Council visited wrong home before Sara Sharif's murder

Council staff tried to check on 10-year-old Sara Sharif the day before she was murdered by her father and stepmother, but went to the wrong address, a review has found.

Urfan Sharif, 43, and Beinash Batool, 30, were jailed for life for Sara's murder after her body was discovered at the family home in Woking, Surrey, in 2023 following two years of abuse.

Services in Surrey failed to identify that Sara was at risk of abuse and did not question unexplained bruising, the review, external found. This included a failure to properly investigate why Sara started wearing a hijab - that covered the bruising - for "fear of causing offence".

Surrey County Council said it was "deeply sorry" for the findings in the review.