UK murder trial: Details of British-Pakistani girl's abuse shock nation

LONDON - The trial of three family members accused of murdering a 10-year-old British-Pakistani girl has shocked Britain, as details of the horrific abuse she endured emerged in court.

Sara Sharif was found dead in bed – with fractured bones, bites and burn marks all over her body – at her home in Woking, southern England, in August 2023.

The discovery sparked an international manhunt for the relatives accused of the killing, after they fled to Pakistan the previous day along with five of Sara's siblings.

Her father, 42-year-old taxi driver Urfan Sharif, stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, returned to Britain the following month and have been on trial since mid-October 2024. They deny the charges.

London's Old Bailey court has heard how Sara had 25 fractures, including of the hyoid bone in the neck.

Pathologist and bone specialist Anthony Freemont told the jury he had concluded that was the result of "neck compression", most commonly caused by "manual strangulation".

Sara had dozens of bruises, including bite marks, while her DNA as well as that of her father and uncle had been detected on a cricket bat and both ends of a belt.

Sara's blood was found inside a carrier bag believed to have been put over her head, while blood and strands of hair were detected on a piece of brown tape.