Pranksters made my life hell, says mother of murdered Tia Sharp

The mother of murdered schoolgirl Tia Sharp told today of her torment at the hands of trolls who claimed to have taken her daughter.

Natalie Sharp spoke of the “pure hell” she experienced since Tia, 12, went missing last month, before her body was found hidden at her grandmother’s home.

Ms Sharp, 30, from Mitcham, who led a week-long hunt for the missing child, told The Sun: “You see yourself become that family everyone watches on the news. All those other cases you’ve seen, the most horrible stories. You never think one day that will be you. But then it was me, my Tia.”

The family’s ordeal was exacerbated when pranksters taunted them over the phone after seeing their mobile numbers on T-shirts worn for TV appeals.

Ms Sharp said: “She’d been missing for around three days. They were saying ‘we’ve got her and we’ll tell you where and when you can have her’. It was a sick joke. The police traced the call to Scotland. They found a couple of lads, sitting around drunk, making prank calls.”

She revealed she and partner David Niles had still not told their two sons, aged three and one, that Tia was dead since she was found in New Addington on August 10.

She said: “The boys have to be told. To be honest I’m not quite sure how we’re going to do it. One of them has already started to notice. He’s called out to a few girls in the street, thinking it’s Tia.”

Stuart Hazell, 37, the partner of Tia’s grandmother Christine, appeared at the Old Bailey last month charged with Tia’s murder. He was remanded in custody and is yet to enter a plea.