Shouts of 'beast' as Stuart Hazell is jailed for 38 years for murder of Tia Sharp

- Stuart Hazell will serve minimum of 38 years- He was labelled a 'beast' by a member of the public as he was led away- Hazell, 37, changed plea dramatically yesterday and admitted killing her
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Paul Cheston15 May 2013
WEST END FINAL

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The killer of schoolgirl Tia Sharp was jailed for at least 38 years today and was led to the cells amid shouts of “beast”.

Stuart Hazell, 37, was poker-faced as he was ushered out of court at the Old Bailey by four prison officers.

Tia’s mother Natalie Sharp glared at him from her seat just feet away from the dock and her mother, Hazell’s former lover Christine Bicknell, sobbed.

Tia’s father Steven Carter bent forward with his head in his hands.

In the public gallery there were yells of delight as the length of the life sentence was announced by Mr Justice Nicol.

One man shook his fist and there was at least one shout of “beast.”

The judge said Hazell had robbed 12-year-old Tia of “her career, her loves and family of her own.”

She had been “a sparky girl through her life and you took that life from her.”

Hazell had dramatically changed his plea on the fifth day of the trial yesterday to admit murdering Tia.

His previous denials meant Tia’s family were forced to sit through days of disturbing and graphic evidence, including looking at a shocking picture of her naked and put into a sexual pose after she died.

But even though Hazell pleaded guilty he has refused to reveal what he did to Tia and how he killed her..

Hazell had briefly dated Tia’s mother and had been in a relationship with Tia’s grandmother for five and a half years before the murder.

He had moved into Ms Bicknell’s house in New Addington, a week after the pair got together and there developed his fatal, perverted sexual attraction to Tia.

Tia died last August when she and Hazell were left alone while Ms Bicknell worked a night shift.

Hazell violently sexually assaulted the schoolgirl and killed her, before hiding her body in the loft of the home he and Ms Bicknell shared.

He had secretly filmed her while she was asleep and had browsed violent child porn sites on the internet using terms including “violent forced rape”, “little girls in glasses” and “incest”.

In a series of blunders, police did not find Tia’s body for a week even though it was wrapped in a sheet and layers of plastic in the loft of the New Addington house.

Yet two officers had separately searched the loft but discovered nothing.

Scotland Yard has apologised to Tia’s family and Commander Neil Basu has said the two officers were “devastated” by their failure.

The judge said that Hazell had sexually assaulted Tia before he had probably smothered her.

However he could not be sure there the killing had been sexually motivated as Hazell could have killed through “shame and fear” of what Tia might have said.

Equally he could not be certain that the shockingly sexually photo of Tia had been taken after she was dead rather than when she was asleep.

However the picture itself was a serious aggravating feature which increased his sentence along with Tia’s young age, the abuse of her and her family’s trust and the way Hazell had concealed the body.

His guilty plea deserved “only the most modest credit” said the judge.

Tia’s mother Natalie Sharp has said she wanted to kill Hazell “with my own hands.”

“I want to visit him in prison, I want to look him in the face and ask: ‘Why did you hurt my little Tia?’

“She was a harmless little girl who couldn’t hurt a fly. I wish I could kill him with my own hands.”

She compared Hazell with the killer of Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

“He is as bad as Ian Huntley,” she said to the Sun.

“He is the most vile creature on this planet. I just hope the prison won’t let him kill himself. My Tia is in heaven I want him to stay in hell on earth with me.”

Her mother, Ms Bicknell, has told how Hazell had been her “soulmate” but turned into a “monster” who had cuddled and comforted her when Tia had gone missing.

Little did she know that he had killed her and hidden her granddaughter’s body above their heads in her loft.

“I loved Tia with all my heart but I let my baby down and I will never be able to get over that,” she said to the Daily Mirror.

“I spent five nights in that house being cuddled and comforted by the man I loved praying for Tia to come home safely.

“Her mum Natalie even came round and stayed with us because we were holding each other together.

“But all the time Tia’s body was above our heads all alone wrapped in bin bags and Stuart had killed her.

“All the time the danger was in my home and I had absolutely no idea. I swear there was no clues that I was living with a monster.”

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