Sara Sharif's neighbours heard 'gut-wrenching child's screams' before 'murder'

Former neighbours of Sara Sharif claim they heard dreadful sounds of children crying and screaming "from the moment" the family moved into the property.

A former neighbour of 10-year-old Sara Sharif claimed she would hear a child screaming followed by a "deathly quiet", the Old Bailey has heard. On Tuesday, the court heard that Rebecca Spencer had heard screams "from the moment" the Sharif family moved into the flat in Eden Grove in West Byfleet around 2018 to 2019.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC told jurors in the murder trial that Ms Spencer believed the “banging and rattling” sounded like “someone was banging on and pushing at a door” as if trying to open it, reports the Mirror.

Reading a statement from the former neighbour, Mr Emlyn Jones said: "On the occasions, I would hear these banging and rattling sounds, they would often be accompanied by the sounds of a child crying or a screaming, followed by complete silence.

"On those occasions, I can only describe the silence as ‘deathly quiet’ and I cannot even imagine what had happened to make the crying or screaming child become immediately silent.”

Another neighbour, Chloe Redwin, whose statement was also read via Mr Emlyn Jones, claimed she heard “shockingly loud” sounds of smacking that were followed by “gut-wrenching screams” coming from the Sharif family home, the court heard.

Prosecutor Emlyn Jones said Ms Redwin, who moved into the neighbouring property on Eden Grove in September 2020, said she heard screams followed by a woman shouting “shut the f**k up” and “go to your room you f*****g b*****d”.

Ms Redwin heard shouting and screaming at “any time of the day or night”, but that she noticed it did not occur when the “father of the household” was at home, he continued.

She said she "often," said hello to Sara's father, Urfan Sharif, and that she believed he was "conscious of the noise his family made, because on occasions he would apologise for it". Both former neighbours, Chloe Redwin and Rebecca Spencer, said Sara was always well-dressed and that they never saw her with any signs of injuries, the court heard.

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Sara's father, minicab driver Urfan Sharif, 42, fled the country to Pakistan with his family on August 10 last year, leaving behind Sara's body. The 10-year-old was found with 10 fractures to her spine and breaks to her right collarbone, two ribs, both shoulder blades, both arms and hands and three fingers, a jury heard.

There also appeared to be five bite marks on her left arm, one on her inner thigh and a burn mark from an iron on her buttocks. Sharif, Sara's stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and uncle Faisal Malik, 28, all deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between December 16, 2022 and August 9, 2023.

The trial continues.

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