London — The father and stepmother of a severely abused 10-year-old girl found dead in her home in England were sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for murder. Urfan Sharif, 42, and Beinash Batul, 30, were convicted of murder last week in the death of Sarah Sharif in what prosecutors called a "campaign of abuse".

Sarah's uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was found guilty of causing or allowing the girl's death. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

After Sarah died, the three fled to Pakistan, where Urfan Sharif called police in the UK to say he had "punished her lawfully and she died", prosecutors said. He said he "beat her up too much" but didn't mean to kill her.

Police in London then went to the family's home and found Sarah's body under a blanket in a bunk bed on 10 August 2023.

The three later returned to Britain more than a month after escaping and were arrested on suspicion of murder.

The trial at the Central Criminal Court revealed horrific details of the abuse, which included more than 70 fresh injuries and many older ones including bruises, burns, fractures and bite marks, and raised questions about the failure of social services and authorities to intervene and protect her.

"Sarah's death was the culmination of years of neglect, frequent assaults and what can only be described as torture," Judge John Kavanagh said. "The level of cruelty is almost unimaginable...None of you have shown an iota of true remorse."

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week called for tougher safeguards for home-schooled children like Sarah, saying there were "questions to be answered" after her murder. Sarah died months after her father pulled her out of public school to be home-schooled after a teacher reported bruises on the little girl to social services.

UK Child Protection Services did look into the report but took no action.

Starmer said the case was "to ensure that (there are) safeguards for children, especially those who are homeschooled."