Sabah Choudhry

In August 2023, Surrey Police revealed they had discovered the body of a 10-year-old missing girl at home in Woking, and that they were looking for three people who were known to the child. It was also stated that international agencies were involved.

Sabah Choudhry, a Sky News correspondent, used her forensic investigative skills to: i. Track down the travel agent that booked the individuals’ tickets to Pakistan – the first journalist to interview them on-camera. This was significant as up until that point, the Police hadn’t revealed that the individuals they were seeking were in fact Sara’s family, suspects, and on-the-run in Pakistan. This was confirmed by Choudhry who saw copies of their passports and Pakistani ID cards. This pressured police to name the suspects. ii. Develop a relationship with local police in Pakistan and Sara’s family. Choudhry discovered that the family were telling others in Jhelum that Sara had ‘fell down the stairs and broke her neck’ – which was a lie. This was also heard during Sara’s murder trial. iii. Interview Sara’s stepmum’s family. Her stepmum, Beinash Batool, was also on trial for murder. Choudhry has been the only journalist to interview Batool’s family since the news broke last year. The Batool/Shahid family have refused to do any media, and have not co-operated with the trial. iv. Be in direct contact with the family on-the-run in Pakistan. While Interpol, the National Crime Agency and local Pakistani police were searching for these individuals, they had sent Choudhry a WhatsApp video saying what happened to Sara was an “incident”, and that they planned to co-operate with the UK authorities. Choudhry’s journalism was used as evidence in court several times by both prosecution and defence – and her name was referenced as a journalist Sara’s family were speaking to while in hiding.

Watch the report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIFBbPTLH84 and a live hit with Kay Burley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgVZpKXm9uM&t=129s v.Reveal when the family were coming back home – they sent her a copy of their travel details.

Choudhry’s ability to fluently speak in Urdu and Punjabi helped her build the contacts to develop this story. Her ability to develop ‘news lines’ and exclusives led to the Pakistani press picking up on the story – which meant that the family were becoming easily recognisable in Pakistan. They eventually handed themselves in 35 days later.

Choudhry's original stories and exclusives were picked up by major outlets, including The Times, Daily Mail, Metro, LBC, Yahoo, The Sun, The Mirror, The Standard and The Express. Her forensic journalism won her the GG2 Young Journalist of the Year award - in March 2024.

Selina Swift, Home & Foreign News Editor at Sky News said: “One of Sabah’s strengths is building relationships - which can be key to us moving a story forward. During the developments on the death of Sara Sharif, Sabah used her network and people skills to build strong relationships with family and on-the-ground contacts, meaning Sky was able to get the latest developments before other broadcasters.”