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A family court in Jhelum, Pakistan, has formally awarded permanent legal guardianship of the five siblings of murdered British schoolgirl Sara Sharif to their paternal grandfather, bringing an end to protracted cross-border legal proceedings. The ruling confirms that the surviving children, currently aged between four and sixteen, will remain permanently in Pakistan under the statutory care of Muhammed Sharif, following their removal from the United Kingdom in August 2023. The judgment supersedes previous wardship orders sought by English municipal authorities and establishes long-term arrangements for the minors within the Pakistani domestic care framework.
The legal proceedings concluded after presiding judicial officers conducted private assessments with the minors to determine their welfare interests and living conditions. Daily Dazzling Dawn understands that the eldest child confirmed to the court that the siblings had established a stable domestic routine in Jhelum and wished to remain within their existing household. Under the terms sanctioned by the court, the minors will reside permanently with Muhammed Sharif, while maintaining their British citizenship and UK passports. All of the school-age children have been integrated into local educational institutions within the province of Punjab.
Following the formal pronouncement, Muhammed Sharif stated to journalists that assuming full legal and moral responsibility for the children remained his primary duty. He noted that his immediate focus centres on ensuring access to stable schooling and emotional rehabilitation, remarking that structured guidance is essential to assist the young family in rebuilding regular lives following years of acute disruption.
The custody battle emerged directly from the high-profile homicide investigation initiated in Surrey, England, in late summer 2023. Sara Sharif, aged ten, was discovered dead inside her family residence in Woking on 10 August 2023, exhibiting extensive physical trauma sustained over an extended period. Forensic pathologists catalogued more than one hundred separate injuries, confirming extensive blunt-force trauma, bone fractures, and sustained systemic abuse.
Before British law enforcement officers gained access to the Woking residence, the child's father, Urfan Sharif, accompanied by stepmother Beinash Batool and paternal uncle Faisal Malik, fled commercial flights from London to Islamabad, taking the five surviving children with them. Urfan Sharif subsequently placed an emergency call to British authorities from abroad to report the fatality. Following an intensive international tracing operation conducted jointly by Interpol and regional Pakistani police, the five children were recovered from Muhammed Sharif’s residence in Jhelum on 11 September 2023 and temporarily placed under state child protection services.
Surrey County Council had previously obtained High Court wardship declarations over the minors in London, seeking their formal repatriation to British social care jurisdiction. However, legal representatives confirmed earlier this year that reciprocal repatriation bids encountered substantive jurisdictional limits under private international family law in Pakistan.
The adult defendants returned voluntarily to the United Kingdom on 13 September 2023, where they were detained upon arrival at Gatwick Airport. Following a substantive criminal trial at the Central Criminal Court in London, Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool were convicted of murder and handed mandatory life sentences, while Faisal Malik received a sixteen-year custodial sentence for causing or allowing the death of a child.
The resolution of the foreign custody claim coincides with ongoing statutory scrutiny into British multi-agency safeguarding procedures surrounding the Sharif household. Independent safeguarding reviews revealed that social care and child protection services held documented histories of domestic abuse involving Urfan Sharif dating back over a decade. Crucial risk assessments, including perpetrator intervention reports from 2016, had not been incorporated into formal family court evaluations, culminating in decisions that permitted Sara Sharif to remain placed in her father's household.
Surrey County Council has been directed by the Senior Coroner to disclose more than 24,000 pages of statutory records, communications, and internal case files ahead of a formal eight-week inquest into Sara Sharif's death. The judicial inquest, scheduled to sit in Surrey, will examine whether statutory agencies, education authorities, and police services failed to discharge their institutional duties to protect the vulnerable schoolgirl.
