Schoolgirl 'abused and killed by her grandmother’s lover’
The man accused of murdering the schoolgirl Tia Sharp had filmed her asleep in bed and took a photograph of her dead body for his sexual gratification, a jury heard today.
Stuart Hazell, left, killed Tia Sharp, right, then went to extensive lengths to hide her body in his loft, it is alleged
Stuart Hazell, 37, killed his partner’s 12-year-old granddaughter then went to
extensive lengths to hide her body in his loft, it was alleged.
He sexually abused her either before or after death, took a picture and then
hid the memory card containing the graphic image behind a door frame, Andrew
Edis QC, prosecuting, suggested.
Tia, who had gone to stay at her grandmother’s house in New Addington,
Croydon, last August, died a “sudden and violent” death, it was claimed.
“We know when she died and where she died,” Mr Edis told the jury at the Old
Bailey. “There were only two of them in the house at the time.
“The prosecution case is that Stuart Hazell had a sexual attraction for Tia
Sharp. There was a sexual assault, or something of that nature, and that’s
the reason why he killed her.”
Hazell “meticulously” wrapped Tia’s body in a sheet and bin liners sealed with
Sellotape before hauling it to the loft, he said. A second parcel containing
her clothes, his glasses with her fingerprints on them and his shirt,
containing a trace of her blood, were also carefully hidden away, it was
claimed.
Tia died in the early hours of Aug 3 but her body was not found until August 10 after extensive police searches, including two failed searches of the house Hazell shared with Christine Bicknell, 46.
Miss Bicknell was working a night shift at the time of her granddaughter’s death and Hazell claimed the last time he saw the schoolgirl was when she left the house alone the next morning to go shopping.
Two memory sticks containing grade-one paedophile images of young girls, “extensive” pornography and 11 images and three video clips of Tia sleeping were found concealed at the property, as well as the image of a naked, pre-pubescent girl lying on Tia’s bed, which the prosecution alleged was the dead schoolgirl.
Several internet searches for paedophile images were found on Hazell’s phone and he had looked up an incest website three days after the alleged murder, when searches for Tia’s body were ongoing, it was claimed. The jury was shown three clips of the schoolgirl asleep in her bed as well as one of her applying cream to her legs, all of which appeared to have been secretly filmed, Mr Edis said.
When the image of her apparently dead, injured and blood-stained body was shown in court, at least two jurors wept and Natalie Sharp, Tia’s mother, ran from the court sobbing.
“The photograph … was taken in that house, that night, and taken, it would appear, as she was dead by somebody who wanted to photograph her in that state for the purposes of sexual excitement,” Mr Edis said.
A sex toy carrying traces of Tia’s blood was found in a drawer in Hazell’s bedroom, the jury heard. Blood and semen stains were found on the bedclothes and on Tia’s clothes. Traces of the girl’s blood were also found on the belt Hazell was wearing when he was arrested.
Mr Edis said the significant interest in Tia’s disappearance, when the house was “besieged” by the media, had been a “terrible nuisance” for Hazell and had prevented him from disposing of the body.
The jury was shown a clip of a television interview he gave in which he “played the role of a bereaved grandparent” and said he treated Tia like a daughter.
Hazell was arrested on Aug 10, when he was found “wandering around London”, apparently drunk, they were told.
Mr Edis said that after his arrest, Hazell had told a prison officer that he and Tia had been playing at the top of the stairs when she fell and broke her neck. He later wrote to his father, insisting that it was an accident. He denies murder.
The jury heard that no cause of death had been ascertained but that it was thought Tia was suffocated. “The prosecution say that this was clearly no accident,” Mr Edis said. The trial, which is due to last up to three weeks, continues.
Tia died in the early hours of Aug 3 but her body was not found until August 10 after extensive police searches, including two failed searches of the house Hazell shared with Christine Bicknell, 46.
Miss Bicknell was working a night shift at the time of her granddaughter’s death and Hazell claimed the last time he saw the schoolgirl was when she left the house alone the next morning to go shopping.
Two memory sticks containing grade-one paedophile images of young girls, “extensive” pornography and 11 images and three video clips of Tia sleeping were found concealed at the property, as well as the image of a naked, pre-pubescent girl lying on Tia’s bed, which the prosecution alleged was the dead schoolgirl.
Several internet searches for paedophile images were found on Hazell’s phone and he had looked up an incest website three days after the alleged murder, when searches for Tia’s body were ongoing, it was claimed. The jury was shown three clips of the schoolgirl asleep in her bed as well as one of her applying cream to her legs, all of which appeared to have been secretly filmed, Mr Edis said.
When the image of her apparently dead, injured and blood-stained body was shown in court, at least two jurors wept and Natalie Sharp, Tia’s mother, ran from the court sobbing.
“The photograph … was taken in that house, that night, and taken, it would appear, as she was dead by somebody who wanted to photograph her in that state for the purposes of sexual excitement,” Mr Edis said.
A sex toy carrying traces of Tia’s blood was found in a drawer in Hazell’s bedroom, the jury heard. Blood and semen stains were found on the bedclothes and on Tia’s clothes. Traces of the girl’s blood were also found on the belt Hazell was wearing when he was arrested.
Mr Edis said the significant interest in Tia’s disappearance, when the house was “besieged” by the media, had been a “terrible nuisance” for Hazell and had prevented him from disposing of the body.
The jury was shown a clip of a television interview he gave in which he “played the role of a bereaved grandparent” and said he treated Tia like a daughter.
Hazell was arrested on Aug 10, when he was found “wandering around London”, apparently drunk, they were told.
Mr Edis said that after his arrest, Hazell had told a prison officer that he and Tia had been playing at the top of the stairs when she fell and broke her neck. He later wrote to his father, insisting that it was an accident. He denies murder.
The jury heard that no cause of death had been ascertained but that it was thought Tia was suffocated. “The prosecution say that this was clearly no accident,” Mr Edis said. The trial, which is due to last up to three weeks, continues.
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