Tia Sharp search: Body found in grandmother's house

Police searching for the missing schoolgirl Tia Sharp have found a body in her grandmother's south London home.

The Metropolitan Police said the body was found following a search of the property in New Addington, Croydon, earlier.

The 12-year-old has been missing since last Friday.

Police are seeking Stuart Hazell, 37, the partner of Tia's grandmother Christine Sharp, and have asked people to call 999 rather than approach him.

No arrests have been made.

The body is yet to be identified but Tia's family has been informed.

The BBC's Ben Ando said police sources said they had yet to determine how long the body had been at the property.

Officers had cordoned off the area around the house at about noon to carry out a forensic search, which the Met had said could take up to two days.

Earlier, officers with a police dog spent about 30 minutes in the house.

Tia's uncle, grandmother and Mr Hazell had all made emotional appeals to find the schoolgirl.

It is understood the schoolgirl regularly visited her grandmother's house and was believed to have been at the property alone with Mr Hazell the night before she disappeared.

Mr Hazell, who said he was not the last person to see the girl after she left the house, was questioned by police on Wednesday, but then released.

Grieving friends and local people gathered outside Tia Sharp's mother's house when news of the discovery of a body spread this evening.

Natalie Sharp, 31, is believed to have left the house in Mitcham earlier. This was before the shocking news broke that a body had been found in Tia's grandmother Christine Sharp's house in nearby New Addington, in Croydon.

While handfuls of locals gathered in the road outside Mrs Sharp's house, more people pulled up in cars, some revealing Tia's missing person appeal posters.

Many greeted each other with a hug. While children played with a football in the street, some residents looked angry as they gesticulated while talking with police officers.

The assembled press pack respected the volatility of the local mood by merely sitting in their cars and watching the scene unfold.

He claimed Tia set off for the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon last Friday to buy flip-flops, having spent Thursday night alone with him while her grandmother was at work.

His sister, Sarah Parrat, said she did not believe her brother was involved and suspected "he is probably in a pub somewhere trying to get his head around it".

Alston Millington, 32, who lives nearby, said: "It is such sad news. I live just around the corner and can't believe it."

Following Tia's disappearance, a Facebook campaign was launched to find her and about 200 people helped police comb a woodland near the house.

Before officers sealed the house earlier on Friday to carry out a search, Mrs Sharp was seen to leave the property with police in plain clothes.

At the time she said the missing girl's mother, Natalie, was "in bits" and that she did not know where she was as "she needed to get away".

She said all family members had done their "own little separate bit" to help in the search, including Mr Hazell, but she did not know where he was.

Mrs Sharp also added: "He knows the finger has been pointed at him.

"He knows this and it's been really hard for him."

In an interview on Thursday with ITV News, Mr Hazell issued a plea to Tia to come home.

Referring to the finger being pointed at him, he said: "Well, if they believe what they read in the papers, they can believe whatever they like because I know deep down in my heart that Tia walked out of my house, she walked out of there."

Asked about his history, he replied: "Everyone's got a shady past. My previous has nothing to do with it."

Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell praised the support offered to the family and said the discovery of the body was "a huge blow".

"The police have yet to formally confirm that the body is Tia's, yet this devastating development will come as a huge blow to her family and the community in New Addington, all of whom have worked tirelessly to try to find her over the past week," he added.