Sara Sharif’s runaway father, stepmother and uncle have been arrested on suspicion of murder after landing at Gatwick Airport this evening.
Urfan Sharif, 41, his partner Beinash Batool, 29, and brother Faisal Malik, 28, were arrested after disembarking a flight from Dubai and are currently in custody, Surrey Police said. They will be interviewed in due course.
Sharif and Batool went into hiding in Pakistan for a month after Sara’s body was found in her home and an international manhunt was launched there and in Britain.
A post-mortem examination found the youngster had suffered ‘multiple and extensive injuries’ over a ‘sustained and prolonged’ period.
Sara’s mother has been informed of the arrests and is being supported by specialist officers.
Sara Sharif (pictured) was found dead and alone at her family’s home near Woking, Surrey, on August 10.
Sara’s father (left) and his partner Beinash Batool (right) released a video last week discussing the death and confirming they were in hiding
Surrey police officers were expected to board the Emirates A380 Airbus as it taxied to a stop after landing at Gatwick Airport at 7.28pm this evening
The three arrived at Gatwick Airport just after 7.30pm today on an Emirates A380 Airbus from Sialkot, in the eastern province of Punjab, via Dubai, before police moved in and took them away for questioning in connection with Sara’s death.
The couple and Malik had decided to return to Britain and hand their accounts to police after spending the past month in hiding in Pakistan, according to their lawyers.
Sara was found dead at her family home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10, a day after the three adults left Britain.
The three adults left Britain with five other children aged between one and 13.
Surrey Police issued a statement this evening saying: ‘Sara’s mother has been informed of this latest update and is being supported by specialist officers. Our thoughts remain with her and those affected by Sara’s death at this very difficult time.
‘This has been an extremely fast-paced, challenging and complex investigation and we remain absolutely committed to conducting a thorough investigation into Sara’s death.’
Urfan Sharif and his partner Beinash Batool have both arrived back in Britain
Tributes outside Sara Sharif’s home, where the little girl’s body was found on August 10
Urfan Sharif’s brother Faisal Malik is also back in Britain
Sara’s body was found after Sharif alerted police from an unknown location in Pakistan where he was hiding.
This morning the trio boarded a flight from Pakistan via Dubai and were due to arrive at Gatwick at 7.45pm, although their flight was half an hour early.
The Sharif family lawyer, Raja Haq Nawaz, told MailOnline earlier today that the trio had boarded an Emirates flight from the eastern city of Sialkot in Pakistan.
He said they had not been arrested and had left for Britain voluntarily.
Jhelum police spokesperson Mudassar Khan also confirmed that all three had left for Britain.
The couple’s remaining children were taken into custody by police from their grandfather’s home on Monday and later transferred to the care of the government-run Child Protection Agency after a court hearing on Tuesday.
All five children remain in Pakistan and are currently being cared for at the Bureau’s Lahore center.
This week the Mail revealed how the family had launched a desperate legal bid to avoid being extradited back to Britain.
They complained that their freedom of movement and travel was being violated by the police investigation into Sara’s death.
In a petition to the Lahore High Court, riddled with errors including Sara’s age, the family complained “that they are needed for the murder of Sara’s (sic), daughter aged about 12/13 years in the UK.”
An autopsy of the girl did not determine a cause of death, but showed that she had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries, which were probably caused over a sustained and prolonged period.”
The legal papers filed on behalf of (Urfan’s father) Muhammad Sharif state that the missing couple and their extended family members have been ‘victims’ of the police hunt, denied their fundamental right to travel and ‘deprived’ of personal freedoms.
It was argued that Pakistani police have no basis for detaining the couple as they have committed no crimes in Pakistan and there is no extradition treaty with Britain.
The family’s lawyer, Malik Asif Taufeeq Awan, demanded that the court intervene to “protect and save the entire family member including Urfan Sharif and her (sic) wife Benish Batool from the illegal iron hands of the concerned authorities .’
The case was supposed to be heard next week, but the couple decided to turn themselves in today.
Five of her Sara’s siblings, aged between one and 13 and brought to Pakistan with the adults, were discovered yesterday at Sharif’s father’s home.
A magistrate today placed the children under state protective services.
Surrey Police say they are working with other local and international authorities to ensure the safe return of the children.
But it is unclear where they will ultimately be sent or how long they will be held in the custody of Pakistan’s child protection agency.
The five children were recovered by police on Monday evening from Muhammad Urfan’s home in Jhelum, about 175 kilometers northwest of Lahore in central Pakistan.
The children, ranging in age from 1 to 13, were found after Interpol issued yellow notices for them, which are used to locate missing people, often minors.
Olga Sharif with a photo of her daughter Sara who was found dead at her home in Woking, Surrey
Sara’s Polish mother, Olga Sharif, has said she could barely recognize her daughter’s small, battered body when she identified her at the morgue last month.
She told Polish television that one of her cheeks was swollen and the other side of her face was bruised.
Olga and Urfan separated in 2015, and Sara and her older brother lived with their mother until a family court ruled in 2019 that they should continue living with their father, according to British media.
Sara had been taken out of primary school in April to be homeschooled by her stepmother and was known to the council’s social services, the British reports said.