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The Court of Appeal has ruled that three judges who were involved in family court proceedings related to the care of Sara Sharif before her murder can be named. Sara Sharif’s body was discovered at her home in Woking on 10 August 2023. In December, Mr Justice Williams had ruled that the media could not name the judges involved in the historical family court cases that involved the ten-year-old, alongside social workers and guardians, because of a real safety risk which came from a “virtual lynch mob.”
Nonetheless, several media organizations, such as the BBC, have successfully raised a legal challenge against the verdict, stating that the judges’ identities ought to be revealed for the sake of transparency. During the ruling on Friday, the Court of Appeal concurred that the three anonymous judges could be identified in a week’s time. Sir Geoffrey Vos said that “In the circumstances of this case, the judge had no jurisdiction to anonymize the historic judges either on 9 December 2024 or thereafter,” adding that “he was wrong to do so.” At the previous hearing, it was found that two of the three judges involved have retired.
Following the convictions at the Old Bailey in December last year, information from previous family court hearings surrounding Sara’s care before her death could be published. This included Surrey County Council’s concerns about the children returning to Sharif, given the history of physical abuse and domestic violence allegations against him as the perpetrator. Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif, 43, and stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, were both given life in jail for her murder in Woking in 2023. Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik, 29, was sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment for causing or allowing her death.
According to documents released to the media, Surrey County Council first interacted with Sharif and Olga Sharif, Sara’s mother, in 2010 before Sara was born, with “referrals indicating neglect” originat
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