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Murder of Tia Sharp

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The murder of Tia Sharp (30 June 2000 – 3 August 2012) was a high-profile case of child murder in the United Kingdom. The victim was a 12-year-old girl, Tia Sharp, who was reported missing from and later found dead at her grandmother's home in New Addington, London, in August 2012.[4][5] After her body was discovered, police arrested her grandmother, Christine Bicknell, and Bicknell's then-boyfriend, Stuart Hazell,[6][7] on suspicion of murder. Hazell was charged with Tia's murder on 12 August.[8]

Tia Sharp
Born
Tia Christine Sharp[1]

(2000-06-30)30 June 2000[2]
Croydon, London, United Kingdom[2]
Disappeared2 August 2012 (aged 12)
New Addington, London, United Kingdom
Died3 August 2012 (aged 12)
New Addington, South London, United Kingdom
Cause of deathHomicide of undetermined aetiology
Body discoveredNew Addington, South London, United Kingdom
Resting placeMerton and Sutton Joint Cemetery
Morden, London Borough of Merton, United Kingdom
Known forMurder victim
Parents
  • Steven Carter (father)
  • Natalie Sharp (mother)
Stuart Hazell
Born
Stuart Edward Hazell[3]

(1975-05-26) 26 May 1975 (age 49)[3]
NationalityBritish
Criminal statusIn prison
Conviction(s)Murder
Criminal chargeMurder
PenaltyLife imprisonment (38-year minimum term)
Date apprehended
10 August 2012
Imprisoned atHM Prison Belmarsh
HM Prison Wakefield[citation needed]

Five days into his trial at the Old Bailey in May 2013, Hazell changed his plea from not guilty to guilty. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with the judge setting a minimum term of 38 years.[9]

Disappearance

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Stuart Hazell told police that Tia Sharp had left the house on 3 August 2012 to travel to Croydon, five miles away, to buy shoes in the Whitgift Centre.[10]

On 7 August, Sharp's uncle, David Sharp, made a televised plea for her safe return.[11] Fifty-five sightings were reported by members of the public, but none were substantiated.[12] Eighty police officers were assigned to the search, and 800 hours of CCTV footage were collected.[13] On 9 August, Hazell gave an interview to Mark Williams-Thomas for ITV News, denying that he had done anything to Sharp and praying for her safe return.[14]

Investigation

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On 10 August, a body was discovered in a black bed sheet in a black bag in the loft of the home of Sharp's grandmother, after police visited it for the fourth time.[15][16] Police launched a search for Hazell, and arrested him on suspicion of murder that evening at 8:25 p.m. at Cannon Hill Common, Morden, after a tip-off from a member of the public.[17][18] It was later announced that two further arrests had been made: Sharp's grandmother, Christine Bicknell, on suspicion of murder, and Bicknell's neighbour, Paul Meehan, on suspicion of assisting an offender.[19] Bicknell and Meehan were subsequently bailed.[19] Commander Neil Basu, the officer in charge of the investigation, apologised to Sharp's mother for the delay in finding her daughter's body. He blamed human error and said that a review would be undertaken "to ensure such a failing is not repeated".[20] Shortly after Hazell's arrest, memory cards were recovered from Christine Bicknell's residence. One was particularly well hidden in a door frame on the ground floor of the property. Police were able to recover images and videos, some of which had been deleted. Some of the files portrayed Sharp in sexual positions, believed to have been taken post-mortem, whereas others were voyeuristic images of when Sharp was still alive, for example videos of her applying moisturiser to her legs, or of her asleep in her bedroom. Forensic psychologist Dr Keri Nixon suggested that Hazell may have kept these images for later sexual gratification.[21]

In the early hours of 12 August, Hazell was charged with the murder of Sharp. He appeared before Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court on 13 August via video-link. No plea was entered and the case was committed to the Old Bailey for trial, with a first appearance on 15 August, also via video-link, with a preliminary hearing set for 19 November and a provisional trial date set for 21 January 2013.[16][19] He was remanded in custody to Belmarsh prison where he was kept in isolation for his own safety.[22]

A post-mortem on the body began on 10 August, and paused later that day. By 16 August, the post-mortem had still not been completed, but at an inquest into the death, which opened that day, it was confirmed that the body was that of Sharp. The post-mortem later concluded without establishing the cause of death.[23][24] Experts told This is Croydon Today that the delay in finding the body made it much harder to establish the cause of death, and that without a cause of death the prosecution would find it much harder to build a case.[25] However, detectives suspected, and it was widely reported, that Sharp was smothered, although this was not officially proven to be the cause of death.[26] Nixon suggested that Hazell may have made sexual advances towards Tia, and murdered her when she rebuffed him and threatened to tell her mother.[21]

On 23 August police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe addressed his force's failure to find Sharp's body. He said the error could not be attributed to a single officer, and that he wanted to "understand what processes and management decisions we've made that led to that failure."[27]

Sharp was cremated on 14 September, after a private family funeral.[28][29]

Court proceedings

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It was announced on 26 November 2012 that Hazell would face trial in May 2013.[30] On 7 December, the Metropolitan Police announced that Christine Bicknell would not face charges.[31][32][33]

Hazell pleaded not guilty to murder when he appeared in court on 8 March 2013.[34] The trial of Hazell began on 7 May 2013 before Mr Justice Nicol. On 13 May, Hazell changed his plea to guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment on 14 May with a minimum term of 38 years, meaning he will be 75 years old before he is eligible for parole.[35][36]

Aftermath

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In June 2013, Sharp's biological father, Steven Carter, announced that he was going to be a father again, as his girlfriend was pregnant.[37] In July 2013, Carter said he backed a plan for websites to be told to block certain search terms and warn people when they try to view illegal content.[38]

In June 2013, the home of Bicknell and Hazell, where Sharp was murdered, was demolished and in mid-2014, work began on new houses being built on the site.[39]

In November 2013, partly in response to the murders of Sharp and April Jones, the search engines Google and Bing modified their systems to block results from searches aimed at producing child abuse images.[40]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Search Results for England & Wales Births 1837-2006". findmypast.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b "The murder of Tia Sharp". crimeandinvestigation.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 June 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Missing: The murder of Tia Sharp". murdermap.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  4. ^ "Tia Sharp: Police concern over missing girl". Bbc.co.uk. 4 August 2012. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  5. ^ "Tia Sharp search: Body found in grandmother's house". Bbc.co.uk. 10 August 2012. Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  6. ^ "Tia Sharp: Grandmother Christine arrested over murder". BBC.co.uk. 11 August 2012. Archived from the original on 11 August 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  7. ^ "Tia Sharp police arrest Stuart Hazell on suspicion of murder". Bbc.co.uk. 10 August 2012. Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  8. ^ "Tia Sharp police charge Stuart Hazell with her murder". BBC News. 12 August 2012. Archived from the original on 10 September 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  9. ^ "Tia Sharp Murder: Stuart Hazell Sentenced". Sky News. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  10. ^ "Stepfather's Agony Over Missing Tia Sharp". BSkyB. Archived from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  11. ^ "Missing Tia Sharp's uncle appeals for her safe return–video". The Guardian. London, UK. 7 August 2012. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  12. ^ James Meikle and agencies (7 August 2012). "Tia Sharp stepfather says family 'in bits' over missing London 12-year-old". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  13. ^ "Tia Sharp: Eighty officers in search for Croydon girl". BBC. 8 August 2012. Archived from the original on 11 August 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  14. ^ "'Did I do anything to Tia? No, I love her to bits': Stuart Hazell's interview the night before body found in hunt for missing schoolgirl". The Mirror. London, UK. 10 August 2012. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  15. ^ "Tia Sharp murder accused Stuart Hazell remanded". BBC. 13 August 2012. Archived from the original on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  16. ^ a b Davies, Caroline (13 August 2012). "Tia Sharp:Stuart Hazell sent for trial". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  17. ^ "Tia Sharp search: Body found in grandmother's house". BBC News. 10 August 2012. Archived from the original on 10 August 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  18. ^ Barrett, David; Leach, Ben (11 August 2012). "Tia Sharp: police face questions after body discovered in grandmother's house". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. Archived from the original on 12 August 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  19. ^ a b c "Tia Sharp: timeline of her disappearance". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. 12 August 2012. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  20. ^ "Tia Sharp: Met Police admit body search error". Metro.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 August 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  21. ^ a b Britain's Darkest Taboos, S3: Ep. 2, 2016
  22. ^ "Tia Sharp: step-grandfather in isolation amid fears of attacks from inmates at Belmarsh Prison". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. 15 August 2012. Archived from the original on 15 August 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  23. ^ "Tia Sharp: Grandmother of murdered schoolgirl told to keep away from the funeral". Mirror. 20 August 2012. Archived from the original on 23 August 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  24. ^ "Tia Sharp's body identified as inquest opens". The Guardian. London, UK. 16 August 2012. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  25. ^ "Tia Sharp: Bungled police search 'may make it harder to prove schoolgirl was murdered'". Thisiscroydontoday.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 August 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  26. ^ "Tia Sharp death: Police consider smothering theory". BBC News. 13 August 2012. Archived from the original on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  27. ^ "Tia Sharp: Search failings 'not down to any one officer'". BBC. 22 August 2012. Archived from the original on 24 August 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  28. ^ "Tia Sharp: Private family funeral for schoolgirl held". BBC. 14 September 2012. Archived from the original on 27 September 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  29. ^ "Little Tia is laid to rest at last". Thisiscroydontoday.co.uk. 21 September 2012. Archived from the original on 23 September 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  30. ^ "Tia Sharp: Stuart Hazell To Face Trial in May". Uk.news.yahoo.com. 26 November 2012. Archived from the original on 29 November 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
  31. ^ "Tia Sharp's Grandmother Won't Face Charges". Sky News. Archived from the original on 10 December 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  32. ^ "Tia Sharp's Grandmother Won't Face Charges". Yahoo! News. 7 December 2012. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  33. ^ "Tia Sharp death: No action against grandmother Christine Sharp". BBC. 7 December 2012. Archived from the original on 10 December 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  34. ^ "Tia Sharp death: Stuart Hazell denies murder". BBC. 8 March 2013. Archived from the original on 10 March 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  35. ^ "Tia Sharp murder trial: Stuart Hazell jailed for 38 years". BBC News. 14 May 2013. Archived from the original on 15 May 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  36. ^ "Tia Sharp murder trial: Stuart Hazell pleads guilty". BBC News. 13 May 2013. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  37. ^ "Tia Sharp's grieving dad Steven Carter set to become father again". Mirror News. 18 June 2013. Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  38. ^ "Tia Sharp's Father Backs Child Abuse Image Ban". Sky News. 21 July 2013. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  39. ^ "Tia Sharp murder house in New Addington demolished". bbc.co.uk. 28 June 2013. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  40. ^ "April Jones's grandmother welcomes move to block abuse images". bbc.co.uk. 18 November 2013. Archived from the original on 21 November 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
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