Top judge approves appeal against anonymity in Sharif case

The UK’s Court of Appeal has given the media permission to challenge a High Court ruling that banned reporters from identifying judges involved in three sets of family court proceedings which culminated in the murdered schoolgirl Sara Sharif, 10, being delivered into the hands of her killers.

The application for permission to appeal was made by the journalists Louise Tickle and Hannah Summers and backed by Tortoise. It argued that the High Court ban wasn’t justified given the principle of open justice and the fact that there had been no application for anonymity in relation to the Sharif case.

The Master of the Rolls said the appeal had “a real prospect of success”.

In addition the reporters contended that the original decision was unjust because the judge failed to give reasons for the ban until nine days after the order came into force. An expedited hearing will be held in January.

Sir Geoffrey Vos, the Master of the Rolls, added that the appeal “raises questions that are of considerable public importance and it is in the public interest that the Court of Appeal considers them”.

The journalists’ challenge to the anonymity granted to judges is backed by all other media parties to the original application for disclosure and publication of child protection documentation relating to Sara Sharif.

Surrey County Council, whose social workers were involved in all three sets of family law proceedings prior to the child’s death, has taken no position on the appeal, but does not resist it. Urfan Sharif, Sara’s father, and Beinash Batool, her stepmother, both oppose the appeal. The court-appointed Guardian for Sara’s siblings has asked for more time to develop a position. Sara’s mother, Olga Domin, has not engaged with the appeal.

The appeal will be held in public, as well as live-streamed, and heard by a three-judge court.

Urfan Sharif was convicted earlier this month of the murder of his daughter, as was his wife Beinash Batool. They were sentenced on 17 December to life imprisonment with minimum terms of 40 years and 33 years respectively. Faisal Malik, Sara’s paternal uncle, was convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child, and sentenced to 16 years imprisonment.