Mr Justice Williams refused a request from media organisations to name judges involved in historic proceedings related to Sara Sharif.

Trying to hold professionals involved in historic court proceedings related to Sara Sharif accountable for her death is “equivalent to holding the lookout on the Titanic responsible for its sinking”, a High Court judge has said

Mr Justice Williams said in a judgment published on Friday that there was an “apparent absence of personal or individual culpability” from professionals, including social workers and judges, involved in three sets of family court proceedings related to the 10-year-old and her siblings, which concluded four years before her death.

Sara was murdered at her home in Woking, Surrey, in August last year, with her father, Urfan Sharif, and stepmother, Beinash Batool, convicted of her murder earlier this month. Her uncle, Faisal Malik, was convicted of causing or allowing her death.

On December 9, Mr Justice Williams ruled that details from the earlier proceedings could be published, with documents disclosed to the press showing Surrey County Council repeatedly raised “significant concerns” that Sara was likely to suffer physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her parents.

But he said that “third parties”, including social workers and judges involved in the historic proceedings, could not be named.

In a written judgment, he accepted that........

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