FAILED BY EVERYONE

Damning report blasts services for letting down tragic 10yr-old

- TOM PETTIFOR Crime Editor

TRAGIC Sara Sharif was repeatedly failed by the safeguarding system while her father "groomed and manipulated" professionals, a damning review has found.

It has also emerged council staff tried to check on the 10-year-old just two days before she was killed by her evil father and stepmother - but went to the wrong address.

Urfan Sharif, 43, and his partner Beinash Batool, 30, were jailed for life after Sara's body was discovered at home in Woking, Surrey, in 2023, after they fled to Pakistan.

The youngster was found with at least 71 external injuries, 10 spinal fractures, burns from an iron on her buttocks and six human bite marks on her body.

BRUISING

Services in Surrey failed to identify that Sara was at risk of abuse and did not question unexplained bruising, the report found.

This included a failure to probe why she started wearing a hijab in 2021 - covering facial injuries - for "fear of causing offence.

The scathing report concludes Sara described as a "beautiful little girl, full of personality" - was likely to have been saved and her two-year abuse hell uncovered if policies on home education visits had been properly implemented.