Woking murder: Sara Sharif was seen at school ‘with cuts and bruises to her face’

SARA SHARIF, found murdered in a Woking home earlier this month, had been seen with “cuts and bruises” to her face at her Byfleet school during spring, media reports said.

Surrey Police who discovered the 10-year-old girl’s body in the early hours of August 10, believe her father Urfan Sharif, his partner Beinash Batool and his brother Faisal Malik fled to Pakistan along with five children aged from one to 13 years a day earlier.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Sara had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries” over a period of time. But it did not establish what exactly caused her death.

She had attended St Mary's primary school in Byfleet before her family moved to their Woking residence.

Sara Sharif’s father Urfan Sharif and his partner Beinash Batool (Image credit: Surrey Police)

Her classmate’s mother Jessica told the BBC that she had been to school before the Easter holidays and “had cuts and bruises on her face and her neck".

"My daughter had asked what had happened and she said she'd fallen off a bike and then kind of walked away,” the woman, who was the family’s neighbour at Byfleet, said.

"The next day the teacher announced she had left school and she was being home-schooled," Jessica said.

According to another neighbour, Batool said the girl was being educated at home after being “bullied for wearing a hijab”.

Media reports also said a handwritten note naming Sara’s killer was found at the scene of her murder, but officers have not confirmed it.

Detective Superintendent Mark Chapman of the Surrey Police and Sussex Police Major Crime Team on Thursday (24) renewed his appeal to the public to contact the force if they have any information, however insignificant it may appear.

“Any information is better than no information - although you might think it’s insignificant, it might be vital to the investigation and in helping us to bring justice for Sara,” Chapman said.

The force said detectives were working with international agencies, including the Interpol to progress their enquiries with Pakistani authorities.