Coroner orders council to disclose thousands of documents in Sara Sharif inquest
More than 24,000 documents have been requested from Surrey County Council.
A coroner has ordered a council to disclose more than 24,000 documents relating to the inquest into the death of 10-year-old Sara Sharif.
Sara was found dead in a bunk bed at the family home in Woking, Surrey, in August 2023.
Her father and stepmother – Urfan Sharif, 44, and Beinash Batool, 32 – were jailed for life with minimum terms of 40 years and 33 years respectively in December 2024, after being found guilty of her murder.
Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 31, was found guilty of causing or allowing her death and jailed for 16 years.
Concerns were raised about Sara’s care within a week of her birth in 2013, and her parents were known to social services as early as 2010, it has been reported.
Senior Coroner Richard Travers ordered Surrey County Council to disclose 24,606 documents relating to Sara’s siblings, a pre-inquest review at Surrey Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday.
During the preliminary proceedings, Mr Travers said that he wants “all of the pages” to be disclosed to him.
However, Alethea Redfern, representing the authority, argued against the full disclosure of the documents and said that many are “irrelevant” to the inquest.
She said that there needs to be a review of the paperwork by the council, adding that some of those documents relate to matters that have “no connection” to the circumstances of Ms Sharif’s death.
Ms Redfern argued that disclosure of all the documents, which are in an electronic format, will go beyond what is “necessary”.
However, Mr Travers said he doesn’t understand what the council’s “issue” is with him obtaining the pages.
“This is going to be an order of the court,” he said. “It is not up to Surrey County Council to decide what’s to be disclosed and what’s not to be disclosed.”
Mr Travers has requested all the pages be disclosed to him by the afternoon of October 2.
He said if he does not receive the documents, he will require the attendance of the authority’s chief executive at the coroner’s court.
The inquest into Sara’s death was due to take place in April next year, however, Mr Travers said he will adjourn the proceedings to a later date, in October.
The coroner said he is not prepared to “rush” proceedings and said that inquests are “important hearings” that have to be done “properly”.
During Thursday’s proceedings, three individuals due to give evidence at Sara’s inquest applied for anonymity that would prevent their identities from being reported by the press.
The coroner heard submissions and said he will make a decision at an unknown later date.