'Hang him': Tia Sharp's father calls for death penalty as picture emerges of Stuart Hazell in police interview room where he lied and lied and lied about murdering schoolgirl, 12

• Convicted drug dealer Stuart Hazell, 37, had claimed Tia fell down the stairs

• He said he was changing his plea because 'Tia's family have suffered enough'

• The jury previously heard he had visited child porn websites and hidden memory cards filled with images

• Hazell was in a relationship with Tia's maternal grandmother at the time of her murder and had previously had a two-week fling with the girl's mother

• He has convictions for racially aggravated common assault, dealing cocaine and possessing a machete in 2010, for which he was jailed for 12 months

• Hazell's mother was a prostitute and he was an alcoholic by 13, court heard

• Prosecution says we will never know how 12-year-old died

• Police officers searched Hazell’s loft three times before finding Tia’s body

• The former window cleaner will be sentenced at the Old Bailey tomorrow

By Martin Robinson, Tom Kelly, Hugo Gye and Rosie Taylor - DailyMail.com

May 13, 2013

The father of Tia Sharp said today that life in prison for her killer would not be justice because Stuart Hazell should be 'hung' for murdering his daughter.

Convicted drug dealer Hazell this morning changed his plea to guilty a week into his Old Bailey trial as 'an act of remorse' and because 'Tia's family have suffered enough', his defence QC Lord Carlile said.

Prosecutors say the child porn obsessed 37-year-old sexually abused 12-year-old Tia, before he suffocated her, photographed her dead body and then he wrapped her in plastic and hid her in the loft in an 'appalling and unthinkable crime' last August.

Hazell then disrupted the police investigation by saying she went out alone and never came home. He even made a TV appeal begging for Tia’s safe return and said she was 'like my own daughter' and his 'golden girl'.

But a week later Tia's body was found inside a suitcase in the loft at the home Hazell shared with Tia's grandmother.

Despite protesting his innocence at first, Hazell then claimed the schoolgirl had fallen down the stairs in an accident at the house. But today he dramatically changed his plea and finally admitted he had killed her.

Outside court today Steven Carter, Tia's father, said Hazell, who will be sentenced tomorrow, should 'serve his time and be hung'.

'I'm glad that Stuart Hazell changed his plea to guilty this morning. The four days of trial here were very hard to deal with, hearing the vile things Hazell did to Tia,' Mr Carter said.

'Hazell will be sentenced tomorrow. In my opinion it will not be enough. He should serve his time and then be hung.

'I do not see today’s events as justice for Tia, merely a legal conviction. I would now ask to be left alone so I can grieve and put my life back together.'

Because of the seriousness of the crime, and because the murder had a sexual motive, the prosecution is demanding at least 30 years in prison without parole for Hazell.

This morning the jury in his murder trial was brought back in and the murder charge was formally re-read to the defendant.

Dressed in a t-shirt, Hazell bowed his head, shuffled his feet and then pleaded guilty prompting sobs and gasps from the public gallery.

Lord Carlile, representing Hazell, said his client wanted to make it known that 'Tia's family have suffered enough and he did not want to put them through any further stages of this trial or this process.'

In mitigation, Hazell's QC later said he had an 'extraordinary capacity for living through lies that he has made up.'

Lord Carlile added: 'The easiest thing for Stuart Hazell would have been to brazen out the rest of this case, possibly or possibly not to give evidence, and to allow us as his counsel to address the jury on his behalf and say the prosecution case just wasn't strong enough.

'His decision to plead guilty today is probably the bravest decision he has ever made in his life - maybe the only brave decision he's made in his life.'

The court also heard that Hazell had a number of previous convictions.

These included convictions for racially aggravated common assault in 2002, dealing cocaine in 2003, for which he was jailed for nearly three years, and possession of a machete in a public place in 2010, for which he spent 12 months in jail.

He also had convictions for burglary and theft.

The Old Bailey head Hazell was the son of a prostitute and a jailbird, and that he grew up in care.

By the age of 13 he was hooked on booze and received his first criminal conviction a year later, the court was told.

He fell into a life of petty crime, clocking up his more serious convictions as he grew older.

As a teenager he lived on the streets and claims he was raped in a homeless hostel in Soho when he was 16.

The court heard he suffers from depression, self harms and has attempted suicide on a number of occasions.

Hazell, who had to drink at least two cans of Fosters everyday and would neck a bottle of vodka on the way home from work, credits Tia's grandma Christine Bicknell for helping him turn his life around when he got out of prison.

His barrister Lord Carlile QC told the court: 'Christine Bicknell provided the first stability he had in his life.

'It was the first time he had been part of anything remotely resembling a family and by this time he was in his early 30s.'

The court heard he started working regularly as a window cleaner but would often call in sick and his shifts were eventually offered to someone else.

The barrister added: 'None of this background provides an excuse or what happened at the time of Tia Sharp's death.

'He know every day in prison will be severe punishment for him.

'He has pleaded guilty albeit late in the day. It has been an act of remorse which one would not have expected of this particular man.'

Hazell's guilty plea came after four days of graphic evidence during which Tia's mother, Natalie Sharp, frequently had to leave the courtroom, visibly distressed.

The prosecution case's evidence included a grotesque photograph of a girl alleged to be Tia after she died, which was found on a memory card belonging to Hazell.

In the picture, a naked girl, whose face cannot be seen, is posed on all fours on a bed. Afterwards Hazell put her body in bin bags in the loft, where it was found a week later.

The Old Bailey heard that in the weeks before her death Hazell, 37, who was obsessed with paedophile websites, had repeatedly filmed Tia as she slept – and on one occasion as she rubbed moisturiser on her legs while in her underwear.

Detectives believe he deliberately removed the bathroom door at the house at Ms Bicknell's home so he could spy on the schoolgirl. He is also thought to have modified the light socket in her room to create a 'spyhole'.

He had also searched the internet for child pornography involving children who looked like Tia, using terms including 'violent forced rape' and 'little girls in glasses'.

The window cleaner and convicted drug dealer had been in a relationship with Christine Bicknell for five and a half years, moving in just a week after they got together.

She said in a statement to police that Hazell, who had previously briefly dated Tia's mother, was not somebody she 'dragged in from the street'.

He repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, even giving a television interview claiming that he did not know what had happened to Tia.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Tia's mother Natalie Sharp said that Tia was her grandmother Christine's 'mini-me' and 'her life', adding 'When the trial is done, everything is over for everyone else, but it won't be for us.

'I gave the ultimate trust to Stuart and there is so much that I want to ask him.

'Sometimes I feel pity, that I want to hurt him, but I can never hurt him like he has hurt me.

'Since Tia was taken, I have lost my trust in everyone. It is too hard for me to believe that she is really gone. I try to think of her being on a sleepover at her friend's house.

'Jack, my eldest son who is three, asked me just this week if Tia was coming home from school soon. I've had to tell him the truth. It made him really cry. I told him that Tia is a star in the sky and now when we go up to say goodnight, we look out of the bedroom window and speak to the star, the one that was bought in Tia's name.

'I breathe for my children. I fear anyone hurting my boys. I fear that if anyone touches my sons or does anything to them, what I might do, I am so scared and angry. I have been so badly hurt by people I don't know and who know nothing of me.

'People have said the most terrible things about me as a mother and Tia's life. I can't understand how people who know nothing about somebody can send such awful messages.

'I've been stared at and physically attacked and I know people judge me when they see me buying something nice for my sons.'

Tia's father, Steven Carter, broke down in tears as Hazell changed his plea, and later said in a statement: 'The murder of my daughter Tia has shattered mine and my family's hearts. We will never get our heads around what has happened to Tia.

'My daughter Tia's life has been taken from us all, as we will never get the opportunity to share her 13th, 16th, 18th or 21st birthdays.

'We will never have the chance to see Tia walk down the aisle and get married, and have children of her own. We have all lost someone special.

'The love for Tia will always be with us, our memories of Tia smiling and playing will never be forgotten.

'My last memory of Tia is her jumping into my arms giving me a kiss and her telling me she loved me.

'I will never get this opportunity again, but it is one of the many memories I will cherish for the rest of my life.

'The community of New Addington has lost someone special and they themselves will never forget Tia.

'Myself and those of my family with children will never be the same as we all have stopped our children's freedom to go out and play, as we fear of something happening.'

Tia's heartbroken step grandmother, the mother of Natalie Sharp's partner David today spoke of her 'relief' after Stuart Hazell changed his plea to guilty.

Angie Niles, 69, said: 'It's a very emotional time for all of the family who are sitting here around the TV, but in a strange way we also feel relief.

'It says a lot about the man, just when you thought he couldn't do anymore to our family he's dragged this out over months insisting he was innocent and only now at the very last moment has he put his hands up and admitted what he has done.

'In a strange way I feel like it had to happen this way - maybe it's good that a judge and members of the public have had the chance to hear exactly what this sick man has done.

'Maybe it's good for all of us to have heard the truth in court so that none of this was buried, none of this remains secret.

'It does feel like some sort of closure, it feels like it was the right time. Now we can get on with grieving for my beloved grand-daughter.

The process isn't easy but now we can get on as best as we can. I hope the judge locks him up forever and throws away the key. He doesn't deserve anymore than that.'

Scotland Yard today welcomed his guilty plea but said it should have come sooner.

Senior Investigating Officer DCI Nick Scola said: 'The conviction today of Stuart Hazell for the murder of 12-year-old Tia Sharp in August 2012 will, I hope, bring some closure for her family who have seen justice served. However, Hazell's conviction will never bring Tia back and her family will have to live with her loss for the rest of their lives.

'Tia was murdered by a man who had gained the trust of Tia's family and who, on that day, was tasked with looking after her whilst her grandmother was at work. Hazell abused that position of trust by planning an assault on Tia that ultimately led to her murder.

'The evidence was overwhelming and clearly Hazell realised he had no choice but to plead guilty. However, he put Tia's family through a week of heart-breaking evidence in court and I wish for their sakes he had admitted his guilt sooner.

'Hazell is an extremely dangerous individual who poses a significant threat to young girls and it is only right that he should be imprisoned and removed from society so that he can no longer pose any risk.

'I would like to pay tribute to Tia's family for showing such courage and stamina throughout this horrendous ordeal - from the time of the murder through to the conviction - and I truly hope they can move forward with their lives in the knowledge that Hazell will now pay for his crime.'

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Scola reiterated the Scotland Yard apology to Tia's family outside the Old Bailey.

But the senior investigating officer said that while finding the body during the first two searches would have meant he was charged sooner it 'would not have made any difference' to what happened afterwards, merely brought it forward.

They would still have had to deal with Hazell's lies and his interest in child porn and young girls, he said.

'The early searches were really just a look round, they were not deep searches,' he added.

Alison Saunders, chief Crown Prosecutor for London, said: 'This was an appalling and unthinkable crime, made worse by Hazell's efforts to hide Tia's body and disrupt the police investigation.

'As an adult and trusted family member, he had responsibility for ensuring Tia's safety. Instead, he abused and murdered her.'

Prosecutors believe Tia was murdered in the early hours of August 3 last year while she was alone with Hazell as her grandmother worked overnight at a care home.

Christine Bicknell called Hazell from work and said she could hear Tia laughing in the background as they watched TV, the court heard. Hazell sent Miss Bicknell a text at 10.12pm saying:‘Tia’s going to bed after Family Guy baby then I’m going to pass out.’

Another message from him at 11.44pm said: ‘Night, night baby, call you tomorrow.’

But the prosecution claim instead of going to bed, he attacked Tia over the next few hours.

Andrew Edis QC told the court that Hazell could face a whole life sentence because the murder of Tia Sharp was sexually motivated.

He said: 'We do not know and will never know exactly what took place in the house that night but it is the submission of the prosecution that it's clear that Hazell committed a significant sexual offence against her, killed her, took her photograph as some form of keepsake and then in quite a calculated way wrapped up the body.'

Mr Edis added that Tia was sexually assaulted, but said: 'What else it may have involved cannot be known.'

Semen was found on the duvet and Tia's DNA and blood was found on Hazell's belt.

The prosecutor also highlighted Hazell's behaviour in 'the taking of the photograph after she had died for sexual gratification and having done that in dressing her in her pajamas and wrapping up separately her outdoor clothing and putting her body in the loft.

'This was concealment that lasted a week, that was carefully organised. He went on television to proclaim his innocence and in the event continued to deny what had happened even when he was arrested after the body had started to smell in the house.'

The Old Bailey heard earlier that he told his father he regretted Tia's death 'every second of every day' in a letter begging for forgiveness.

He wrote to his dad Keith from Belmarsh prison in August last year, saying he had made 'one mistake and my whole world has collapsed'.

He told his father that he wishes he could 'turn back the clock' and that he was unable to eat or sleep in prison.

The letter had two pictures of sad faces drawn on it and had two words written at the top: 'Forgive me'.

The jury heard that Hazell was a man that Tia has 'idolised', and were shown CCTV footage of her final hours beside her killer.

The 12-year-old was seen on her last journey chatting cheerfully with him as they shopped in the local supermarket.

While on remand at Belmarsh Prison, Hazell told guards that Tia had broken her neck accidentally falling down the stairs.

But pathologists were unable to find any evidence of a broken neck or skull fracture consistent with dying from a fall.

When Tia was reported missing, Hazell told her family and police that he had seen her leaving his house to meet a friend.

Relatives, friends and neighbours carried out a huge search.

During the week-long hunt, Tia’s mother went to stay at Hazell’s house, unaware that her daughter’s body was hidden upstairs.

Hazell even made a TV appeal for Tia’s safe return and criticised those who suggested he had something to do with her disappearance.

In an interview Hazell gave to ITV he appealed for Tia’s safe return, insisted she was like his own child, described her as ‘a golden angel’ and said he did not know what had happened to her.

Mr Justice Nicol is due to sentence Hazell on Tuesday morning.

He is certain to receive a life sentence but the judge will have to decide the minimum number of years he will be kept behind bars.

Hazell claimed Tia was his 'golden girl' and 'like my own daughter' but spun a web of lies during police search while her body was hidden in his loft

Stuart Hazell's guilty plea comes after months of lies about Tia Sharp's final movements.

During the week-long hunt for the then missing schoolgirl, Hazell, 37, a convicted drug dealer, denied abducting her, saying she was 'like my own daughter'.

At the time Hazell was the partner of Tia's grandmother Christine.

He said at the time: 'My previous has got nothing to do with it. Everyone's got a shady past. Did I do anything to Tia? No I bloody didn't. I'd never think of that.'

He described Tia as 'a happy-go-lucky golden angel' and said there had been no problems at her 'loving home' before she vanished.

Hazell said he and Tia had been alone at the home he shared with Christine in south London on the Thursday night and Friday morning when she disappeared.

On the Friday, he said, she left the house at 12.10pm, having previously told him she wanted to buy some new shoes.

She did not take her mobile phone, which was charging, or a travel card and had no bag when she left.

Hazell broke down as he spoke, supported by Tia's uncle David Sharp.

Both wore white 'Find Tia' T-shirts and a large picture of the schoolgirl was pinned to the wall behind them.

Hazell said he felt people were 'pointing the finger' at him because he had been the last person to see her.

Hazell said: 'I know deep down in my heart that Tia walked out of my house.

'I know she was seen walking down the pathway, she made her way down that track. What happened after that. I don't know.'

Met Police apologises to Tia's family after her body was missed in sweep of her killer's loft claiming 'early searches were just a look round'

Police unsuccessfully searched the loft where Tia Sharp’s body was hidden twice but only discovered her on the third attempt.

The officer in charge of the hunt today apologised for his force's incompetence and admitted that the first two searches were 'really just a look round'.

Tia’s body was found wrapped in a sheet and layers of plastic in the loft of her grandmother’s home on August 10 last year, a week after she went missing.

It was only when detectives noticed a smell of decomposition in the upstairs of Christine Bicknell’s house that Tia was finally found.

'The early searches were really just a look round, they were not deep searches,' Detective Chief Inspector Nick Scola said outside the Old Bailey today after Stuart Hazell pleaded guilty to Tia's murder.

He apologised for not finding the 12-year-old's body earlier, but said that if she had been discovered it 'would not have made any difference' to her fate.

Hazell is due to be sentenced tomorrow, having changed his plea after months of protesting his innocence.

A police constable first went into the loft on August 4, climbing up on a stool balanced on a chair.

He said: 'I was searching for a missing girl and from what I could see the loft seemed very clear. I thought, "She is not hiding in here."'

The following day a specialist team came in, and one officer said he would have recognised the smell of a decomposing body if it had been apparent.

His colleague said he took about 25 minutes to search the loft, including moving around black bags which the team believed were too light to contain anything significant.

Later, a search dog was brought to the house in New Addington, South London, and indicated that there was something above one of the bedrooms, but the animal was too large to take into the loft so the officers ignored the warning.

On August 10 a detective noticed the smell of decomposition in the house, which Ms Bicknell mistakenly thought was cat faeces.Another dog also indicated that something might be in the loft of the house, and Tia's body was found during a more thorough search.

Detective Constable Daniel Chatfield, who found Tia’s body as he and a crime scene manager searched the loft, said: 'The loft was extremely confined, it was very hot and quite chaotic, so there were a lot of boxes and bags around the hatch entrances which needed to be moved in order to search further into the loft.

'After about 10 minutes my colleague Mr Langley had alerted me to what he believed to be the body of Tia.'

In the wake of Tia’s death, Scotland Yard apologised to her family that it had taken so long to find her.

Hazell was obsessed with child porn and had relationships with grandmother, mother and 'committed a significant sexual offence against granddaughter Tia'

Stuart Hazell was a pornography addict who downloaded sexually explicit pictures of children before he killed Tia Sharp.

The 37-year-old was particularly looking for images of girls who looked like Tia, it has been revealed, and was caught with 'extensive pornography' on a memory card which he had tried to hide from police.

He had also filmed the 12-year-old while she slept, and captured a video of her as she rubbed cream into her legs.

This morning Hazell pleaded guilty to Tia's murder, saying her family had 'suffered enough', after protesting his innocence for months.

When her body was found in his attic, Hazell's DNA was on her clothes and Tia's blood was found on his belt, leading the prosecution to accuse him of sexually assaulting her before her death.

The schoolgirl's killer had previously been in relationships with both her mother and her grandmother.

Hazell first met Tia's grandmother Christine Bicknell around 2003 or 2004, when she was working as a barmaid at a pub in Merton, South London.

He then had a relationship with her daughter Natalie Sharp, Tia's mother, but it lasted no more than a couple of weeks.

Hazell started seeing Ms Sharp in April 2007, and a month later moved into her house in New Addington.

Around the time of Tia's death her killer took to Google to look up pornographic pictures of young girls, police discovered after searching his house following his arrest last August.

He apparently sought out images of girls who looked especially like Tia, wearing glasses and having their hair in a ponytail.

Hazell was obsessed with paedophile websites, and apparently acted out his fantasies by taking pictures of Tia, the granddaughter of his then girlfriend Christine Bicknell.

Police found 11 photographs and three video clips showing the girl sleeping on two memory cards hidden in his home.

At least one of the cards had been stashed in the doorway of a cupboard.

Police said they believed he had removed the bathroom door so he could spy on the girl, and modified the light socket in her room to create a 'spyhole'.

The most shocking image was taken after the schoolgirl's death, according to the prosecution.

It showed Tia naked lying on a bed, and was captured a few hours after she died for Hazell's 'sexual excitement', prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said during the trial.

He 'committed a significant sexual offence' against her before suffocating her and hiding her body in Ms Bicknell's attic.

Ms Sharp fled from the Old Bailey courtroom in tears when the footage of her daughter was shown to jurors.

Hazell had also collected images of young girls being abused, and visited a site devoted to glorifying incest.

Forensic analysis of his mobile phone records showed that he had been looking up child pornography via Google.