Urfan Sharif, 42, her stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and her uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of killing 10-year-old family member Sara. They are all standing trial over her death. The child’s body was found at her home in Surrey on 10 August.

The police officer who discovered Sara Sharif’s body has given evidence at the Old Bailey as he described the moment he pulled back the white sheet covering her. The 10-year-old girl was allegedly murdered after enduring weeks of violence by her father Urfan Sharif,

Some neighbours in Woking told police they did not hear anything out of the ordinary, but one recalled a “single high pitched scream which lasted a couple of seconds and stopped suddenly” two days before Sara’s death. “It sounded to her like the scream of someone in pain”, said Mr Emlyn Jones.