A DAD, stepmum and uncle have appeared in court accused of murdering a ten-year-old girl who was found dead at home.
Sara Sharif was discovered with "extensive" injuries in a bunk bed at her home in Woking, Surrey.
Her dad Urfan Sharif, 42, stepmum Beinash Batool, 29, and uncle Faisal Malik, 28, have been charged with murder.
The trio, who are also accused of causing or allowing the death of a child, appeared at the Old Bailey today.
A trial is due to begin on October 7 but will formally be opened on October 14.
All three defendants spent more than a month in Pakistan following Sara's death.
They were arrested on September 13 at Gatwick airport as they disembarked a flight from Dubai.
Sharif, Batool and Malik deny murdering Sara on or around August 8, 2023, and causing or allowing her death between December 16, 2022, and August 9, 2023.
The second charge alleges they each caused or were aware of a "significant risk of serious physical harm being caused" to Sara.
They then allegedly "failed to take full steps as could have reasonably been expected to protect her from that risk".
Police found Sara lying face up and fully clothed in an upstairs room on August 10.
She had suffered fractures to her collarbone and ribs, multiple bruising to her torso and limbs and had a haemorrhage on her brain.
The court heard previously the injuries suggested "multiple events of violence over a period of time which must have culminated in her death".
The youngster was identified using the DNA of her mother Olga Sharif, who lives in Somerset, and another relative.
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