Sara Sharif: Court rules girl's Pakistan family cannot be detained

Sara Sharif suffered extensive injuries over an extended period of time, police said

Relatives of the father of Sara Sharif, whose death in the UK sparked an international manhunt, cannot be detained in Pakistan by police for questioning on his whereabouts.

The decision was made at the Lahore high court, Rawalpindi bench.

The body of Sara, 10, was found at her family home in Woking, Surrey, on 10 August, prompting a murder inquiry.

Her father Urfan Sharif, 41, travelled to Pakistan with his partner and one of his brothers before her body was found.

Mr Sharif's family said police had illegally detained two of his brothers who live in Pakistan.

Urfan Sharif and his partner Beinash Batool are sought by police over Sara's death

At the Lahore high court, Rawalpindi bench, Jhelum Police officers did not deny they had held the two men for several days but said they had not arrested them.

They told the court they had been instructed by Interpol to question the family about Mr Sharif's location. Both brothers have been released.

The court barred the police from detaining them again but officers said they would continue to question them.

While Pakistan and the UK do not have a formal extradition treaty, Surrey Police officers are working with the authorities in Pakistan to locate Mr Sharif, his partner Beinash Batool, 29, and his brother Faisal Malik, 28.

Floral tributes have been laid at the scene where Sara Sharif was found

The force has made a fresh appeal for information two weeks after launching its murder investigation following the discovery of Sara's body alone in the family home at 02:50 BST on 10 August.

Detectives urged "people in the Woking community and beyond" who had contact with Sara to come forward.

Surrey Police said previously Mr Sharif, 41, made a 999 call from Pakistan shortly after landing in Islamabad with Ms Batool, Mr Malik and five children, aged between one and 13.

That led officers to the house in Woking where they found Sara's body. She had sustained "multiple and extensive injuries" likely to have been caused over a sustained period of time.

A post-mortem examination failed to establish the exact cause of Sara's death, with more tests being carried out.

Det Supt Mark Chapman of Surrey Police also said the force has had "historic" contact with her family that "goes back some years".

Speaking to the BBC outside the court in Pakistan, Mr Sharif's father and one brother repeated their assertion that they were not in touch with him and did not know where he was.

They told the police they believe he came to the city of Jhelum, where the family is from, but then left.

Jhelum Police said it still does not know where Mr Sharif, his partner Ms Batool and his brother Mr Malik are.