Sara Sharif’s terrifying childhood exposed: Was placed under an order of protection the day she was born… but returned to killer father

At first glance, it appears to be a heartfelt letter from a loving daughter to her father. But in reality, Sarah Sharif‘s haunting note, discovered only after her death, was nothing more than a desperate bid for mercy.

She wrote to her father Urfan: ‘I love you so much, our family is the best in town, we spread love around the world.’

Today, the truth can finally be told about the brutal upbringing Sara and her siblings had in a family where violence was ‘normalised’.

Chilling family court documents, released after the Mail and other media fought a legal battle to reveal how the 10-year-old schoolgirl was repeatedly let down by authorities, paint a chilling picture of her childhood.

Even before Sara was born in 2013, her father was well known to the police and children’s services – and officers were called to his home four times between 2010 and 2012.

Surrey County Council’s children’s services were in contact from 2010 due to concerns about neglect and violence against one of Sara’s siblings, referred to by the court as ‘Z’, who was found alone in a shop aged just three.

Later that year, Sharif was arrested for assaulting Sara’s mother Olga Domin and beating Z and leaving a handprint on the child’s back.

In 2011, Z told teachers ‘dad hit me’. But by the following year the story had changed to ‘mother hit me’ in the first of a series of warning signs that the children were being forced to lie to protect Sharif.

The same child was found with a burn mark and was again discovered alone in Woking town centre, half a mile from the family home.

Social workers recorded that Z had ‘unexplained injuries’, as did another sibling, referred to as U. When Z was burned by an iron in 2013, visiting social workers found no light bulbs or bedding in the children’s bedrooms.

Sara was placed under a child protection order when she was born, which gave the local authority legal responsibility for her and her siblings.

She was almost two when she was placed in foster care in November 2014 after Z complained of being bitten by Ms Domin and ‘stabbed and punched’ by Sharif.

Caregivers noticed what looked like cigarette burns on Sara and U, but Sharif said they were chicken pox.

In late 2014, Sara returned home with U, but was placed in foster care again when her mother left the family home, alleging domestic violence.

Amid custody proceedings the following year, Mrs Domin accused Sharif of beating her and their children and of controlling and abusive behaviour.

Police were aware of previous allegations of violence and false imprisonment by Sharif’s ex-boyfriends, but no charges were brought and Sharif agreed to attend a domestic violence course. When her parents separated, Sara began living with her mother in a women’s shelter, where Sharif only allowed supervised contact.

Social workers noted that when Sharif visited, Sara shouted ‘go away’ and U alleged that Sharif ‘punched mum in the mouth and made her bleed’. But in Easter 2019, during a visit to Sharif’s home, Sara suddenly changed her tune and claimed that it was in fact her mother who had been abusive.

She said Ms Domin had tried to drown her in the bath, burned her with a lighter, hit her, squeezed her and pulled her hair.

Sharif recorded the accusations on video, but it seems no one questioned whether the man behind the lens could be the real perpetrator.

Despite previous accusations of Sharif’s violence, a social worker made the fateful recommendation that Sara and U move back in with him.

And in October 2019, this decision was ratified when a judge at Guildford Family Court in Surrey agreed that Sara should live with her father and Batool, her new stepmother.

Court documents state that Sara went to live with Sharif ‘with consent’.

The judge was aware of earlier claims but appears to have been duped by Sharif and Batool, with the latter claiming Ms Domin’s children ‘hated’ their mother and claiming they referred to her as ‘Shrek’ and ‘ogre’.

The judge blamed Ms Domin and suggested she needed help for anger issues and praised Batool, saying it was ‘fantastic’ of her to take in Ms Domin’s children because they needed ‘someone they can trust’ .

Mrs Domin was told by the judge: ‘It would be good if you could at least be polite to her (Batool), be polite to her, be a bit grateful even to her.’

An expert went so far as to tell the court that Sara had ‘a really good relationship’ with Batool, which was ‘a point of safety’ for her. Within months of living with her father in West Byfleet, Surrey, neighbors heard knocking and screaming. Yet they failed to call the police.

Batool sent her sister Qandeela Saboohi countless messages about the attacks with pictures of Sara’s injuries, but she too failed to raise the alarm.

It was around this time that Sara started wearing the hijab.

Teachers noticed injuries to her face in March 2023, but Sara dismissed it as a fall on roller skates.

The school referred the incident to social services. After an investigation, the council said no further action was taken but asked the school to ‘monitor’ the situation.

A few days later, Sara came to school with another bruise, which Batool claimed was caused by a pen.

Sharif then decided to homeschool Sara. She was never seen alive again outside the house. When she died on August 8 last year, the only family member who sought help was Sara’s sibling U, who texted a friend: ‘Hi. Urgent. My sister just passed away.’

The court heard Sara’s bloodied body was likely carried through the house in a blanket in front of her siblings and jet-washed outside.

But Sharif was not done. In a final sickening twist, he tried to fool jurors about Sara’s injuries by saying: ‘It must have been the kids.’

He had even persuaded U to testify that he was not guilty – but before his child could harm himself, Sharif admitted that he was ‘responsible for everything’.

Now it can finally be revealed exactly what he meant.