A coroner has denied an application for anonymity for three Surrey County Council workers expected to provide evidence at the inquest into the death of 10-year-old Sara Sharif. Sara was found dead in Woking, Surrey, in August 2023.
Surrey County Council had sought to prevent the identities of the workers from being reported by the press during the full hearing. However, media organisations, including the BBC, Times Media Limited, and Guardian News & Media Limited, opposed this request.
Senior coroner Richard Travers stated he was not satisfied that granting anonymity was justified by common law principles of fairness. He balanced Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, concerning private and family life, against Article 10, which upholds freedom of expression for the media and the principle of open justice.
Concerns about Sara's care were reportedly raised within a week of her birth in 2013, and her parents were known to social services as early as 2010. A review also found that council workers visited the wrong address the day before Sara's murder and that services in Surrey failed to identify her risk of abuse or question unexplained bruising.
Sara's father, Urfan Sharif, and stepmother, Beinash Batool, were jailed for life in December 2024 after being found guilty of her murder. Her uncle, Faisal Malik, was found guilty of causing or allowing her death.