Father Sara Sharif threatened to kill a woman and attacked children, including a one-month-old baby, before he killed his daughter, a court heard.

Urfan Sharif, 42, once held a woman at knifepoint, threatening to kill her, and tried to strangle another victim with a belt, it was said.

The Old Bailey heard the taxi driver had a history of abuse, targeting three women and burning and beating two children years before he beat the 10-year-old schoolgirl to death last August.

He was accused of being a “lying, manipulative and controlling man” who preyed on vulnerable women, controlling their finances and trying to orchestrate a “marriage of sham” to stay in the UK.

Jurors were told that the defendant had been arrested several times for alleged abuse of women and children, including assaulting a one-month-old baby.

Sara Sharif (pictured) suffered dozens of injuries, including iron burns, human bite marks and restraint marks, before she died

Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif, was arrested by police at Gatwick Airport. He reportedly threatened to kill a woman and attacked children before killing his daughter

Two children allegedly suffered bruises, slaps, bites and burns on their legs and face, including marks made with an iron.

One of the young men also received a punch all over his body, he defended himself.

Years before Sara’s murder, Sharif was accused of choking a woman and tightening a belt around her neck during a fit of rage.

He also threatened another victim with a knife, the court was told.

But he was never prosecuted after Sharif insisted his accusers were all liars.

Social services and police were alerted to allegations of violence dating back more than a decade before Sharif killed his daughter with the help of his third wife, Beinash Batool, jurors heard.

The schoolgirl suffered at least 71 external injuries after being bitten, burned with an iron and hit with a cricket bat, belt and a pole.

Sharif, who came to Britain from Pakistan on a student visa in 2003, is said to have traveled to Poland in search of a woman to marry so he could obtain an EU passport.

An 18-year-old girl told police that Sharif took her passport and smashed her phone, shouting: “Shut the hell up or I’ll kill you.”

She claimed Sharif held her with a knife and threatened to kill her before she managed to escape.

A court sketch of Urfan Sharif (right) and Sarai’s uncle Faisal Malik (left) appearing via video link from HMP Belmarsh for a trial at the Old Bailey in September 2023

Sara suffered at least 71 external injuries from being bitten, burned with an iron and hit with a cricket bat, a belt and a pole

Another woman was held captive for five days in Sharif’s home, had her passport taken and was subjected to threatening emails, the court heard.

As Sharif’s student visa was about to run out, he married a Polish woman named Olga, but later secretly married a second woman in Pakistan.

Caroline Carberry, KC, defending Batool, told jurors that social services were concerned that Olga was a vulnerable woman with possible learning difficulties who was at risk of being exploited.

Ms Carberry suggested Sharif had a history of gambling and heavy drinking, with 11 defaulted credit accounts and a county court judgment for debts.

Mrs Carberry asked: “You are a lying, manipulative and controlling man, aren’t you?”

Sharif replied, “No, I am not.”

He denied biting and burning children saying: “I’m not cruel, I’m not an animal.”

Mrs. Carberry continued, “It was little Sara who suffered most at your hands, didn’t she?

A police cordon at the family home in Woking, Surrey, where Sarah’s body was found

Faisal Malik, 29, was arrested at Gatwick Airport in September 2023. Both he and Urfan deny murder and that they caused or allowed Sara’s death

She told jurors that social workers noticed how Sara “startled” when being hugged by her father.

The social workers also accused Sharif of being coercive and abusive towards them.

Sara was found dead in her home in Woking, Surrey, on 10 August 2023 after Sharif and Batool fled to Pakistan, where she later called 999 saying: “I killed my daughter”.

Sharif, Batool and Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik, 29, all deny murder and causing or allowing her death.

The process continues.