Fugitive dad of murdered Sara Sharif, 10, 'will be arrested in hours'

26 August 2023 , 20:15

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Sara Sharif (Image: PA)

Police in Pakistan expect to arrest the fugitive father of ­murdered Sara Sharif today.

A senior officer said the net is closing in on Urfan Sharif, his partner Beinash Batool and his brother Faisal Malik, who all left the UK after the tragic 10-year-old died. Nasir Bajwa, police chief in the family’s hometown Jhelum, said yesterday: “With God’s will we will make the arrest by tomorrow night.”

And he said teams of officers working on the investigation are finding it a painful case because “a little child has met a brutal death”. Sharif, 41, Malik, 28, and Batool, 29, flew to Islamabad on August 9. It was the day before Sara’s body was found at her home in Woking, Surrey, where tributes have been laid.

Her father called British police from Pakistan to report her death. Mr Bajwa said his teams are working “day and night” to find the trio who were picked up from Islamabad airport by two Sharif brothers. They are known to have travelled 85 miles to Jhelum. But Mr Bajwa said: “They are not in Jhelum now. They are probably nearby in Kashmir. The suspect is not giving himself up... but the picture will be clearer once we have caught him.”

Urfan Sharif (PA)

This week it emerged that a message found at Sara’s home and said to be written by a relative, claims the little girl was battered to death. The handwritten note reportedly says: “Who ever sees this, it was [name] who killed [Sara] by beating. I am running away because I am scared.”

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And the mum of a pupil at St Mary’s Primary, in Byfleet, Surrey, said Sara turned up with “cuts and bruises” just before she left the school in April. A postmortem found Sara suffered “extensive” injuries. Her mum Olga Sharif, 36, who lives in Yeovil, Somerset, said this week: “I will never have closure until I know what has happened and why. He can’t hide away for ever.”

Tom Pettifor