The Aporia
The Aporia
Crabbe, E. (2026, September 18). Coroner rejects anonymity requests for three witnesses in Sara Sharif inquest. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/sara-sharif-inquest-anonymity-requests-rejected-b1297468.html
Crabbe, Ellie. “Coroner rejects anonymity requests for three witnesses in Sara Sharif inquest.” Evening Standard, 18 Sept. 2026, https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/sara-sharif-inquest-anonymity-requests-rejected-b1297468.html.
Crabbe, Ellie. “Coroner rejects anonymity requests for three witnesses in Sara Sharif inquest.” Evening Standard, September 18, 2026. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/sara-sharif-inquest-anonymity-requests-rejected-b1297468.html.
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In August 2023, 10-year-old Sara Sharif was found dead in her family home in Woking, Surrey. Her father, Urfan Sharif, and stepmother, Beinash Batool, were later convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2024. At a pre-inquest review hearing last week, three staff members from Surrey County Council applied for anonymity to protect their identities during the upcoming full inquest. The council argued that revealing their names could harm their health and private lives, potentially preventing them from working and causing significant loss to Surrey County Council’s resources. However, senior coroner Richard Travers rejected all three applications, stating he was not satisfied with the evidence provided regarding justifiable anonymity under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects private and family life, against the media's freedom of expression as per Article 10. Concerns about Sara’s care were first raised in 2013, shortly after her birth, while her parents had been known to social services since at least 2010.
