The details of what happened to Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old killed in 2023 in Surrey, are horrifying. You will, no doubt, remember the case: her father and stepmother fled to Pakistan, and there was an international manhunt to bring them back to this country to stand trial.
The question that, rightly, is asked when a child is killed in such extreme circumstances is: how could this happen? Louise Tickle and Hannah Summers, both specialist family court reporters, were the first to apply for documents from the courts to understand what was known to the authorities about the danger Sara was in. Could her death have been prevented?
Family court matters are mostly kept private, and not reportable in the press, but they argued that it was squarely in the public interest to see these documents, as it would help us all understand the decisions a court must make when a child is at risk.
The papers they obtained show that Sara and her siblings were the subject of family court proceedings three times before her death. The local council wanted them to be taken into care for their safety. So what happened?
