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Sara Sharif murder: Timeline of hunt for family

Sara Sharif was found dead in bed at her family's home in Woking, southern England, in August 2023.

Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik
Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik were arrested earlier this month following their return to the UK from Pakistan. (Image credit: Surrey Police)
Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik were arrested earlier this month following their return to the UK from Pakistan. (Image credit: Surrey Police)

THE discovery of 10-year-old Sara Sharif's body at her home in southern England triggered an international investigation after her father, uncle and stepmother flew to Pakistan.

The trio returned to the UK in September 2023.


August 9, 2023: Sara's father Urfan Sharif, a 41-year-old taxi driver who moved to the UK from Pakistan in 2001, travels from his family's home near Woking, southern England, to Islamabad.

He flies with his partner Beinash Batool, 29, brother Faisal Malik, 28, and his five children.

August 10: Urfan Sharif calls Surrey Police at around 2:50 am UK time (0150 GMT) and officers visit the family's semi-detached home. They find Sara's body and a murder investigation is launched, sparking an international manhunt.

August 15: A post-mortem examination is unable to establish the cause of death but reveals Sara had sustained "multiple and extensive" injuries likely to have been inflicted over a "sustained and extended" period of time.

Sara's mother Olga tells The Sun newspaper that her life "will never be the same again".

August 18: Surrey Police say they would like to speak to Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik over the death.

UK police talk with authorities in Pakistan, with which the UK has no formal extradition treaty, about trying to find and question them.

August 19: Pakistani police in the eastern province of Punjab seek to arrest Sharif, whose family home is believed to be in the city of Jhelum.

August 24: A Pakistani court rules that police cannot detain relatives of Urfan Sharif after police quiz two of his brothers over his whereabouts.

Police say they had been instructed by Interpol to question the family and that they were "close to locating" the trio.

August 29: A coroner's inquest opens but is told the precise cause of Sara's death is "not yet ascertained" but is likely to be "unnatural".

September 5: Urfan Sharif's father Muhammad Sharif tells the BBC in Pakistan that he had seen his son, who maintains Sara's death was "an accident".

September 6: Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool appear in public for the first time, sending broadcasters a video in which they say they are "willing to co-operate with the UK authorities and fight our case in court".

September 11: Pakistani police raid the home of Muhammad Sharif and remove Urfan Sharif's five children.

They are sent temporarily to a government childcare facility in Pakistan.

September 13: Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik land at London's Gatwick Airport and are arrested immediately after leaving the plane, at around 7:45 pm, on suspicion of murder.

September 15: In the early hours, Surrey Police announce that state prosecutors had authorised murder charges against the trio. They were also charged with causing or allowing the death of a child.

They appear in court in the southern town of Guildford. All three are remanded in custody.

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