The mum of Tony Hudgell has praised the judge in the Sara Sharif case for using tougher new sentencing powers she fought for. Tony’s Law, championed by 57-year-old Paula Hudgell, increased the maximum sentence to life in prison for causing or allowing the death of a child. It had previously been just 14 years. Tony, 10, who inspired the law, had been so severely injured by his birth parents as a baby that he had to have both legs amputated.
His parents got only 10 years in prison each – the maximum sentence at the time for causing or allowing serious physical harm to a child. Paula, who adopted Tony as a tot, was so horrified that she began campaigning for stricter punishment for child cruelty abusers.
In what is thought to be a legal first, Sara Sharif’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, has now been jailed for 16 years thanks to Tony’s Law. Malik lived with 10-year-old Sara’s family and was found guilty of allowing her death. Sara died after a vicious campaign of torture, with injuries including fractures, burns, bruising and trauma to her head.
Her father, Urfan Sharif, 43, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, were both found guilty of her murder. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment, to serve minimum jail terms of 40 years and 33 years respectively. The Old Bailey heard that Sara’s injuries had been so severe the postmortem had failed to identify a cause of death.
It concluded she had died from complications from multiple injuries and neglect. Her body was found in her bed at the family home in Woking, Surrey, with a note saying her father had “lost it” but had not intended for her to die. The family, including her uncle, fled to Pakistan but returned after an international manhunt. All three were sentenced on December 17.
