Sara Sharif’s case: Judges ruled within law despite social services’ warnings

31 January 2025 , 11:08

409     0

Sara Sharif’s case: Judges ruled within law despite social services’ warnings

The judges who oversaw family court proceedings involving Sara Sharif in the years before her death have been named following a Court of Appeal ruling.

Judges Alison Raeside, Peter Nathan and Sally Williams were all involved in proceedings related to the 10-year-old between 2013 and 2019.

Sara was placed in the home of her father, Urfan Sharif, and her stepmother, Beinash Batool, following the last of three sets of proceedings.

Judge Raeside, who remains an active judge, dealt with the majority of the proceedings related to Sara.

Judges Nathan and Williams - who have both since retired - were involved to a lesser degree.

Urfan Sharif. Pic: Surrey Police

Sara, 10, was murdered by the couple at the same address in Woking, Surrey, in 2023.

Sharif and Batool were jailed for life last year.

The press was previously barred from reporting the names of the judges and other professionals involved in the case.

The High Court ruled they had "acted within the parameters that law and social work practice set for them".

However, the Court of Appeal ruled last week that the media could name the judges in the interests of open justice.

It had heard that the three judges wanted to "convey their profound shock, horror and sadness about what happened to Sara Sharif".

Beinash Batool. Pic: Surrey Police

Surrey County Council was involved with the Sharif family for several years before Sara’s death.

Concerns about Sara’s care were raised within a week of her birth in 2013, while her parents Urfan and Olga Sharif were known to social services as early as 2010.

Surrey County Council repeatedly raised "significant concerns" that the child was likely to suffer physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her parents.

While there were the three sets of family court proceedings mentioned above, allegations that Urfan Sharif was physically abusing Sara and her siblings were never tested in court.

Despite the council’s concerns and court proceedings, Sara was repeatedly returned to her parents’ care before finally being placed with her father and stepmother in 2019.

Sophie Walker