The murder of Tia Sharp (30 June 2000 – 2 or 3 August 2012) was a high-profile case of child

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

in the United Kingdom. The victim was a 12-year-old girl, Tia Sharp, who was reported missing from and later found dead in the home of her grandmother in

New Addington New Addington is a town in South London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is located 5 miles south east of Croydon, south of Addington Village and north of Biggin Hill. History Until the 1930s, the area now known as New Addingt ...

, London, in August 2012. After her body was discovered, police arrested her grandmother, Christine Bicknell, and Bicknell's then-boyfriend, Stuart Hazell, on suspicion of

. Hazell was charged with Tia Sharp's murder on 12 August. Five days into his trial at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

in May 2013, Hazell changed his plea from not guilty to guilty. He was

sentenced Sentenced was a Finnish gothic metal band that played melodic death metal in their early years. The band formed in 1989 in the town of Muhos and broke up in 2005. History Early years (1988–1991) Sentenced started in 1988 as Deformity and c ...

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

with the judge setting a minimum term of 38 years.

Disappearance

Stuart Hazell told police that Tia Sharp had left the house on 3 August 2012 to travel to

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, five miles away, to buy shoes in the

Whitgift Centre The Whitgift Centre is a large shopping centre in the town centre of Croydon, opening in stages between 1968 and 1970. The centre comprises of retail space, and was the largest covered shopping development in Greater London until the opening of ...

. On 7 August, Sharp's uncle, David Sharp, made a televised plea for her safe return. Fifty-five sightings were reported by members of the public, but none were substantiated. Eighty police officers were assigned to the search, and 800 hours of

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

footage were collected. On 9 August, Hazell gave an interview to

Mark Williams-Thomas Mark Alan Williams-Thomas (born 9 January 1970) is an English investigative journalist, sexual abuse victim advocate, and former police officer. He is a regular reporter on '' This Morning'' and Channel 4 News, as well as the ITV series '' Expo ...

for ''

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since conti ...

'', denying that he had done anything to Sharp and praying for her safe return.

Investigation

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. Police launched a search for Hazell, and arrested him on suspicion of murder that evening at 8:25pm at Cannon Hill Common,

Morden Morden is a district and town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Merton, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. It adjoins Merton Park and Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Sutton to the south and Worcester Pa ...

, after a tip-off from a member of the public. 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. Bicknell and Meehan were subsequently bailed. Commander

Neil Basu Anil Kanti "Neil" Basu (born 1968) is a senior British police officer. Basu is currently a Non-Executive Director of the College of Policing, leading the strategic command course which prepares police officers and staff for promotion to the mos ...

, 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". Shortly after Hazell's arrest,

memory card A memory card is an electronic data storage device used for storing digital information, typically using flash memory. These are commonly used in digital portable electronic devices. They allow adding memory to such devices using a card in a so ...

s 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.Britain's Darkest Taboos, S3: Ep. 2, 2016 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. He was remanded in custody to Belmarsh prison where he was kept in isolation for his own safety. A

post-mortem An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any dis ...

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. 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. However, detectives suspected, and it was widely reported, that Sharp was smothered, although this was not officially proven to be the cause of death. Nixon suggested that Hazell may have made sexual advances towards Tia, and murdered her when she rebuffed him and threatened to tell her mother. 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." Sharp was cremated on 14 September, after a private family

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

Court proceedings

It was announced on 26 November 2012 that Hazell would face trial in May 2013. On 7 December, the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

announced that Christine Bicknell would not face charges. Hazell pleaded not guilty to murder when he appeared in court on 8 March 2013. 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

on 14 May with a minimum term of 38 years, meaning he will be 75 years old before he is eligible for

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

Aftermath

In June 2013, Sharp's biological father, Steven Carter, announced that he was going to be a father again, as his girlfriend was pregnant. 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. 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. In November 2013, partly in response to the murders of Sharp and

April Jones April Sue-Lyn Jones (4 April 2007 – ) was a Welsh child from Machynlleth, Powys, who disappeared on 1 October 2012, after being sighted getting into a vehicle near her home. The disappearance of April Jones, aged five, generated a large ...

, the search engines

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

and Bing modified their systems to block results from searches aimed at producing

child abuse images Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...

References

External links