dada.”

Sharif added: “I beat her up, it wasn’t my intention to kill her, but I beat her up too much.”

He then said Sara was not breathing when he left the house and he failed to resuscitate her using CPR.

During the call Sharif spells out his and his daughter’s full names and dates of birth.

The operator asked whether the 10-year-old was bleeding anywhere, to which her father responded “no”.

“She is dead, I am telling you,” he added.

Sharif can be heard refusing to answer questions about his location at the time of the call, telling the operator he left his car at the Heathrow terminal three car park.

When asked where he was, Sharif responded: “I cannot give more detail, I promise I’ll come back.

“I’ll face the death sentence.”

Officers discovered Sara’s body lying on a bunk bed under a blanket upon arriving at her home in Woking, Surrey, around five minutes after the call, the court heard.

All three defendants, of Hammond Road in Woking, have denied Sara’s murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between December 16 2022 and August 9 2023.