Father of murdered schoolgirl Tia Sharp ‘blames himself’

The father of murdered schoolgirl Tia Sharp has said he still blames himself for her death five years ago.

Steven Carter, 35, said in a new documentary that if his relationship with Tia’s mother had no ‘turned sour’ then the 12-year-old might have been on holiday with him rather than at her grandmother’s where she was killed.

Tia was found dead and hidden in the attic of her grandmother’s home in New Addington, south London, after being sexually assaulted and murdered by Stuart Hazell, 42 – the boyfriend of Tia’s grandmother Christine Bicknell.

Now, speaking in the Channel 5 documentary ‘The Murder of Tia Sharp: My Daughter’, Mr Carter said he ‘massively’ blames himself for her savage death. 

He said: ‘I should have done more as a father.

‘I had Tia every holiday until things turned sour between me and her mum [Natalie].

He added: ‘If that hadn’t happened there’s every possibility Tia would have been staying with me that August instead of being at her nan’s where she was killed by someone she trusted and called “grandad”‘.

Tia (left) was found dead and hidden in the attic of her grandmother’s home in New Addington, south London, after being sexually assaulted and murdered by Stuart Hazell (right)

Hazell had attacked her in the house while her family were out and then concealed her body in the loft.

He was later arrested and found guilty at the Old Bailey and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 38 years behind bars. 

The murdering paedophile, who was obsessed with pictures of child abuse, is in Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire and will not be up for parole until he is 75.

The house where Tia was murdered has since been demolished.