The Murder of Tia Sharp
Tia Sharp was a 12-year-old girl from the UK, she was reported missing from her grandmother's home in London in August 2012. Her grandmother's boyfriend, Stuart Hazell, told police that Tia had left the house to buy shoes at a shopping centre and never returned. Televised appeals were made and sightings were reported but there was no sign of Tia.
On 10th August police searched the house Tia went missing from for the fourth time and discovered a body wrapped in a bedsheet and bin bag in the loft. Stuart Hazell was arrested and charged with murder. Memory cards were recovered that had been hidden around the home, some of the files showed Tia in sexual positions and were thought to have been taken post-mortem whereas others were voyeuristic and taken while Tia was alive, such as Tia sleeping in her bed and Tia putting moisturiser on her legs. It was suggested Hazell was sexually attracted to Tia.
The delay in finding the body meant the cause of death could not be determined but it is thought that Tia was smothered after Hazell made sexual advances. Hazell changed his plea from not guilty to guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 38 years.
