Sara Sharif

[mauvish]

Sara, aged 10, was found dead in the family home.

The police "want to speak" with Sara's father and his partner, who flew to Pakistan the day before Sara's body was found, and then phoned (don't know who) from there:

The call led officers to the house in Woking where they found the body of Sara who had sustained "multiple and extensive injuries", likely to have been caused over a sustained period of time.

Another child suffers at the hands of those who should care. I hope they get them back from Pakistan but I wonder what the chances of that are.

RIP, Sara.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-66563430

I also thought the makeup. Poor girl

I think the police will struggle to get answers. Even if they find the father, there's no extradition treaty with Pakistan. Poor little girl.

Now the news talk about Sara being taken off school and being home schooled by watching BBC bitesize (!) and neighbours say she was always with the baby. Sounds like child slavery gone wrong to me. That poor soul!

There have been two more articles on the BBC website in the last day, but I agree the reporting seems low-key, though that could br at the request of the police.

Police had ‘previous contact with the family’

Sharif: Surrey Police had contact with family of murdered girl www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-66584753 BBC - Police previous contact

Sara being homeschooled

Sharif: Murdered girl was being home schooled, says neighbour www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-66593116 BBC News - Sara homeschooling

The uncles shared photos are a very different video to that blank faced make up on the bed shot.

Whatever happened to the little girl in the previous photos.

I don’t think we will ever know the truth really about anything within this family’s case.

Was the previous police contact when with the ex or the new partner? Or both it says historical issues. Why didn’t mum have custody.

Although the fact she moved here to marry him means that the sham marriage thing wasn’t the motivation but god knows.

Poor child/children at the end of the day.

@OhmygodDont what other photo, sorry? I've not seen another one.

That poor little girl. Sounds like she had a horrific life with prolonged abuse and then was just discarded like rubbish all alone dying or dead.

If she did 'fall down the stairs', could she have survived with medical treatment? How did they know she was definitely dead!

Says it all that the stepmum rang the husband rather than an ambulance. For any even slightly normal person the first thought would be to get help for the child, then worry about the trouble they'd be in for the abuse which would be identified later. They were more concerned about their other DC being taken away though from what the uncle said so they've essentially admitted what they did to her.

Imagine rushing around booking flights abroad and packing suitcases while your daughter lay dead or dying and with other DC in the house who would have been aware she was being left like that too!

I just to hope at least one of the family members has a conscience and the evil bastards are found so Sara can have some small justice although way too late and meaningless for her now.

The poor child.

I look forward to those who oppose any form of regulations or checks upon the welfare and educational progress of home educated children completely ignoring this case, as per.

I went to school with a couple of girls from the Travellers Community.

They were both pulled out of school in second year ie aged 12 or so. The official reason was home schooling but they told us that their families didn't believe in high school education for girls as it did not teach them Traveller values.

They both married very young, one of them 15/16 (not sure if it was an 'official' wedding due to her age but there was certainly a celebration).

As far as I am aware no one from the school ever checked up on them or tried to bring them back to school.

This was in the mid 1980s.

Am I the only person who finds this photograph incredibly sinister? Her mother has reportedly said that her father insiisted that she was raised as a moslem. Moslem families generally dress their girls modestly. Yet in this picture she is wearing make up, her dress appears to be off one shoulder and she is clearly sitting on a bed. I dread to think what that poor child went through.

@crowsfeet57

I agree ☹️

Would support removing the father and uncle’s citizenship.

Me too. Completely inappropriate make up and jewellery.

Was a daily Mail article. I’ll hide.

But yes the younger innocent fun having child compared to that make up bed posed photo just gives me the willies tbh it’s a very staged to look perfect and groomed yet perched on a bed type photo to aim at a certain demographic I think.

But why was that pretty much the only photo mum had apart from another more child like messing around. Uncle shared lots of pictures.

@Dramatico We're at risk of being pulled off topic, but I share a disdain for any culture or religion that restricts educational opportunities for their members - from Jehovah's Witnesses to travellers. Muslim kids are, however, often fiercely ambitious (especially the girls) and most aspire to higher education.

The issue I was referring to is that there is currently nothing stopping abusive parents deciding to pull their children out of school to 'home educate' as a way to keep their child away from professionals who might spot the abuse. It seems the case with Sara Sharif, it was certainly the case with Dylan Seabridge (scurvy death) and Khyra Ishaq (starved to death), for example.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jul/08/report-on-death-of-boy-with-scurvy-raises-fears-for-home-schooled-children

BBC News - Khyra's home education 'helped conceal abuse'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-10779321

@crowsfeet57 As ever, practices do vary - I've known Muslims who can absolutely drink me under the table, but wouldn't touch a bacon sandwich. Likewise, some dress more modestly than others.

We don't have any context for the photo, but my feeling is it was taken when she had just got ready for a family wedding, and had had her make up done. It's possible that there was another component part of her outfit that she hadn't put on yet.

I wouldn't read too much into one outfit in one photo.

In terms of home education, Sara was already known to social services, as we're Dyland Seabridge and Khyra Ishaq. When children are removed from school, they are known to the local authority, who have a duty of care to check that a suitable education is being provided. Social services have the same duty of care to home educated children as they do to school educated children. Statistically, home educated families are more likely to be reported to social services, but also more likely to be found not to need to be placed on any social services based plans.

As it is, I really hope this is not yet another case of social services failing to protect a child who is known to them, because of the failure of government to properly fund it. I've seen news clips already discussing it as if it is. This poor girl clearly needed protecting and I'm so upset that she wasn't. Social services needs to be properly funded.

We don't have any context for the photo, but my feeling is it was taken when she had just got ready for a family wedding, and had had her make up done. It's possible that there was another component part of her outfit that she hadn't put on yet

I suspect a family wedding or engagement and that she may even have been the equivalent of a flower girl. But it could also have been for something like Eid. The clothes I suspect are what she wearing about the house before she got changed I to her wedding or Eid outfit.

Young Muslim girls can have clothes they wear in the privacy of their home and the outfit she has one may be something she just wore at home.

For those that don't want to click, here are the images from the Polish uncle provided to the Daily Mail.

Very, very sad. Poor girl.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-66593116

As someone who is married to a Muslim (from the Middle East not south Asia), I'm a little concerned about the stereotyping and assumptions going on here about Muslims.

Ive been following this thread and I don’t feel there’s any stereotyping towards Muslims, just stereotyping of a family who literally left their child for dead and trying to make sense of that…

Well, firstly suggestions that a young Muslim girl is covered head to toe shows misconceptions, at the very least and to put it kindly.

And then add it the suggestions around child grooming / child brides because a young Muslim girl is wearing make up, ignoring the fact that girls of any culture and religion enjoy dressing up.

I think we both know that the local authority's powers are pretty toothless.

Here is a website run by and for home educators, which advises parents how to refuse a home visit, and if they do decide to have a home visit that the inspector need not see or speak to the children as there's no legal requirement for it(!!), and definitely not to leave an inspector alone with the children in case they ask if the children like HE!
https://www.home-education.org.uk/legal-home-visits.htm

Abused children typically only make a disclosure to an adult they trust. The guise of home education allows abusive parents to isolate their children from non-family adults that they might come to trust.

If you bake and sell birthday cakes from your home, you have to register with the local authority and go through regular, compulsory food hygiene inspections, being held to the same standards as a restaurant (with some very minor tweaks for it being a domestic environment). The environmental health officer will check your paperwork, poke around in your kitchen cupboards and fridge, and quiz you.

Somehow we seem to be in the mad scenario where the local authority has far more power to inspect cake hygiene than the welfare and educational progress of vulnerable children. Do we, as a scenario, really care more about cakes than child abuse?

Well, firstly suggestions that a young Muslim girl is covered head to toe shows misconceptions, at the very least and to put it kindly

I think the expression used was “modestly” not “covered head to toe”.

Either way, still a misconception and stereotype.

Young Muslim girls can have clothes they wear in the privacy of their home and the outfit she has one may be something she just wore at home.
This is one example of a stereotype. My dh is a Muslim and none of the girls in his family, including my daughter, has clothes they can only wear in the house.
The islamophobia in MN is awful.