Sara Sharif family members on flight to UK

Urfan Sharif, the father of Sara, his partner Beinash Batool and brother Faisal Malik, were on a flight, sources said.

Sara was found dead at her home in Woking after officers were called from Pakistan by her father at about 2.50am on August 10, Surrey Police said previously.

A post-mortem examination found the youngster had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries” over a “sustained and extended” period of time.

Urfan Sharif is wanted for questioning (Surrey Police/PA)

Sialkot police spokesperson Khan Mudassir said three people had been arrested and flown to the UK, the Associated Press reported. He said the three were handed over to the Pakistani Federal Investigation Agency, which flew them to Britain from Sialkot in eastern Punjab province.

Surrey County Council has told the PA news agency that the girl was known to the local authority.

Surrey Police said on Tuesday that they were working to secure the safe return of Sara’s five siblings from Pakistan after a court ruled the children would be temporarily moved to a government childcare facility.

The force said it had been working with Surrey County Council and international authorities after the Pakistani court made the ruling.

It is unclear where the children will ultimately be sent or for how long they may be kept in the facility.

The children, aged between one and 13 years old, travelled to Pakistan on August 9 with Mr Sharif, Ms Batool and Mr Malik.

The children were taken from the home of Sara’s grandfather Muhammad Sharif in a police raid at his property in Jhelum, Pakistan, on Monday, before later being returned.

Witness accounts from the scene said officers broke CCTV cameras at the property, stopped traffic and prevented passers-by from filming the incident.

The children were carried by family members into court for around 40 minutes on Tuesday before being moved to another court as authorities tried to decide on their next steps, the BBC reported.

Beinash Batool (Surrey Police/PA)

Sara’s grandfather Mr Sharif told the BBC he had been hiding the children in his home, but did not specify for how long.

Last week, Sara’s stepmother Ms Batool spoke publicly for the first time since the girl was found dead.

In a clip of the footage posted online by Sky, Ms Batool described Sara’s death as “an incident” and said she and Mr Sharif are willing to co-operate with UK authorities over the case.

It came after Sara’s mother Olga Sharif gave an interview to the Polish television programme Uwaga! in which she spoke of the harrowing experience of going to view her daughter’s body.

She said: “One of her cheeks was swollen and the other side was bruised.

“Even now, when I close my eyes I can see what my baby looked like.”

Surrey Police officers outside the property on Hammond Road in Woking (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Ms Sharif separated from her husband in 2015 and Sara and her older brother had been living with her until 2019, when the family court ruled they should live with their father.

Ms Sharif still had equal rights to see the children and said, while that was easy to maintain initially, it became increasingly harder over time.

Sara’s grandfather Muhammad Sharif previously told the BBC the girl’s death was an “accident”.

Muhammad Sharif said he saw Sara’s father soon after he arrived in the city of Jhelum, in the South Asian country, and that his son had fled the UK out of “fear”.