Coroner forces council to release all Sara Sharif inquiry documents
A senior coroner has ordered Surrey County Council to disclose thousands of documents relating to the inquest into the murder of 10-year-old Sara Sharif, rejecting the council's attempt to withhold material it deemed irrelevant. Sara was found dead in August 2023 at her family home in Woking after suffering horrific abuse at the hands of her father, Urfan Sharif, and stepmother Beinash Batool, who were both jailed for life in December 2024. The ruling matters because it forces full transparency from the local authority over its knowledge of the family's circumstances ahead of Sara's death, including information about her surviving siblings.
Senior Coroner Richard Travers said he wants "all of the pages" — some 24,606 documents concerning Sara's siblings — handed over by the afternoon of 2 October, warning he would summon the council's chief executive to court if it failed to comply. Council barrister Alethea Redfern had argued many documents were unrelated to the case and that full disclosure went beyond what was necessary, but Travers said it was not the council's place to decide what should be disclosed. He also confirmed the inquest, previously due to start in April 2027, will be adjourned to a later date in October, saying he was not prepared to "rush" such an important hearing, while three witnesses applied for anonymity.
- Coroner orders Surrey council to hand over 24,606 documents on Sara Sharif's siblings
- Council must comply by 2 October or face chief executive being summoned
- Sara Sharif inquest adjourned again, now expected later in October
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Surrey County Council was involved with the family of Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old girl found dead at her home in Woking in August 2023. An inquest was opened to establish the facts around her death, and Sara's father, Urfan Sharif, and his wife, Beinash Batool, were later convicted of her murder and jailed for life in December 2024. As part of the inquest process, a coroner can require organisations such as councils to hand over relevant records so that the full picture of what happened can be examined.
The council had been reluctant to disclose a large number of documents relating to Sara's surviving siblings, arguing that much of the material was not relevant to the inquest. Coroners have the power to compel disclosure of evidence they consider necessary, and it is ultimately for the coroner, not the organisation holding the documents, to decide what is relevant.
This dispute matters because it touches on how much local authorities knew about a vulnerable family before a child's death, and whether that information was acted on appropriately. Inquests into high-profile child deaths often examine the role of agencies such as councils and schools, since their findings can lead to wider recommendations about protecting children in future.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Coroner orders council to disclose thousands of documents in Sara Sharif inquest”.