01 March 2024 , 10:39
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Three members of 10-year-old Sara Sharif's family will go on trial for murder in October.
The child's father, Urfan Sharif, 42, stepmother, Beinash Batool, 29, and uncle, Faisal Malik, 28, are accused of killing the youngster, whose body was discovered at her home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 last year.
The defendants have pleaded not guilty to murder and to causing or allowing the death of a child between December 16, 2022 and August 9, 2023. All three appeared at the Old Bailey by video-link on Friday as Judge Mark Lucraft set a date for their trial on October 1.
The judge confirmed the case would take up to six weeks and be heard before High Court judge Mr Justice Cavanagh. A previous court hearing was told police found Sara's body under a blanket on a bunk bed at her home after receiving a call from Pakistan, which lasted eight minutes and 34 seconds, at 2.47am on August 10.
It is alleged the defendants had booked a flight to the country two days earlier. Prosecutors told the Old Bailey that Sara was found to have "a constellation of healed and healing injuries".
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The day before her body was discovered, the three defendants had left the UK for Pakistan with five children. They returned to the UK on September 13 and were arrested on landing at Gatwick Airport. The defendants, formerly of Hammond Road in Woking, appeared from Belmarsh and Bronzefield prisons and were further remanded into custody.