Browsing magazines in the supermarket and helping with the food shopping, 12-year-old Tia Sharp is pictured looking relaxed and happy with the man she looked up to and idolised.
But just hours after these CCTV images were taken, it is alleged that Stuart Hazell, her grandmother’s boyfriend, sexually assaulted and killed the youngster before hiding her body in a loft.
Jurors were today shown these CCTV clips of Hazell and Tia together after meeting at a London train station on the afternoon of August 2.
They included footage of the pair walking along a platform after getting off a tram at Gravel Hill station, shopping in a branch of the Co-op supermarket and travelling on a bus.
Trial: Jurors were shown CCTV footage of Hazell meeting Tia in Croydon, shopping in a co-op store and taking a tram home to New Addington. The pair are pictured together
Together: Tia Sharp can be seen on a shopping trip on August 2 with Hazell, her grandmother’s former boyfriend and the man accused of her murder
Grim: The prosecution claim that Hazell sexually assaulted and murdered Tia later in the night following this shopping trip
Tia is pictured helping Hazell pick items of food off the shelves, while at one point she can be seen flicking through magazines.
But the following day, unable to find her, Tia’s panicked family contacted the police and reported the youngster missing. They never saw her again.
Tia’s mother Natalie Sharp today looked on tearfully from the public gallery at the Old Bailey as the images were shown to jurors.
The court also heard today that Tia ‘idolised’ Hazell and was ‘his cling-on’.
They were read a statement by Tia’s grandmother, Christine Bicknell, whose former boyfriend, Stuart Hazell, is accused of murdering the 12-year-old.
She said: ‘When Tia went missing it didn’t cross my mind that she could be dead.
Evidence: The court heard today from Tia’s grandmother, Christine Bicknell, who said Hazell loved Tia and she idolised him
‘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.’
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, of New Addington, is charged with killing the schoolgirl between August 2 and 10 last year.
Her body was found in the loft of her grandmother’s house in New Addington a week after she went missing.
Ms Bicknell said all her grandchildren ‘loved him to pieces’.
She said she had thought back over her relationship and had not noticed any particular changes, nor had any worries about Hazell being around Tia.
Jurors have heard how Tia texted Hazell the day before her disappearance to ask: ‘Can I stay at your house all weekend please?’
Murder trial: Stuart Hazell, 37, left, denies killing schoolgirl Tia Sharp, right. Tia’s grandmother, Christine Bicknell, today told the court Tia ‘idolised’ Hazell
Accused: A court sketch of Stuart Hazell flanked by two guards in the dock at the Old Bailey on the first day of his murder trial
Relative: Christine Bicknell is the grandmother of Tia Sharp, who was the girlfriend of Stuart Hazell when Tia went missing.The jury was today read a statement by Ms Bicknell
He replied later that night, on 1 August 2012, to say: ‘I will ask Nanny :)’
On the afternoon of August 2 he went to Croydon to pick her up and take the tram back to his home in New Addington, south London.
Ms Bicknell texted her granddaughter to ask her to make sure she hoovered under the bed, adding: ‘Love you xxx.’
The last she heard from Tia was a text message in reply at 4.26pm, saying: ‘Love you too and ok xxxx’.
She later exchanged text messages with Hazell when he told her that Tia was going to bed after watching Family Guy. At around 11.44pm he texted: ‘Night night baby, call you tomorrow.’
Tia’s phone was last used to access the internet at 12.40am.
The prosecution claim that Hazell sexually assaulted and murdered Tia during that night and then hid her body in the loft.
In her statement to police, Ms Bicknell said she arrived back home from work on the afternoon of August 3 to find Hazell at home alone.
‘He was either watching TV or on the Playstation,’ she said. ‘I think he was wearing shorts and t-shirt and blue slippers.
‘I said to Stuart, where’s Tia? He told me she had gone to Croydon, she wanted to get a pair of slippers and he told her to be back by 6pm.’
She said she started to get worried when Tia was not back by 7.50pm and went out in the car with Hazell to look for her at a local fair.
At around 10pm she and her daughter Natalie went to the police station to report Tia missing before going home.
‘I was worried sick and scared. I got the impression Stuart was worried too. I thought he must be feeling guilty because he told her to go to Croydon.’
Ms Bicknell said that Hazell was ‘under pressure because people were pointing fingers at him saying he was the last person to see her.’
‘I could see the look on his face,’ she added. ‘I knew he had a lot of s**t going on.’
Over the next week the couple hardly left the house because of the press camped outside, the court heard.
Read more: Daily Mail
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this is very solmn,it need to be proper taking care of.
this is very solemn,it need to be proper taking care of.