CCTV shows Sarah Sharif’s family at Heathrow Airport hours before the schoolgirl was found dead at home

Sarah Sharif family surveillance footage on Heathrow Airport hours before the schoolgirl was found dead in their home, was shown at the trial over her murder.

The 10-year-old girl’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, stepmother Beinash Batul, 30, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of running a campaign of abuse that culminated in her murder on August 8 last year.

All three deny murder, while Batul and Sharif accuse each other of violence at the family home in WokingSurrey, and university student Malik claimed he was not involved.

The The Old Bailey CCTV footage was released on Thursday showing the accused as they prepared to board a flight to Pakistan on August 9, 2023, a day after Sarah’s death – and just hours before police discovered her dead body in a bunkhouse on August 10 a bed in Hammond Road.

Surrey Police detective Leanne Sherwood released footage showing the family walking through Terminal 3 at Heathrow Airport on August 9, going through flights, queuing at security, going through passport control and going through the boarding gate.

Footage was also played of the doorbell ringing as the family car backed out of the driveway on the day they left for the airport for their flight to Pakistan.

The court was then shown footage of the family’s car approaching a car park barrier at Heathrow Airport, with a parking pass confirming their time of arrival.

Footage from the Co-Op in High Street, Horsell, also showed jurors where Urfan Sharif appeared to enter and leave the store on the evening of August 8, believed to be the day Sarah died.

Two days later, police discovered the 10-year-old’s body in a bunk bed after Sharif called from Pakistan to say he had beaten Sara “too badly” for “naughtiness”.

Jurors were previously told that shortly before she was found, she had suffered more than 70 injuries, including burns and what appeared to be human bite marks. She was strangled until a bone in her neck broke three months before she died.

On Thursday, the court heard details of a series of WhatsApp messages between 2020 and 2023 in which Batul relayed to his sister Qandila Sabuha about the beating Sharif allegedly inflicted on Sarah.

They were accompanied by photos of a sullen, bruised Sarah and the message: “Look what he’s doing. Delete photos.”

Batul repeatedly complained to her sister that Sharif beat Sarah for being “naughty”, “rude and rebellious” and because she cut his clothes, hid keys and tore documents – even suggesting that the schoolgirl had ” gin”.

Ms Sabuhi advised her to listen to the Koran and when Batul talked about going to the police, told her to calm down, jurors were told.

All three defendants, formerly of Hammond Road, Woking, denied murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between December 16, 2022, and August 9, 2023.