Two inmates deny attempted murder of Sara Sharif's father at Belmarsh

Two inmates have denied the attempted murder of Urfan Sharif, the father of Sara Sharif, at a plea hearing at the Old Bailey on Wednesday. Steven Sansom, 47, and Adam Watson, 39, are accused of ambushing Sharif, 44, at HMP Belmarsh on New Year’s Day last year.

Prosecutors allege the pair lured Sharif to a cell under “the pretext of friendship” and slashed his neck with the jagged edge of a tin can lid. At an earlier hearing, prosecutor Jack Wadsworth told Westminster Magistrates’ Court that Sansom admitted to guards immediately afterwards: “I pulled him in here and then I tried to kill him,” adding, when asked why: “Because he killed his daughter… I wanted to cut his head off.”

Sharif suffered injuries to his neck, forearm and left middle finger; the alleged attack was stopped by intervening prison officers and his own resistance. Sansom faces two further charges of unauthorised possession of a knife or offensive weapon in prison and GBH with intent. Both men appeared earlier via videolink from HMP Wakefield and were remanded in custody.

Sansom is serving a whole-life term for murdering Sarah Mayhew, 38, in 2024; Watson is serving 21 years for murdering Samantha Holden, 56, in 2024. Urfan Sharif is serving a minimum 40-year sentence, imposed in December 2024, for the murder of his 10-year-old daughter Sara at their Woking, Surrey home in August 2023.

Sources

• BBC News: Inmates deny attempt to murder Sara Sharif’s father
• InView: Prisoners tried to decapitate Sara Sharif’s father in brutal Belmarsh attack, court told
• Arab News: background on the Sara Sharif case