MP demands answers from council over failings revealed in report into murdered 10-year-old Sara Sharif

Woking MP Will Forster has responded to the publication of the long-awaited Child Safeguarding Practice Review into the tragic murder of ten-year-old Sara Sharif.

Mr Forster, who first called for the review a year ago, said the findings confirmed his worst fears – that the state, and Surrey County Council in particular, failed Sara at every stage.

The report exposes that, “There were numerous times before Sara was born and throughout her life, that the seriousness and significance of Father as a serial perpetrator of domestic abuse was overlooked, not acted on and underestimated by almost all professionals who became involved with Sara and her family.”

Mr Forster said:

“All the warning signs were there, yet they were not acted upon.”

“The authorities were fully aware that Sara was at risk. She was placed on a child protection plan before she was even born and was a victim of domestic abuse from that day onwards.”

The review also finds that Sara’s murderers were able to exploit loopholes in the home education system to hide their abuse, stating, “There can now be no doubt that Sara’s Father and Stepmother used home education to keep Sara hidden from view in the last weeks of her life.”

Mr Forster believes this gap in the law must now be urgently closed:

“It is now painfully clear that Sara’s killers used weaknesses in the home education system to conceal what was happening. Legislation is urgently needed to ensure this can never happen again.”

The report makes clear that even in the year of Sara’s death, “In March 2023, SCC Children’s services, where referrals are received, did not identify that Sara was at risk of being abused by her father, stepmother and uncle. Expected robust safeguarding processes were not followed.”

Mr Forster has called for Surrey County Council’s Children’s Services to be placed into special measures immediately and demanded accountability from senior council officers:

“Given the gravity of this report, the Executive Director for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning at Surrey County Council, Rachael Wardell, should appear before MPs to explain why she accepted an £8,700 pay rise after Sara’s death — despite the catastrophic failings of her department.”

He concluded by urging both the Government and Surrey County Council to act immediately on the report’s findings.

“There must now be a fundamental cultural shift within Surrey County Council to ensure its own rules are enforced and that no other child slips through the cracks of a system designed to protect them.

“It is vital that the 15 comprehensive recommendations set out in the report are urgently implemented in full.

We owe it to Sara, and to every vulnerable child in Surrey and beyond, to ensure that no child is ever again murdered by those who should love and care for them.”