Judges named in Sara Sharif Case. Was this the right decision to make?

As the previous article set out, Sara and her siblings were known to Social Services and were the subject of several court applications in the family court.  It was these proceedings which resulted in Sara being placed in her father’s care before she sadly died.

After several journalists appealed the earlier decision of Mr Justice Williams not to name the three judges involved with these proceedings, Sir Geoffrey Vos (the most senior civil judge in England and Wales) sitting in the Court of Appeal ruled that “the judge lost sight of the importance of press scrutiny to the integrity of the justice system” and that the judges could be named.  But was this the right decision?

Now that judges Alison Raeside, Peter Nathan and Sally Williams have been named, we have been informed that Judge Raeside continues to be an active judge and was the judge who dealt with the majority of the hearings, whilst Judge Nathan and Judge Williams are both since retired and were involved to a smaller degree.

In the first set of proceedings, Judge Raeside approved an Order for Sara and her siblings to be placed under a supervision Order’s, which meant they would stay with their parents, but social services would remain involved.  This decision was supported by the local authority, the children’s guardian and Sara’s parents.

A later incident in November 2014 resulting in an emergency hearing before Judge Nathan meant that Sara and her two siblings were taken into police protection.  The following day, Judge Raeside extended this Order for a further week, and Judge Williams later went on to make an Interim Order for Sara and one of her siblings as proceedings continued to the following year.  It is to be noted that Judge Williams had no further involvement in the case.

At the end of these proceedings, having heard from the Local Authority that they were extremely concerned of the risks of harm to Sara and her siblings in the care of their parents and that they felt this risk could be managed in they were placed in the mother’s care with supervised visits with the father, a decision which was supported by the children’s guardian, Judge Raeside approved this Order in May 2015.

In 2019, Judge Raeside approved an Order upon the recommendations of the local authority and which again was supported by the children’s guardian and the parents for Sara to live with her father and step mother.  The Court was informed that Mr Sharif and Ms Batool were “able to meet the needs of Sara and her sibling for safety, stability, emotional warmth and guidance” and that the father “appears to have the children’s welfare at heart”.

Despite involvement from the local authority over several years, the allegations of physical abuse at the hands of Mr Sharif were never actually tested in court, and ultimately, the Order’s made by the Court were all supported by the professionals involved.

Whilst some will argue that the Judges were correctly named, others may feel that this was not necessary and has simply put the safety of these judges at risk.