Stuart Hazell admits murdering 12-year-old schoolgirl Tia Sharp in dramatic plea change claiming her family has 'suffered enough'

• Convicted drug dealer Stuart Hazell, 37, previously claimed his step granddaughter fell down the stairs
• In his statement Hazell claimed: 'Tia's family have suffered enough' and he did not want to put them through any further stages of the trial
• Police officers searched Hazell’s loft three times before finding Tia’s body, which the Met says has 'devastated' those involved
• The jury previously heard he had visited child porn websites and hidden memory cards filled with images
• Court hears Hazell has convictions for racially aggravated common assault, dealing cocaine and possessing a machete in 2010, for which he was jailed for 12 months
• Emotional statements from Tia's family were read to the court after his plea change
• Her mother Natalie said: 'I gave the ultimate trust to Stuart. I have so much I want to ask him. Sometimes I feel pity, but I want to hurt him, but I could never manage to hurt him like he hurt me'
• Scotland Yard: 'Hazell is an extremely dangerous individual who poses a significant threat to young girls'
• The house where Tia was murdered is to be bulldozed, council confirms
• The former window cleaner will be sentenced at the Old Bailey tomorrow

By MARTIN ROBINSON, TOM KELLY and HUGO GYE

Convicted drug dealer Stuart Hazell has today admitted murdering his 12-year-old step granddaughter Tia Sharp after dramatically changing his plea to guilty a week into his Old Bailey trial.

The 37-year-old's QC, Lord Carlile, said the killer believes 'Tia's family have suffered enough', so decided to confess to the crime and will be sentenced tomorrow.

After the discovery of her body and his arrest a week after her disappearance last summer, Hazell said the schoolgirl had fallen down the stairs in an accident at the home he shared with her grandmother in New Addington, south London.

The former window cleaner had also claimed one of his neighbours had killed Tia and moved her body into his attic through interlinked lofts in the terrace houses, and that police were ‘fitting him up’.

But today he admitted her murder, which the prosecution say started with a 'serious sexual assault', before he suffocated her, photographed her dead body and then he wrapped her corpse in plastic and stored it then hid it in the loft.

Change of plea: The step grandfather of Tia Sharp, Stuart Hazell, has today admitted he murdered her

Scene: Police sniffer dogs leaving Tia Sharp's grandmother's house in New Addington, where Hazell suffocated her

Because of the seriousness of the crime, and because the murder had a sexual motive, the prosecution are demanding at least 30 years in prison for Hazell.

This morning the jury in his murder trial was brought back in and the murder charge was formally re-read to the defendant. 

 

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• Hazell was obsessed with child porn and had a relationship with Tia's mother, grandmother and 'committed a significant sexual offence against the 12-year-old'

Dressed in a t-shirt, Hazell bowed his head, shuffled his feet and then pleaded guilty prompting sobs and gasps from the public gallery.

Lord Carlile, representing Hazell, said his client wanted to make it known that 'Tia's family have suffered enough and he did not want to put them through any further stages of this trial or this process.'

Plea: Stuart Hazell made a TV appearance where he begged for the safe return of Tia, despite having murdered her days earlier

Bereaved: Tia's mother Natalie Sharp (front) and her grandmother, Hazell's ex Christine Bicknell, arrive at the Old Bailey today

The court also heard that Hazell had a number of previous convictions.

These included convictions for racially aggravated common assault in 2002, dealing cocaine in 2003 and possession of a machete in a public place in 2010, for which he was jailed for 12 months.

He also had convictions for burglary and theft.

It came after four days of graphic evidence during which Tia's mother, Natalie Sharp, frequently had to leave the courtroom, visibly distressed.

The prosecution case included a grotesque photograph of a girl alleged to be Tia after she died, which was found on a memory card belonging to Hazell.

In the picture, a naked girl, whose face cannot be seen, is posed on all fours on a bed. 

The prosecution were sure this was Tia.

Hazell then hid her body in bin bags in the loft, where it was found a week later.

The Old Bailey heard that in the weeks before her death Hazell, 37, who was obsessed with paedophile websites, had repeatedly filmed Tia as she slept – and on one occasion as she rubbed cream on her legs while in her underwear.

Family: New pictures show Tia Sharp getting a cake from her mother Natalie Sharp on her birthday

Memories: Other pictures today showed the tragic schoolgirl (left) as a baby and a toddler (right)

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Tia's mother Natalie Sharp said that Tia was her grandmother Christine's 'mini-me' and 'her life', adding 'When the trial is done, everything is over for everyone else, but it won't be for us. 

'I gave the ultimate trust to Stuart and there is so much that I want to ask him.

'Sometimes I feel pity, that I want to hurt him, but I can never hurt him like he has hurt me.

'Since Tia was taken, I have lost my trust in everyone. It is too hard for me to believe that she is really gone. I try to think of her being on a sleepover at her friend's house. 

Change of plea: The step grandfather of Tia Sharp, Stuart Hazell, has today admitted he murdered his step granddaughter

'Jack, my eldest son who is three, asked me just this week if Tia was coming home from school soon. I've had to tell him the truth. It made him really cry. I told him that Tia is a star in the sky and now when we go up to say goodnight, we look out of the bedroom window and speak to the star, the one that was bought in Tia's name.

'I breathe for my children. I fear anyone hurting my boys. I fear that if anyone touches my sons or does anything to them, what I might do, I am so scared and angry. I have been so badly hurt by people I don't know and who know nothing of me

'People have said the most terrible things about me as a mother and Tia's life. I can't understand how people who know nothing about somebody can send such awful messages. 

'I've been stared at and physically attacked and I know people judge me when they see me buying something nice for my sons.'

Tia's father, Steve Carter, broke down in tears as Hazell changed his plea, and later said in a statement: 'The murder of my daughter Tia has shattered mine and my family's hearts. We will never get our heads around what has happened to Tia.

'My daughter Tia's life has been taken from us all, as we will never get the opportunity to share her 13th, 16th, 18th or 21st birthdays.

'We will never have the chance to see Tia walk down the aisle and get married, and have children of her own. We have all lost someone special.

'The love for Tia will always be with us, our memories of Tia smiling and playing will never be forgotten. My last memory of Tia is her jumping into my arms giving me a kiss and her telling me she loved me. I will never get this opportunity again, but it is one of the many memories I will cherish for the rest of my life.

'The community of New Addington has lost someone special and they themselves will never forget Tia. Myself and those of my family with children will never be the same as we all have stopped our children's freedom to go out and play, as we fear of something happening.'

Tia's heartbroken step grandmother, the mother of Natalie Sharp's partner David today spoke of her 'relief' after Stuart Hazell changed his plea to Guilty of her murder.

Tragic: Tia Sharp with Stuart Hazell, outside a fish and chip shop holder on the day she is believed to have died

Angie Niles, 69, said: 'It's a very emotional time for all of the family who are sitting here around the TV, but in a strange way we also feel relief.

'It says a lot about the man, just when you thought he couldn't do anymore to our family he's dragged this out over months insisting he was innocent and only now at the very last moment has he put his hands up and admitted what he has done.

'In a strange way I feel like it had to happen this way - maybe it's good that a judge and members of the public have had the chance to hear exactly what this sick man has done.

'Maybe it's good for all of us to have heard the truth in court so that none of this was buried, none of this remains secret.

'It does feel like some sort of closure, it feels like it was the right time. Now we can get on with grieving for my beloved grand-daughter.

The process isn't easy but now we can get on as best as we can. I hope the judge locks him up forever and throws away the key. He doesn't deserve anymore than that.'

Scotland Yard today welcomed his guilty plea but said it should have come sooner.

Senior Investigating Officer DCI Nick Scola said: 'The conviction today of Stuart Hazell for the murder of 12-year-old Tia Sharp in August 2012 will, I hope, bring some closure for her family who have seen justice served. However, Hazell's conviction will never bring Tia back and her family will have to live with her loss for the rest of their lives.

'Tia was murdered by a man who had gained the trust of Tia's family and who, on that day, was tasked with looking after her whilst her grandmother was at work. Hazell abused that position of trust by planning an assault on Tia that ultimately led to her murder.

'The evidence was overwhelming and clearly Hazell realised he had no choice but to plead guilty. However, he put Tia's family through a week of heart-breaking evidence in court and I wish for their sakes he had admitted his guilt sooner.

'Hazell is an extremely dangerous individual who poses a significant threat to young girls and it is only right that he should be imprisoned and removed from society so that he can no longer pose any risk.

'I would like to pay tribute to Tia's family for showing such courage and stamina throughout this horrendous ordeal - from the time of the murder through to the conviction - and I truly hope they can move forward with their lives in the knowledge that Hazell will now pay for his crime.'

Prosecutors believe Tia was murdered in the early hours of August 3 last year while she was alone with Hazell as her grandmother worked overnight at a care home.

Christine Bicknell called Hazell from work and said she could hear Tia laughing in the background as they watched TV, the court heard. Hazell sent Miss Bicknell a text at 10.12pm saying: ‘Tia’s going to bed after Family Guy baby then I’m going to pass out.’ 

Another message from him at 11.44pm said: ‘Night, night baby, call you tomorrow.’ 

But the prosecution claim instead of going to bed, he attacked Tia over the next few hours.

Andrew Edis QC told the court that Hazell could face a whole life sentence because the murder of Tia Sharp was sexually motivated.

He said: 'We do not know and will never know exactly what took place in the house that night but it is the submission of the prosecution that it's clear that Hazell committed a significant sexual offence against her, killed her, took her photograph as some form of keepsake and then in quite a calculated way wrapped up the body.'

Mr Edis added that Tia was sexually assaulted, but added: 'What else it may have involved cannot be known'

Semen was found the duvet and Tia's DNA and blood was found on Hazell's belt. 

The prosecutor also highlighted Hazell's behaviour in 'the taking of the photograph after she had died for sexual gratification and having done that in dressing her in her pajamas and wrapping up separately her outdoor clothing and putting her body in the loft.

'This was concealment that lasted a week, that was carefully organised. He went on television to proclaim his innocence and in the event continued to deny what had happened even when he was arrested after the body had started to smell in the house.'

The Old Bailey heard earlier that he told his father he regretted Tia's death 'every second of every day' in a letter begging for forgiveness.

He wrote to his dad Keith from Belmarsh prison in August last year, saying he had made 'one mistake and my whole world has collapsed'.

He told his father that he wishes he could 'turn back the clock' and that he was unable to eat or sleep in prison.

The letter had two pictures of sad faces drawn on it and had two words written at the top: 'Forgive me'.

Looking for forgiveness: Stuart Hazell's letter to his father Keith in which he said that Tia Sharp's death was an accident and that he regrets it 'every second of every day'

The jury heard that Hazell was a man that Tia has 'idolised', and were shown CCTV footage of herfinal hours beside her killer.

'Sorry': The letter from Hazell was signed off with a sad face

The 12-year-old was seen on her last journey chatting cheerfully with him as they shopped in the local supermarket.

While on remand at Belmarsh Prison, Hazell told guards that Tia had broken her neck accidentally falling down the stairs.

But pathologists were unable to find any evidence of a broken neck or skull fracture consistent with dying from a fall.

When Tia was reported missing, Hazell told her family and police that he had seen her leaving his house to meet a friend.

Relatives, friends and neighbours carried out a huge search.

During the week-long hunt, Tia’s mother went to stay at Hazell’s house, unaware that her daughter’s body was hidden upstairs.

Hazell even made a TV appeal for Tia’s safe return and criticised those who suggested he had something to do with her disappearance.

In an interview Hazell gave to ITV he appealed for Tia’s safe return, insisted she was like his own child, described her as ‘a golden angel’ and said he did not know what had happened to her.

Mr Justice Nicol is due to sentence Hazell later today. 

He is certain to receive a life sentence but the judge will have to decide the minimum number of years he will be kept behind bars.

sTogether: Tia Sharp can be seen on a shopping trip on August 2 with Hazell, her grandmother's former boyfriend and the man who today admitted her murder

Grim: Hazell sexually assaulted and murdered Tia later in the night following this shopping trip

Trial: Jurors were shown CCTV footage of Hazell meeting Tia in Croydon, shopping in a co-op store and taking a tram home to New Addington. The pair are pictured together

'I GAVE THE ULTIMATE TRUST TO STUART': TIA'S MOTHER HAS EMOTIONAL STATEMENT READ TO COURT AFTER HAZELL'S PLEA CHANGE

After Stuart Hazell pleaded guilty to Tia Sharp's murder today, the Old Bailey heard from the 12-year-old's distraught mother.

Natalie Sharp, 30, (pictured with partner David Niles) said she wanted to confront her daughter's killer, admitting 'Sometimes I feel pity, but I want to hurt him'.

Speaking about Tia she said: 'I grew up in a very close family. I had a special relationship with my Nan, my mum's mum. When I knew that I was expecting Tia, I was so happy that I would have something to love.

'Tia's father Steven disappeared before she was born and I realised that the unique relationship I had with my Nanny would be repeated with Tia and my mum. I did try to keep Tia in her father's life but when he had a new family, it was obvious to Tia that he didn't want to know. So there was always me, Mum, my brother and Tia. A small but really close family unit.

'My parents gave me a good childhood. They were together until 1999 and at the time they broke up I was angry. When Tia came along I had a reason to keep out of trouble; if it had not been for her, my life would have been very different. She was mine and no one else's and I had someone to love.

'When I was told Tia had gone missing I always believed that she would come back. At the very worst I thought I'd have to face the fact that someone had touched her and scared her and hurt her. I never really considered that she would be dead. How could I? Worse still was the false hope from the hoaxer who said they had her. I thought she was coming back.

'Since Tia was taken, I have lost my trust in everyone. It is too hard for me to believe that she is really gone. I try to think of her being on a sleepover at her friend's house. 

'Jack, my eldest son who is three, asked me just this week if Tia was coming home from school soon. I've had to tell him the truth. It made him really cry. I told him that Tia is a star in the sky and now when we go up to say goodnight, we look out of the bedroom window and speak to the star, the one that was bought in Tia's name.

'I breathe for my children. I fear anyone hurting my boys. I fear that if anyone touches my sons or does anything to them, what I might do, I am so scared and angry. I have been so badly hurt by people I don't know and who know nothing of me.

'People have said the most terrible things about me as a mother and Tia's life. I can't understand how people who know nothing about somebody can send such awful messages. Then the other day a cabbie just asked me "how is everything going?" He apologised and said "I expect everybody asks you". I realised he was the first person to ask me to my face without condemning me behind my back. I've been stared at and physically attacked and I know people judge me when they see me buying something nice for my sons.

'My close family are closer still, but this has hurt them so badly. My brother is struggling to work, my mum was suspended from her job when Stuart was arrested. I've heard people saying Tia was mistreated and that she's lucky to be away from this world. My Tia wanted for nothing. I have gone without so many times to give my children everything and the truth is that strangers have said things that have been repeated in the press and social media that have been unbelievable.

Loved: Natalie Sharp today spoke of her heartbreak at Tia's death, pictured together with her murdered daughter and one of Tia's brothers

'Tia was my mum's life. She was as close to my mum as I'd been to my nan. We'd all lived together when Tia was a baby and she was my mum's 'mini-me'. Tia loved to be with my mum. Wherever my mum worked, Tia was taken there to meet everyone. I sometimes felt a little green-eyed about their relationship, but I could see it was like the relationship I'd had with my Nan, it was so unique and special.

'I can't say what'll happen after the trial. It's my last hurdle. I haven't allowed myself to grieve yet, I need to finish this first. When the trial is done, everything is over for everyone else, but it won't be for us. At the moment Tia is still talked about. After this we still have to live with the next hurdles. Will Stuart appeal, will he get parole, will he be out and about in a few years? 

'I gave the ultimate trust to Stuart. I have so much I want to ask him. Sometimes I feel pity, but I want to hurt him, but I could never manage to hurt him like he hurt me. I want to meet him and I want him to answer my questions. Sometimes I think I would like to do this, but I doubt the authorities would allow it.'

Hazell claimed Tia was his 'golden girl' and spun web of lies during police search

Deceit: Hazell, 37, a convicted drug dealer, denied abducting her, saying she was 'like my own daughter', but all the while her body was in a loft

Stuart Hazell's guilty plea comes after months of lies about Tia Sharp's final movements.

During the week-long hunt for the then missing schoolgirl, Hazell, 37, a convicted drug dealer, denied abducting her, saying she was 'like my own daughter'.

At the time Hazell was the partner of Tia's grandmother Christine.

He said at the time: 'My previous has got nothing to do with it. Everyone's got a shady past. Did I do anything to Tia? No I bloody didn't. I'd never think of that.'

He described Tia as 'a happy-go-lucky golden angel' and said there had been no problems at her 'loving home' before she vanished.

Hazell said he and Tia had been alone at the home he shared with Christine in south London on the Thursday night and Friday morning when she disappeared.

On the Friday, he said, she left the house at 12.10pm, having previously told him she wanted to buy some new shoes.

She did not take her mobile phone, which was charging, or a travel card and had no bag when she left.

Hazell broke down as he spoke, supported by Tia's uncle David Sharp.

Both wore white 'Find Tia' T-shirts and a large picture of the schoolgirl was pinned to the wall behind them.

Hazell said he felt people were 'pointing the finger' at him because he had been the last person to see her.

Hazell said: 'I know deep down in my heart that Tia walked out of my house.

'I know she was seen walking down the pathway, she made her way down that track. What happened after that. I don't know.'

Police searched Hazell’s loft THREE TIMES before finding Tia’s body

Police unsuccessfully searched the loft where Tia Sharp’s body was hidden twice but only discovered her on the third attempt.

Tia’s body was found wrapped in a sheet and layers of plastic in the loft of her grandmother’s home on August 10 last year, a week after she went missing.

It was only when detectives noticed a smell of decomposition in the upstairs of Christine Bicknell’s house that she was finally found.

Failures: Police forensics teams (pictured on day Tia was found) took three attempts over a week to successfully search the loft she was hidden in

A police constable first went into the loft on August 4, climbing up on a stool balanced on a chair.

He said: 'I was searching for a missing girl and from what I could see the loft seemed very clear. I thought "she is not hiding in here".'

The following day a specialist team came in and one officer said he would have recognised the smell of a decomposing body if it had been apparent.

His colleague said he took about 25 minutes to search the loft, including moving black bags around that the team believed were too light to contain anything significant.

Later, a search dog was brought to the house in New Addington, south London, and indicated that there was something above one of the bedrooms, but the animal was too large to take into the loft.

On August 10 a detective noticed the smell of decomposition in the house, which Ms Bicknell mistakenly thought was cat faeces.

Another dog also indicated that something might be in the loft of the house and Tia’s body was then found.

Detective Constable Daniel Chatfield, who found Tia’s body as he and a crime scene manager searched the loft, said: 'The loft was extremely confined, it was very hot and quite chaotic, so there were a lot of boxes and bags around the hatch entrances which needed to be moved in order to search further into the loft.

'After about 10 minutes my colleague Mr Langley had alerted me to what he believed to be the body of Tia.'

In the wake of Tia’s death, Scotland Yard apologised to her family that it had taken so long to find her.

Hazell was obsessed with child porn and had a relationship with Tia’s mother, grandmother and 'committed a significant sexual offence against the 12-year-old'

Guilty: Hazell was addicted to child porn and would search out images of children who looked like Tia Sharp

Stuart Hazell was a pornography addict who downloaded sexually explicit pictures of children before he killed Tia Sharp.

The 37-year-old was particularly looking for images of girls who looked like Tia, it has been revealed, and was caught with 'extensive pornography' on a memory card which he had tried to hide from police.

He had also filmed the 12-year-old while she slept, and captured a video of her as she rubbed cream into her legs.

This morning Hazell pleaded guilty to Tia's murder, saying her family had 'suffered enough', after protesting his innocence for months.

When her body was found in his attic, Hazell's DNA was on her clothes and Tia's blood was found on his belt, leading the prosecution to accuse him of sexually assaulting her before her death.

The schoolgirl's killer had previously been in relationships with both her mother and her grandmother.

Hazell first met Tia's grandmother Christine Bicknell around 2003 or 2004, when she was working as a barmaid at a pub in Merton, South London.

He then had a relationship with her daughter Natalie Sharp, Tia's mother, but it lasted no more than a couple of weeks.

Hazell started seeing Ms Sharp in April 2007, and a month later moved into her house in New Addington.

Around the time of Tia's death her killer took to Google to look up pornographic pictures of young girls, police discovered after searching his house following his arrest last August.

He apparently sought out images of girls who looked especially like Tia, wearing glasses and having their hair in a ponytail.

Hazell was obsessed with paedophile websites, and apparently acted out his fantasies by taking pictures of Tia, the granddaughter of his then girlfriend Christine Bicknell.

Police found 11 photographs and three video clips showing the girl sleeping on two memory cards hidden in his home.

At least one of the cards had been stashed in the doorway of a cupboard.

Discovery: Pornographic images were found on two memory cards in Ms Bicknell's house, pictured

Police said they believed he had removed the bathroom door so he could spy on the girl, and modified the light socket in her room to create a 'spyhole'.

The most shocking image was taken after the schoolgirl's death, according to the prosecution.

It showed Tia naked lying on a bed, and was captured a few hours after she died for Hazell's 'sexual excitement', prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said during the trial.

He 'committed a significant sexual offence' against her before suffocating her and hiding her body in Ms Bicknell's attic.

Ms Sharp fled from the Old Bailey courtroom in tears when the footage of her daughter was shown to jurors.

Hazell had also collected images of young girls being abused, and visited a site devoted to glorifying incest.

Forensic analysis of his mobile phone records showed that he had been looking up child pornography via Google.

HOW THE SEARCH FOR TIA UNFOLDED: HAZELL'S LIES AND THE AGONY OF HER FAMILY

Investigation: A forensics officer outside the house of Tia's grandmother after her body was found there

Friday August 3 2012
Tia Sharp is seen leaving her grandmother Christine Bicknell's home in New Addington, South-East London, at around midday. The 12-year-old told relatives she was going to the Whitgift Centre in Croydon. It later emerged that she was killed that night and her body stashed in the attic of the house

Monday August 6
Tia's family makes an emotional plea for her to return home as police find no trace of her on CCTV footage.

Tuesday August 7
A CCTV image of Tia outside the local Co-op is released as her grandmother says she hopes it will jog someone's memory. The last person who saw Tia is reported to be Ms Bicknell's partner, Stuart Hazell.

Wednesday August 8
Police take a German shepherd dog into Tia's grandmother's house. Volunteers and members of the local community continue to hand out posters, wear 'Find Tia' T-shirts and conduct their own searches. Hazell, 37, is voluntarily questioned by police.

Thursday August 9
Police search bins outside Tia's grandmother's home and around the estate where she lives, using sticks to scour through rubbish. Hazell says he was not the last person to see her and makes an emotional plea for her to return home.

Friday August 10
Two detectives arrive at Tia's grandmother's house in the morning, leaving 30 minutes later with brown evidence bags. A police sniffer dog is brought to the property. Police seal off the area around the house at 1pm for a 'pre-arranged search'. At 4.45pm police say they have found a body at the house. Hazell is arrested and held on suspicion of murder.

Saturday August 11
Ms Bicknell is questioned and Paul Meehan, a 39-year-old neighbour, is taken into custody on suspicion of assisting an offender. The pair are released on bail.

Sunday August 12
Hazell is charged with the murder of Tia Sharp and held in custody ahead of his first court appearance.

Monday August 13
Hazell is sent for trial.

Friday September 14 
Tia's funeral is held at Morden Cemetery.

Tuesday May 7 2013
Hazell pleads not guilty to murder as his trial begins at the Old Bailey. The jury is shown a picture of a naked girl which the prosecution says shows Tia's naked body. However, he insists her death was an accident.

Wednesday May 8
CCTV footage of Hazell and Tia boarding a bus and shopping together hours before her death is released, as the court hears that the girl 'idolised' her grandmother's boyfriend.

Thursday May 9
A prison officer tells the jury that when Hazell was on remand he told him, 'I'm not like Ian Huntley', denying that any sexual activity had taken place between himself and Tia. He also inquired into the possibility of pleading guilty to manslaughter in order to avoid the charge of murder.

Friday May 10
The court hears that Hazell wrote a letter to his father saying he wanted to 'turn back the clock' and insisting he regretted Tia's death 'every second of the day', but still protesting his innocence.

Monday May 13
The defendant changes his plea to guilty after several days of harrowing testimony, saying the girl's family has 'suffered enough'.