then you try to minimise mm then you try to minimise what ou had - then you try to minimise what you had done. _ - then you try to minimise what you had done. you _ - then you try to minimise what you had done. you said - - then you try to minimise what you had done. you said you | what you had done. you said you intended to hand yourself in, but you did not tell the police dispatcher where you were. in deliberately gave the impression you were in the uk. you lied and said you were calling from your son's car. you all then went into hiding in pakistan. there is no extradition treaty between the uk and pakistan. nonetheless, the pakistani authorities started looking for you. on the 6th of september, you, beinash batool and urfan sharif, took part in the bizarre video press statement in which you referred only briefly to sara's death, saying it was an incident and then spent the rest of the time complaining about the pressure that the pakistani authorities were putting on urfan sharif�*s family. eventually, on the 13th of september 2023, the three of you flew back to the uk. they

returned voluntarily i am satisfied that none of you did so because you decided to own up to what you did. rather, you left because urfan sharif�*s family instructed you to do so as a result of the heat that you are bringing down upon the client —— widerfamily. you each intended to brazen it out. none of you answered any questions in police interview. i now come on to say something about sara. photographs of her have been widely published. she was a beautiful little girl, somewhat small for her age. she was full of personality. she adored her baby brother and cared for him lovingly. her mother said that sara was always smiling and had her own unique character. a teaching assistant at her primary school said sara was a bubbly, confident, chatty and

engaging trial. she would sometimes approach me and do a dance, sing something or put on a show —— engaging trial. she was always happy in school and always knew when she was in the class. she had a spark. she was a little feisty, and if she had an opinion, she would want to voice it. and wasn't afraid to answer back. it is clear that sara stood up for herself and remained positive and cheerful in the most terrible circumstances. she was a very courageous little girl with an unquenchable spirit. she loved to sing and dance. thejury was unquenchable spirit. she loved to sing and dance. the jury was shown a video of sara dancing in front of the tv a few days before she died. it is clear that by this stage her mobility was impaired, the despite everything, she smiled at the camera. among the most heartbreaking pieces of evidence in this case was a short story sara wrote which

describes you, beinash batool, as a queen who is beautiful and young. a birthday card in which he said, happy birthday, dad, i love you so much. and the letter that she wrote to you, urfan sharif beinash batool, in which she apologised for answering back and said please forgive me, i so sorry. the reality was that abuse which for anyone else would be exceptional had become normalised for this little girl. she had known nothing else for much of her life. you, urfan sharif and beinash batool, persuaded her she deserved the treatment meted out to her. a moving victim impact statement was read to the court from sara's mother. she finds it hard to understand how anybody would behave in such a way towards a small child. she has suffered greatly as a result of sara's death, which has had a damaging impact upon her mental

health. she has the small consolation that sara's body was returned to her for the funeral in poland. the events in this case and in particular the fact that sara's school had raised safeguarding concerns and the fact that urfan sharif was previously on the radar of various authorities as an alleged perpetrator of domestic abuse inevitably raises questions about whether more could have been done to prevent the tragic consequences in this case. it is not my role to express an opinion on the matter and in any case i do not have sufficient information to do so. that is not the purposes of the sentencing exercise. the primary responsibility for the death of sara rests squarely with the three of you who are before me for sentencing. i will however make one comment. this is and what

this case brings into sharp relief, shows the dangers of home—schooling our vulnerable children. when they felt they needed to, you urfan sharif and beinash batool, were able to hide the abuse sara was suffering by the simple expedient of announcing she was to be home—schooled. of course, there are many cases in which parents take their children out of school for periods of home—schooling for good reasons and with the best of intentions. but this case starkly illustrates the dangers. it is a matter of concern that parents who are abusing or have malign intent towards their children appear to be able to home—school more or less at will and without supervision. dry now move onto the matters i have taken into account for sentencing each of you —— i now move on. i will start you, urfan sharif. as i have said, the only sentence i can pass

is a sentence of life imprisonment but must also set a minimum term. the first step is to identify the appropriate starting point. your offending does not come within the class of offending for which a whole life order would be appropriate. the next question is whether the starting point for the minimum term it should be 30 years. this is the starting point where the court considers the seriousness of the offence is particularly high. schedule 21 to the sentencing act of 2020 gives examples of cases that would normallyjustify a 30—year starting point. your offending does not come without any of the specific examples set out under this category in schedule 21. these include murders involving sexual and sadistic conduct. however, the list in paragraph three of schedule 21 of examples of cases that justify a 30—year starting point is not

exhaustive. the way that you treated sara culminating in her murder means that your conduct was of such seriousness as to warrant a 30—year starting point, even if the word sadistic is not precisely apt to describe it. it bears comparison with the other types of murder set out in the schedule 21 paragraph three which justify a 30—year starting point. you plainly derived grim satisfaction from your campaign of violence against sara. the starting point therefore is 30 years. however, the starting point is not the end point. i must also take into account the aggravating factors and, given the extent that there are any, the mitigating factors in your case. i say immediately that consideration of these factors will result in a substantial uplift from the starting point. beginning with the

aggravating factors, i will start with those that are specifically referred to in schedule 21. in my judgment, ourfirst, your victim was particularly vulnerable due to her age. sara was only ten years old when she died and was six or seven when she died and was six or seven when your campaign of violence began. second, the mental and physical suffering inflicted on the victim before death. this was extreme. i have already referred to the injuries that were inflicted on sara, mainly by you. the assaults went on for around four years. they were accompanied by other acts of cruelty which meant that sara must have been a constant state of terror. treated her as a skivvy. you took her out of school to conceal what you had done and then made no effort to educate her. the stress caused by your treatment meant the poor child was vomiting and soiling herself only to find that this

provoked further punishment by you. in the last few weeks, sara was tied up in the last few weeks, sara was tied up and was even hooded by a grotesque combination of parcel tape, rope and a plastic bag. she was not even allowed to go to the toilet but was put in pull—up nappies and was left to wallow in her own urine and faeces. the torture got worse. she was burned with an iron and boiling water was poured on her ankles. third, the abuse of the position of trust. the ill—treatment took place in sara's own home. you were herfather. you should own home. you were herfather. you s