Sara Sharif council in 'religious sensibilities' plea

Child safety must not be compromised by "professional hesitancy" over religious sensitivities, a committee has warned, after a review into the murder of 10-year-old Sara Sharif.

Her father Urfan Sharif, 43, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, were jailed for life for her murder after her body was found at home in Woking, Surrey, in 2023 following two years of abuse.

The review in November found services failed to properly investigate why Sara started wearing a hijab - that covered bruising - for "fear of causing offence".

Surrey councillors have now called for "no professional hesitancy linked to cultural and religious sensibilities", including clothing, language and school attendance.

Further recommendations by Surrey County Council's Children, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture Select Committee will be sent to an independent expert reviewing improvements at the authority.

There will also be recommendations included in a letter to the Secretary of State for Education.

The councillors said: "The Department for Education should ensure concerns about changes in dress, even if there are potential concerns around culture, should not be a barrier to safeguarding children and young people.

"This should include working with key stakeholders such as the Muslim Council of Britain and others as appropriate to issue best practice guidance."

It added: "The Department for Education should ensure that the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill is clear, that concerns regarding cultural and religious sensibilities should never be a barrier to safeguarding a child and professional curiosity should be encouraged to look beyond these sensitivities to assess the risks and support their professional judgement."

The committee also made recommendations concerning children who are home-schooled or do not regularly attend school.

It said the new bill should fully address "the safeguarding concerns associated with all children who are not regularly attending a school or alternative setting, not just those who are registered as Electively Home Educated.

"This must include ensuring that they are regularly seen by someone from their Local Education Authority, their school or a designated agency on a regular basis."

November's child safeguarding practice review found Sara had "effectively disappeared" once she was home -schooled.

Her former school gave the council Sara's new address in Woking so workers could make a home visit as required by its home-schooling policy, but the system was not updated.

It meant that when the home education team went to her old address when they tried to visit on 7 August 2023 - the day before she was murdered.

Sara was hooded, burned and beaten during the campaign of abuse.

The review said a post-mortem examination found she had suffered dozens of injuries - and bruising was first noticed in June 2022.

It was commissioned by the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership, which is made up of police, local health organisations and the council's children's services.