SARA FAILED BY OFFICIALS 'AFRAID TO CAUSE OFFENCE'

Damning review into shocking murder of Sara Sharif, 10, finds social workers did not dare ask why she wore a hijab that hid her injuries

- BY PAUL JEEVES and MARTYN BROWN

SARA Sharif was left at the mercy of her evil killer father and stepmother because social workers were too scared of being branded racist.

The revelation that they did not fully question why the 10-year-old started wearing a Muslim hijab to hide bruises emerged in a damning review that said Sara was repeatedly "failed by the system" as she suffered abuse from the day she was born.

Crucially, a council official visited the wrong home the day before the youngster was murdered because they had an out-of-date address, the report said.

Urfan Sharif, 43, and Beinash Batool, 30, were jailed for life for Sara's murder last year after her battered body was found at the family home in Woking, Surrey, in 2023 following years of abuse.

The child safeguarding practice review yesterday made 15 urgent recommendations for the family court, the Department for Education, the local council, care board and police to address "a catalogue of failings".

But, incredibly, no official is set to face disciplinary measures and the blame for Sara's violent death has been laid solely at the door of Sharif and Batool.

Former Tory Home Secretary James Cleverly said: "Fear of being called 'racist' deterring professionals from doing the right thing. This has got to stop." And the Children's Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza warned that two years on from Sara's death "children are still dying".

She said: "A catalogue of missed opportunities, poor communication and ill-informed assumptions, confirming what we always suspected: that the information needed to save Sara was available to the professionals tasked with her protection. But every part of the system lacked the curiosity to piece it together or ask tough questions, relying on the easy lies of her father and stepmother, at whose hands she died.