When 12 year old Tia Sharp left for a routine shopping trip in South London, her family never imagined she would never returned, nor the unimaginable pain which followed, not to mention the very public week-long search for her.
Tia Christine Sharp was born on 30 June 2000 in Croydon, South London to Natalie Sharp and Steven Carter who split up when Tia was very young. Tia was a very bubby, sociable and an all round good girl. She never did anything like running away from home which is why, when she was reported missing, it was totally out of character. However, Tia was also extremely streetwise so knew her way around town and the transport networks, regularly going out on her own.
Tia’s mother Natalie had a very brief fling with a man named Stuart Hazell when Tia was about three years old, which didn’t work out as many don’t. However, Stuart would come back into their lives in bizarre fashion some four years later when he began dating Tia’s mother’s mother, Christine. This relationship lasted far longer and seemed the real deal. Stuart had a great relationship with the whole family, even Tia, who called him Grandad. In fact, Tia loved spending time with her Grandad. She would be entrusted in his care regularly. Her Grandmother and mother had no qualms about leaving Stuart who they were aware had a criminal history to care for Tia. Stuart had previously been convicted of drug-related offences and, even while with Tia’s Grandmother, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison for possession of a machete in a public place. This is the man who was deemed responsible enough to look after their Tia.
On 2nd August 2012 Tia invited herself to stay the night at her Grandmother’s house. Even though Grandmother Christine was working at her care home job overnight, Tia would be okay in the care of Stuart Hazell. The following day on 3rd August, Stuart informed Christine that Tia had gone into Croydon to the Whitgift Centre to buy some new shoes. The shopping centre was five miles away but it was a regular trip or Tia so presented no problem nor any concern.
By 6pm that day Tia still had not returned home and worry began to set in. This was totally out of character for the girl despite being so streetwise. It was especially concerning as Tia had left her mobile phone behind and could not be contacted, not to mention it was extremely odd for her to go out without her phone. Christine and Stuart headed out to have a look around for her. By 10pm they still had not sign of her and she had not returned either to Christine’s house or her mother Natalie’s house.
The time had come to call the police which sparked a large scale search.
Friends, family and neighbours were out searching, looking, hunting, wishing and hoping to find Tia. Christine and even Stuart walked the streets sporting t-shirts with Tia’s face on to spread awareness. Handing out leaflets to all passers-by, spreading awareness, desperate to find Tia. Every day for about a week, the search was painful, long, torrid and heart wrenching. Natalie came over to her mother’s house to stay to offer support at this very difficult time. The whole family came together to support each other.
The police questioned those who saw Tia last. Stuart Hazell had been minding her while her grandmother was working. He stated that Tia had popped out to the shops to buy a pair of new shoes. A neighbour – Paul Meehan – attested to have seen Tia leaving the house that day at around 12:15pm so the evidence was clear and they knew she had definitely left the house, but where did she go or what had happened to her?
As part of the enquiries and investigations, Christine’s house needed to be searched to make sure Tia was not hiding or had not been hidden away. Their initial searches – not once, not twice, but three times – had turned up nothing so they were confident Tia was not in the house and the sighting by Paul Meehan was true and correct.
During the course of the investigation, as is the the norm in any missing persons enquiry, the closest people to the person is looked at very closely. In this case Stuart Hazell was scrutinised. With his background of convictions, he was no doubt looked at very very closely. In fact, his name was being thrown around the media so viciously that he himself felt the need to defend himself. He approached ITV and gave an exclusive interview giving his side of the story, his version of events and told them exactly what had happened that day – his version at least.
When asked the sort of girl Tia was, Hazell described her as a “Happy-go-lucky golden angel. No arguments, nothing, she’s perfect.” And when talking about the allegations from the media about his own relationship with Tia he hit back with “No I bloody didn’t! I loved her to bits, she was like my own daughter!” and he finished with “I know deep down Tia walked out that door. I know damn well cos she was seen walking down the pathway. What happened after that I don’t know.”
Unfortunately for Hazell, his ‘clearing his name’ did more harm than good. Not just the public’s eyes were on him. The police brought in body language experts who raised concerns that his actions did not match his words.
On 10th August, a full seven days after Tia had gone missing, a fourth search of Christine and Hazell’s house was conducted. Christine complained of an awful stench coming from somewhere in the house and when police arrived they immediately cordoned off the area. It didn’t take long to find what they were looking for. In the attic, lodged between the floor and the roof, was a black sack and in that sack held a badly decomposed body. This body was so badly decomposed that the identity could not be verified. The decomposition had sped up so much more because of the summer heat. It was just a formality but Tia was eventually identified through dental records.
For a whole week when both mother Natalie and grandmother Christine had been worried about Tia and searching for her, she had been just above their heads the whole time.
Stuart Hazell, knowing that the body was about to be discovered, went missing. Alerts were made to the general public to be wary, report but not to approach him. He was caught on CCTV purchasing alcohol.
Stuart Hazell was immediately arrested on suspicion of Tia’s murder. He tried to claim it was an accident. She had simply fallen down the stairs and broken her neck. However, his story was of course, just a story and a pretty sick one at that. Due to the decomposition of Tia’s body no cause of death could be determined, although it was said that smothering was most likely the cause.
While Hazell was locked up in Belmarsh Prison some very disturbing discoveries were made about this man who had been gifted access to this vulnerable child. Just three days after he had killed Tia, Hazell had tried to access an incest website. This was after he had killed her and while the search for Tia was ongoing. Hazell was also found to have accessed paedophile images of young girls on his phone.
As Hazell was being led away under arrest he had told the arresting officer that it “wasn’t sexual” and that he wasn’t “a nonce or a pervert”. Interesting he should make that claim as the evidence vastly differed. During an extensive search of the house memory cards were found which contained a series of secretly filmed photographs and videos of Tia. Hazell had been recording her, including when she slept and one which showed Tia applying moisturiser to her legs.
The final photograph taken and stored by Hazell. This was of a naked Tia, lying on her bed at her grandmother’s house. There was blood on the bed. It was determined the photograph was taken after Tia had died. Hazell had posed Tia’s body after he had killed her, naked, photographed her and stored the picture for his own gratification. The level of disgusting, sick and disgusting is off the charts.
And he had the cheek to claim it wasn’t sexual. He even repeated this claim to his father in a letter.
“They’re trying to say it was sexual but I promise you it wasn’t. It was an accident and I was a prick to do what I done.”
Hazell heavily denied any real wrongdoing in his letter. He claimed it was an accident. He also had his priorities all wrong when he said..
“If I had a chance I would end it here. I’ve got no money, no fags, no hope. It’s the Hazell curse. I want to ask you one favour and one favour only. Send me a little bit of money in and I will never ask anything of you again.”
Dear Dad,
I know I am probably the last person you want to hear from but everything in papers ain’t true, they twist and make their own shit up.
What happened I will explain in time but put it this way, it was an accident and I panicked. Stupid I know but for my stupidity I’m looking at 15 to 18 years.
I regret it every second of every day and there’s nothing I can do about it.
I think about taking my own life because if I don’t someone will, that is a definite.
I’m classed a Cat A prisoner, never thought this would ever happen. I hope you’re not getting agro because of me, you know I’m not the bad person everyone’s saying.
I can’t sleep can’t eat I wish I could turn back the clock but I can’t. I’m sorry to of lied to you all but I didn’t know what to do.
I understand if you rip this up and never want to know me again, I wouldn’t blame you.
Christine got arrested, she had nothing to do with this. I loved her with all my heart and sole.
God I hate myself. I should of gone about this a different way, told the police everything. They’re trying to say it was sexual but I promise you it wasn’t. It was an accident and I was a prick to do what I done.
If I had the chance I would end it here and now, I got no money, no fags, no hope. It’s the Hazell curse and I only got myself to blame.
And that will stick with me till my time comes which won’t be long. I just want you to know I love you all, I know Christine and family will never forgive me, I know what’s coming and I deserve it.
I want to ask you one favour and one favour only. Send me a little bit of money in and I will never ask anything of you again, 1 mistake and my whole world has collapsed.
My own fault I know but don’t listen to the papers, like everyone else. I will tell you in time.
I love you all, no doubt you will hear I’m on Old Baily soon. Tell Sarah and Marc and kids I’m sorry, and Mum Darren and family.
May god have mercy on my sole even thought I don’t deserve it.
Love allways
Your son
Stuart xxx
I’m sorry truly, truly sorry
If you want a V.O (visiting order) let me know dad with all your details x
Clearly Stuart Hazell’s pleas to his own father did not go down well as the letter very quickly made it into the hands of the media, even before his conviction.
During the search of the loft where Tia’s body was found a number of other hidden and incriminating objects were found, such as Hazell’s t-shirt which had Tia’s blood on and a pair of Hazell’s glasses which had one of the child’s fingerprints on the lens. He had intended storing the items, along with her body, in the loft until he could move them at a later date. However, due to the media frenzy outside the house, he was unable to do so. He had tried to create the story that Tia had run away from home. Sadly, the truth was far far darker and more sinister.
In May 2013, the trial began, nearly a full year after poor Tia’s murder. Her ‘grandad’ entered a plea of ‘not guilty’ and the jury and Tia’s family were subjected to the most horrific details imaginable about the child’s murder and final moments of her life, including the probability that she finally succumbed to being smothered as the cause death. On day five of the trial Hazell eventually grew a conscience and changed his plea to ‘guilty’. The ordeal was finally over. The gavel came down and judge Mr Justice Nicol announced an eye-watering 38 years in jail for Stuart Hazell.
The mammoth sentence was not the whole life term though as it was not deemed a serious enough offence to warrant one. The judge noted:
“I come back to the question of whether I can be sure that sexual motivation was involved in Tia’s murder. I have decided that I cannot. Sexual activity and conduct took place not long before her death, but in order for sexual motivation to be involved in her murder there would need to be a closer connection than that.”
As he was lead away to begin what was essentially a life-ending stint in jail, the public, family and friends could be heard shouting derogatory terms such as ‘beast’ in his direction. While the sentence was long, the sense of justice was not felt. Tia’s mother Natalie stated:
“I gave the ultimate trust to Stuart. Sometimes I feel pity, that I want to hurt him, but I can never hurt him like he has hurt me.”
One month after the murder trial had been concluded the house where Tia had been murdered was demolished, as was the houses either side of it. New houses were constructed in their places.
Two years later, in April 2015, both Tia’s mother Natalie and her grandmother Christine hit the news headlines once more. This time they were on the opposite side of the law when they were found guilty of a racially aggravated assault in an argument over a parking space in a Lidl car park. The two grieving women assaulted a Kosovan woman and punched the victim three times in the head, kicked her legs and grabbed her by the hair. Natalie also swore at the victim and said “go back to your own country.”
Natalie Sharp was ordered to serve 12 months community service with unpaid work.
BURNING QUESTIONS
Why did it take four searches of the house to find Tia’s body?
This is one of the biggest questions on everyone’s minds and something only the police know for certain. My initial thoughts are the decomposing body of Tia was not producing the strong enough scent for the dogs to pick up. It was not until a week later when the stench was so bad it caused grandmother Christine and the search team to physically sick from the smell that it became obvious a body was being hidden. Additionally there may not have been enough suggestion of Stuart Hazell’s – or anyone else’s – involvement to justify a thorough search.
Why did Tia’s mother allow a convicted criminal unrestricted access to her daughter?
Stuart Hazell may not have had prior convictions of child abuse or paedophilia and Tia’s mother Natalie may not have had reason to believe he was a danger in that sense to her daughter. However, Hazell did have prior criminal convictions for a range of offences including violence and drugs. Allowing their daughter around a man like this would be a risk for a variety of reasons and she had no problem with it. Even if they reasoned that Hazell’s offences were in the past, this was not even true as he was sentenced to a 12 month jail term just one year before he murdered her daughter. She knew full well the danger he posed, even if not the exact reason he was a risk.
Natalie and Christine have both expressed how disgusted, shocked and amazed they are that Hazell committed such an atrocity. However, they can’t be that shocked. He was never the gentle man they portrayed him as. He was always this nasty, violent, drug taking, disgusting human being and they knew this about him. Mother and grandmother deserve sympathy for what happened to Tia but they are not completely blameless in her demise.
Why did Stuart Hazell not receive a full life sentence?
The judge sentencing Hazell claimed that he could not justify a whole life term because he was not convinced that Hazell’s motive was sexual. However, he went on to say that there was clearly sexual activity prior to Tia’s death. Hazell also had photos and videos of Tia and yet the judge could not be sure there was a sexual motive. I find this hard to understand or believe. However, even if there was not sexual motived, should that really matter? Should there need to be such a motive when it comes to murdering a 12 year old child? Isn’t the fact a 12 year old was killed bad enough? Shouldn’t that be enough to guarantee a longer sentence?
A defenceless 12 year old child was murdered. Those are the facts.
