Tia Sharp Is Still Missing
Tia Sharp is still missing
The family has spoken for the very first time
The stepfather of missing Tia Sharp has spoken publicly for the first time and told of the family’s heartache.
David Niles, partner of Tia’s mum Natalie, said: “We are in bits, you don’t know what we are going through as a family.
“Tia is my little girl and I just want her to come home.”
Mr Niles and other family members were consoling each other at the home of Tia’s grandmother Christine Bicknell, where the 12-year-old was last seen on Friday lunchtime.
Ms Bicknell’s partner Stuart Hazell has told police Tia left the house in New Addington intending to travel to Croydon five miles away to buy shoes in the Whitgift shopping centre.
He said he gave her £10 cash, but she left behind her Oyster travel pass and mobile pThe stepfather of missing Tia Sharp has spoken publicly for the first time and told of the family’s heartache.
David Niles, partner of Tia’s mum Natalie, said: “We are in bits, you don’t know what we are going through as a family.
“Tia is my little girl and I just want her to come home.”
Mr Niles and other family members were consoling each other at the home of Tia’s grandmother Christine Bicknell, where the 12-year-old was last seen on Friday lunchtime.
Ms Bicknell’s partner Stuart Hazell has told police Tia left the house in New Addington intending to travel to Croydon five miles away to buy shoes in the Whitgift shopping centre.
He said he gave her £10 cash, but she left behind her Oyster travel pass and mobile phone.
Detectives will be keen to press Mr Hazell for every detail of his last conversation with Tia and what her precise plans were.
So far police have found no evidence on CCTV or from witnesses to show that Tia caught a bus or tram from her grandmother’s estate on Friday.
The last image of her shows her caught on a shop’s security camera the day before on her way to her grandmother’s where she was to spend the weekend.
She had travelled some of the way there from her own home in Mitcham, south London, before being met by Mr Hazell in Croydon to continue her journey to New Addington.
Police were assessing new information received overnight to see if it offered any new leads.
Anyone with information is urged to call police . 0208 7214005 .
After a few weeks police found the body at the house of the missing girl’s grandmother Christine Sharp.
Soon after, police urged the public to not approach Mr Hazell and asked people to call 999 if they see him.
Later on, Mr Hazell, 37, was interviewed but then released.
“A number of searches took place at the address. When Tia was first reported missing, officers searched her bedroom as is normal practice in a missing person’s enquiry.”
“A further search of the house took place in the early hours of Sunday morning by a specialist team.
“This was then followed by another search of the house by specialist dogs on Wednesday lunchtime.
“What we now need to establish is how long the body had been in the place where it was found.
After many searches the body was found in the loft.
Update on 01 March 2013
Christine Sharp was arrested on suspicion of murder but in December she was told she would face no further action in relation to the case.
Police officers had previously visited Christine Sharp’s home, but it was only days into the search that Tia’s body was discovered hidden in the loft.
A neighbor of the grandmother of murdered schoolgirl Tia Sharp has been charged with wasting police time.
Paul Meehan, 40, from Croydon, south London, will appear at Croydon Magistrates’ Court on February 28.
-
-
-
-
-