Father accused of girl's murder confessed to UK police, jurors told

By Sam Tobin

LONDON (Reuters) - The father of Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old girl who was found dead in her home in Britain, told police "I beat her up too much", prosecutors said at his murder trial on Monday.

Sharif was found dead in August 2023 at her home in Woking, a town southwest of London, after what prosecutors say was a campaign of "serious and repeated violence".

Her father Urfan Sharif, 42, his wife and Sara Sharif's stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and the girl's uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are on trial at London's Old Bailey court charged with her murder.

The trio are alternatively charged with causing or allowing the death of a child. All three deny the charges against them and blame each other for her death, prosecutors say.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones told jurors on the first day of the trial on Monday that Urfan Sharif called British police, having fled to Pakistan after Sara Sharif's death.

"He used what you may think is an odd expression," Emlyn Jones said. "He said: 'I legally punished her and she died'."

Emlyn Jones said that Urfan Sharif also told police: "I beat her up. It wasn't my intention to kill her, but I beat her up too much."

The prosecutor said a note in Urfan Sharif's handwriting was also found next to his daughter's body, which read: "I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it."

Emlyn Jones told the jury that each of Urfan Sharif, Batool and Malik "played their part in the violence and mistreatment which resulted in Sara's death".

The three defendants all deny responsibility for any of violence and abuse and each "seeks to deflect the blame onto one or both of the others", Emlyn Jones said.

Urfan Sharif blames his wife Batool, Emlyn Jones said, and his apparent confessions to the police were designed to "protect the true guilty party".

The prosecutor added that Batool's case is that Urfan Sharif was a "violent disciplinarian" and that she was scared of him, while Malik says he was unaware of any abuse or violence.

The trial is expected to run until December.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Alison Williams)