Tia Sharp ‘idolised’ man accused of her murder

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In a statement read to the Old Bailey, Hazell’s former boyfriend Christine Bicknell said all her grandchildren “loved him to pieces” and Tia “idolised” him.

She said: “When Tia went missing it didn’t cross my mind that she could be dead. I always thought she was coming home. It didn’t cross my mind that he would hurt her. He loved Tia, she idolised him.

“I love Stuart with all my heart, he was my world, but my grandchildren always came first.”

I knew nothing about her death. If I knew, he could be dead. I would be inside because I would have killed him. Christine Bicknell

Tia would frequently stay at her grandmother’s house in New Addington, south London, and would ask Hazell if she could stay before she asked Ms Bicknell, the court heard.

In the statement, read by junior prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward, she said: “Tia will ask Stuart if she can stay for the weekend before she asks me.The majority of the time he has her more than what I do. She is his cling-on.”

Hazell, 37, is charged with killing the schoolgirl in August 2012.

Smell of decomposition

Her body was found in the loft of her grandmother’s house a week after she went missing.

Police had searched the loft twice on 4 and 5 August before they found Tia on 10 August after a detective noticed a smell of decomposition in the upstairs of the house and a dog indicated that it could be coming from the attic.

Tia’s body was then found in the “excessively hot” loft, and she was identified through DNA testing and dental records, the jury was told.

Ms Bicknell said she had thought back over her relationship and had not noticed any particular changes, nor had any worries about Hazell being around Tia.

Her statement said Hazell was not somebody she “dragged in from the street”, but a person she had been with for more than five years.

‘I would have killed him’

“Tia was not the sort of girl you could groom,” she said. “She was a mouthy 12-year-old. You couldn’t force her to do anything.”

She added: “I knew nothing about her death. If I knew, he could be dead. I would be inside because I would have killed him. I found out the same time as everybody else that Friday. I didn’t know anything.”

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