- Grandmother and next door neighbour also arrested and bailed
- Mother leaves white orchid, teddy bear and card at the makeshift shrine
- Police forced to apologise after failing to find the body sooner
- Tia's body was discovered Friday in the attic of her grandmother's home
By Russell Myers, Jonathan Petre, Ben Ellery and Damien Gayle
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The mother of Tia Sharp has paid a visit to the site where hundreds of floral tributes have been left for the murdered schoolgirl, whose step-grandfather has been charged with her killing.
The pavement beside the home of Tia's grandmother Christine Sharp, in New Addington, South London, where police found a body on Friday, has been transformed into a moving, colourful memorial.
Giant teddy bears, pink balloons and cards of condolence have been left for the 12-year-old, whose dead body was discovered a week after she was reported missing.
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Heartbreak: Natalie Sharp sobs as she arrives clutching a white orchid and note to her daughter at the memorial to her the murdered schoolgirl today
Last message: Ms Sharp's partner David Niles lays the flowers and note on the memorial
Incomparable loss: Miss Sharp is comforted by Mr Niles and a family friend as she walks away from the memorial
The outpouring of grief comes as it was disclosed that Tia's step-grandad Stuart Hazell, 37, has been charged on suspicion of her murder.
Tia's grandmother and Hazell's live-in lover, Christine Sharp, 46, was also yesterday arrested along with Mrs Sharp's next-door neighbour Paul Meehan, 39, on suspicion of assisting an offender.
Hazell will appear before magistrates tomorrow, while Sharp and Meehan have been bailed to return to a south London police station in October.
Tia's devastated mother today lay a white orchid, teddy bear and card at the shrine set up in memory of her daughter - just yards from the house where her body was found.
Police finally discovered Tia's body and admitted they should have found it sooner
Sobbing uncontrollably and leaning on her boyfriend David Niles for support, 30-year-old Natalie Sharp wept 'my little girl' as she lay the flower and Hello Kitty teddy at the shrine.
She left a heart-wrenching note to her daughter which read: 'Our baby girl, we love you very much and always will.
'Sorry baby that this has happened, I wish I was there to protect you.
'We know you are safe now and you are at home with us everywhere we go. Love you, mum, dad, Jack and Harry. XXX'
The heartbroken mum was too emotional to speak and stayed at the shrine only long enough to lay the flower before, overwhelmed with emotion and grief, she had to be helped away by her boyfriend and friend.
Clutching her hand to her face, Miss Sharp stumbled and lent on her boyfriend for support as she was led away.
It is believed to be the first time she has visited the street where her daughter's body was discovered.
Tia's biological father Steven Carter, 30, travelled from his home in Northampton last week to help in the search for his daughter.
Yesterday he left a note along side flowers and tributes from neighbours, in which he wrote: 'My darling baby girl Tia. Daddy loves you dearly. I want you to stay safe in the arms of the angels. Love always. Daddy.'
'Why did this happen?': Tia's biological father, Steve Carter, lays flowers at the scene of the makeshift memorial
Tia Sharp's biological grandfather, Stephen Carter, wipes away tears as he lays bright yellow flowers outside the house where her body was found
Sadness: Mr Carter holds his hands in prayer as he remembers his daughter
A distraught Mr Carter is hugged by a friend at the scene of the memorial. Right, the grief is etched on his face as he turns to look at the camera. His left arm bears the name 'Tia' in Gothic writing
Today he laid a yellow rose at the shrine, wiping away tears as he was supported by his father, also called Stephen, and a group of friends.
He stood at the memorial for several minutes taking in the hundreds of cards and flowers left in tribute to Tia, then turned and sobbed into his father's arms, asking him: 'Why did this happen?'
Hugging his son back, Stephen Carter replied: 'There is no reason.' Choking back tears, a friend then said: 'You're her father, hold your head up high.'
A sea of flowers, teddy bears, candles and angel wings have been left in tribute to Tia Sharp outside her grandmother Caroline Sharp's home
Amongst the memorial of flowers was an emotional note written to 12-year-old Tia
Distraught community: A father holding his son in his arms places a bouquet on the shrine for Tia near her grandmother's home in New Addington, Croydon
Tragic: Two mourners leave tributes at the makeshift shrine which has sprung up since the discovery of the body on Friday
'Sleep tight little angel': Many of the tributes to Tia included poignant notes
Guarding the crime scene: Police have been heavily criticised for failing to find Tia's body sooner
The body, which is still yet to be formally identified, was found on Friday by detectives using ladders to reach the loft at Mrs Sharp's terraced house, despite repeated previous searches of the property.
The house was visited four times by police, including a full search with a specialist team two days after Tia was reported missing on August 3 and the last occasion, when sniffer dogs trained to detect cadavers were brought into the property on Friday.
Meanwhile, police and neighbours had scoured the area for signs of missing Tia, with well-wishers distributing missing posters over social networks and people across the country praying for her safe return.
Christine Sharp and Stuart Hazell have been arrested on suspicion of murder after Tia's body was finally found
Laying a teddy bear in memory of Tia, Janette Dixon, 52, said: 'It is just so upsetting. It is heartbreaking.
'I have got four grandchildren of my own and the idea that something like this could happen is just devastating.
'The whole community was out searching for her, all day and everyday, but she was in that house all the time. It is unbelievable.
'I cried my eyes out this morning. That poor little girl.'
The old people's home carer added: 'The police went into that house everyday and searched it four times before they found the body. Why did it take them so long to find the body?'
Tia lived with her mother Natalie Sharp, 31, and her partner David Niles, 29, in Mitcham, Surrey, about ten miles away, but is thought to have stayed at her grandmother's house regularly.
'Human error': Police Commander for South East London, Neil Basu says that the body of Tia Sharp should have been found earlier
Yesterday, the Met's South East London Area Commander Neil Basu apologised to Tia's family, saying the search should have been more thorough. In a statement, he said: 'The second visit was a full search of the property with the consent of the occupiers.
'This was conducted on August 5 over a period of two hours. All parts of the premises were searched, including the location where a body was discovered, five days later, on Friday, August 10.
'An early review has been conducted and it is now clear that human error delayed the discovery of the body within the house.
'We have apologised to Tia's mother that our procedures did not lead to the discovery of the body on this search.'
Neighbours yesterday said they were furious that the house had not been properly searched earlier.
Dale Robertson, 44, said: 'I don't think it happened soon enough. After 24 hours, they should have been ripping that house apart.
'There's a mixture of anger and heartbreak. People feel aggrieved.
'They were duped. Even people who couldn't get out on the searches have posted up on Facebook that they are angry and they were duped.'
Emotional: Stuart Hazell, 37, claimed he 'loved Tia to bits'
Grief: Tributes and candles are laid near the home of Christine Sharp as 'inconsolable' neighbours suspect that the body found in the home is that of Tia
Today Karen Browns, 52, said as she left flowers for the schoolgirl: 'I live in one of these terrace houses and they are not big.
'There aren't many rooms and they are al designed exactly the same. It is inexcusable the police didn't find her sooner.'
The grandmother-of-four said an 'eerie silence' has fallen on New Addington over the past week as parents have been to afraid to let their children play in local parks and streets.
'For the first couple of weeks of the summer holidays that park was full of children playing. But in the past week there has been an eerie silence,' she said.
'Parents aren't letting their kids play outside. It is like a ghost town. People in this area are scared. They don't know who to trust anymore.'
Tia has been missing since last Friday and police have found a corpse but will not confirm if it is her
Mother-of-two Collette O'Brien spent everyday last week handing out leaflets and talking to shopkeepers trying to find Tia Sharp.
She said: 'Tia was just a baby, she was only 12 years-old. It is so tragic this has happened.
'I am scared for my 12-year-old daughter to go out. I make her text me 24/7.
'This has happened on my doorstep and I'm scared. You don't know who might be living next door to you.
'The area has been emptied because of this. It is like a ghost town. The parks and streets are empty because people are afraid.
'For a child to die, it is just horrific.'
Laying two bunches of white flowers, Miss O'Brien added: 'I wanted to bring my daughters here today to pay our respects for Tia.
'Even though I was out searching for her all last week, I feel I let her down in some way. It is hard to put into words.
'We all tried to find her but it appears she was in that house all the time. It is just heartbreaking. I feel this awful sense of guilt that I couldn't have done more.'
The admission of errors by the Met Police seemed to discount an earlier theory that the body of the murdered 12-year-old had been moved from the loft prior to it being discovered.
Sources also indicated that police chiefs will launch an internal inquiry to examine why Mr Hazell was allowed to go missing and remain at large for several hours on Friday evening as police searched the property prior to finding Tia's body.
The jobless 37-year-old was caught on Cannon Hill Common in Morden, South-West London, after he was spotted by a member of the public.
Witnesses claimed Hazell appeared to be drunk and was calling out, 'Have you seen Tia?'.
A hairdresser revealed Hazell had staggered into her salon, asking if anyone had seen Tia minutes before he was arrested. Bryoni Goodwin, 18, from Merton, said: 'He was swaying and crying, asking, "Have you seen Tia Sharp, I'm her grandfather."
'He seemed drunk and said, "I don't want to find her dead in a forest, I want to find her eating a happy meal in McDonald's".'
Captured on camera: Stuart Hazell is seen in a shop shortly before his arrest tonight
CCTV: Stuart Hazell buys cigarettes from a shop in Mitcham
After he visited this shop Mr Hazell was arrested in a park in Merton by police on suspicion of murder
His arrest came just 24 hours after he made a tearful appeal on television for the return of Tia, during which he spoke about her in the past tense.
He denied harming the young girl and said: 'I loved her to bits. She was like my own daughter.'
The body, which has not been formally identified, was removed from the house on Friday evening and police were yesterday still scouring the property for clues.
A post-mortem examination is expected to be held within the next few days.
It is not clear why Mrs Sharp's neighbour Paul Meehan, who with his wife Bobbie has a daughter aged 11 and a son aged eight, was taken into custody on Friday morning.
It is believed, however, that the bus driver told police he saw Tia leave her grandmother's house and walk down the path towards the end of the street the day she was reported missing.
His information may have thrown officers off the scent after their initial line of inquiry had been that Mr Hazell had been the last person to see Tia alive.
Sleepless nights: Natalie Sharp, Tia's mother, with her boyfriend David Niles, have been left reeling by the events since her daughter went missing on Friday, August 3
Combing for clues: Christine Sharp's house is searched by forensic officers after a body was discovered
Mourning: Floral tributes and candles have been laid by neighbours in the belief that the body found is Tia's
Sources said the investigation team, led by Commander Basu, was braced for heavy criticism for failings in the way the investigation has been conducted.
Scotland Yard's apparent failure to keep Mr Hazell under surveillance during the operation could lead to the matter being passed on to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
More than 800 hours of CCTV footage were scoured for clues of Tia's whereabouts, with 60 reported sightings and more than 300 calls to the incident room looked into, but former senior detectives have criticised the investigation team for taking eight days to make the discovery.
Retired Met detective John O'Connor said: 'I find it simply staggering that it took more than a week to find a body which was right under their noses, and even more unbelievable that the man who ought to have been their prime suspect was not placed under surveillance and allowed to go missing for several hours before the police were forced to issue a panicked appeal for him to come forward.'
A body has been found but police have refused to confirm if it is schoolgirl Tia Sharp
Tia's mother Natalie and her partner David are said to be 'utterly devastated' at the sudden developments.
Mr Niles was too distressed to talk when he was approached last night at his mother's home in Mitcham, Surrey, but was still wearing the 'missing' T-shirt used to publicise his stepdaughter's disappearance.
A family friend, who asked not to be named, said the family had been ripped apart by what has happened. The friend said: 'Both Natalie and David are in a state of utter shock and disbelief right now. It hasn't sunk in for either of them. They are both praying that the police have got it wrong somehow.
'They haven't slept in days and now this is almost too much to bear. This is a close community and we stood by one another when this happened and joined in the search for Tia to be strong for the family but to think she was in that house all along is stomach-churning.'
Tearful children as young as six were today leaving notes and cards with messages for Tia.
One read: 'Heaven must have needed a special angel, that is the only reason I can think why you were taken form this world. RIP.'
Another simply signed from a family in Wandsworth, read: 'To baby girl Tia, may your star shine brightly in the sky forever. Rest in peace in God's loving arms.'
Grandmother Christine Sharp was seen being led from her home by detectives on Friday at about 11am, but news of her arrest was not made public until yesterday morning when police confirmed that they had made two further arrests in connection with the inquiry.
It is not clear whether Mr Meehan was arrested at his home but last night his mother-in-law, Julie Pullen, said that there was 'no way on earth' he was involved in a cover-up. She said: 'There's no way he would have been involved. He's got kids of his own and he hasn't done anything.
The eight day search.jpg
'I haven't spoken to him and neither has my daughter but of course we're worried and completely shocked by what has happened but he definitely had nothing to do with any of this.' And speaking from his home in Swansea, Mr Meehan's father told The Mail on Sunday: 'I just can't believe it. I hadn't heard anything until just now.
'I haven't seen or spoken to Paul for quite a while, but I saw the news earlier in the week about the missing girl in New Addington and I know that he lives there so I did wonder if he knew anything about it or had been out looking for her.
'He's got two young children of his own so I can imagine that he would have been quite concerned for the young girl.
'He's a good boy so I can't see how he would have got himself wrapped up in something like this. It's all a bit of a blur at the moment and I haven't spoken to him so I don't really know what to think.'
Last night, police continued to question all three suspects at separate police stations in South London.
A friend of Hazell's yesterday said she was 'stunned' by his arrest. The woman, who didn't want to be named, said: 'I knew Stuart for eight years and during that time he didn't have a nasty bone in his body.
'We used to drink in the pub and when a woman arrived at the table he would be the first to stand up. He was a charmer and very popular with the ladies.'
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'Although officers await formal identification of a body found at 20 The Lindens on Friday 10 August, the victim is named in the murder charge as 12-year-old Tia Sharp.
'Two other people have been bailed to return to a south London police station.
'They are a 46-year-old woman who was arrested on suspicion of murder and a 39-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.'
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Combing for clues: Police seal off the estate surrounding the home of Christine Sharp as they bring in sniffer dogs to the address
Tia Sharp's home is in New Addington and Stuart Hazell was arrested in Merton
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