Missing Tia Sharp

EmailThe uncle of missing Tia Sharp has appealed to the 12-year-old to contact her family and come home.

David Sharp also urged anyone who knows where Tia may be to come forward straight away.

Tia, who has never gone missing before, was last seen leaving her grandmother's home in New Addington, south east London, at around midday on Friday, after telling relatives she was going to the Whitgift Centre in Croydon.

Police have been scouring CCTV footage but have not found any trace of her.

They say they have had 55 reports of sightings of the youngster, although so far none has been confirmed.

Speaking at a news conference at Scotland Yard, Mr Sharp, 28, said: "I just want to say to Tia: I just want you to come home. You're not in any trouble.

"Anyone who knows where she is or has any information, please come to us or please phone the police."

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Scola said the last person to see Tia was her grandmother's partner.

Mr Scola released a CCTV image of Tia taken at a Co-op store in New Addington at around 4.15pm the day before she went missing, when she was wearing similar clothes to when she was last seen.


Police released CCTV of Tia in clothes she was last seen wearing

He said: "At this stage, it's a relatively simple timeline. She was at her grandmother's address, she slept late and then she left to get the bus.

"We've had one neighbour who's reported possibly seeing her walking to the bus stop but as yet that is uncorroborated."

Mr Sharp added: "Tia's a 12-year-old normal girl. She has never run away, she's got no reason to run away.

"She's a playful child, she's not an adult ... but she's very clued-up in travelling and local areas and people she knows."

Earlier, Tia's grandmother Christine Sharp told Sky News: "I was at work but Tia was in the house with her granddad.

"He said she was going to catch the bus to go shopping in Croydon. It's a journey she's done before, but not on her own.

"I don't know how she was going to pay for the bus because she lost her bus pass ages ago. She also left her mobile phone charging in the house."


Police have had some 55 unconfirmed sightings of Tia

It is understood the granddad referred to is her grandmother's partner.

Buses and trams travel regularly between New Addington and Croydon town centre, but no driver remembers picking up Tia.

Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said: "It's that complete lack of evidence of Tia after she supposedly left the house that's fuelling police concerns.

"She doesn't appear on the CCTV cameras of any of the buses or trams that would have carried her to Croydon."

Three detectives called at the house mid-morning to go over the events of Friday with family members, while police officers searched the grounds of a nearby school for clues.

Tia's mother Natalie was also at the house, one of a row of modern terraced homes on the New Addington estate.

Uniformed officers were calling on neighbours in the hunt for witnesses and clues to Tia's disappearance.

Home-made posters with the child's picture were stuck in car windows and on walls and fences around the estate.

Tia is white, 4ft 5in and slim, and was wearing FCUK glasses.

She was dressed in a yellow bandeau top over a white bra with visible cross straps, light grey leopard print leggings and black and pink Nike high top trainers.

She is known to frequent the Croydon, Mitcham and Wimbledon areas.

Anyone who has seen Tia or knows of her whereabouts should call 0208 721 4005 or the Missing People charity on 116 000.

She looks quite young with the glasses in her school uniform but there is another one on Google.
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It also seems to me that she was wearing rather adult clothes, a bandeau and visible bra straps - by the time they're fourteen, but twelve seems a bit young. Could she have dressed up to meet someone she 'met' on the internet?
I so hope she'll be found and soon.

That was my first thought Tigger that she was meeting someone who believed she was older than 12. However, I now strongly feel that someone in her family is involved. Let's hope for the best for now though.

Is Kate McCann doing anything about this young girl in her role as Ambassador for Missing People?

AskTheDogsSandra wrote:Is Kate McCann doing anything about this young girl in her role as Ambassador for Missing People?

If the police are looking at the parents she won't touch it with a barge pole!

Going by the McCanns timeline, the family have got the tshirts printed but now they should be thinking about a Fund too.

Sorry to be cynical. I don't mean to tar this family with the same McCann brush but I really hope they are innocent and Tia is found safe and well, but this is now Day 5.

She went out minus her mobile phone and there have been no CCTV sightings since she was reported to have left her grandmother's house where the only other person in was granny's 37-year-old partner.

I am trying hard not to jump to any conclusions!

The police will be following the procedures set out for reported abductions which I have posted elsewhere in great detail.
The police are told to note the person reporting the abduction .
The police are told if in doubt think murder. This is printed in capital letters.

When this was first reported with scant details it seemed the grandmother at whose house Tia was staying was the last to see her as she headed out to go to the shops.
It then turned out that the grandmother was at work and it was her partner who said Tia had left to catch a bus to a shopping centre.
There are no confirmed sightings of her since she left the house; this could be because of the rabbit warren of streets which she would have had to walk through to get to her bus stop, or because at the time she left, it being school holidays' there would have been quite a few girls her age around and unless someone recognised her because they knew her, a sighting would not be confirmed.
It was stated Tia was used to the bus journey but had not taken the bus alone.
She had left her mobile at the house, unusual for a girl her age going out alone. I would think if she were going to meet someone from a social site like facebook, she would have taken the phone to contact this person during her journey.
There has been a trawl through cctv to place her on a bus, nothing so far. Now a trawl of cctv at the shopping centre where she was going to buy shoes is underway.
Report by M Brunt...she was seen leaving her grandmother's house. As there has been no confirmed sighting of her since leaving it seems that the grandmother's partner gave this info.
A criminologist is convinced the answers lie within the community close to where she was last seen.
I agree and I am sure the police are looking at the family and immediate circle surrounding her.
Hope not involved, also that she has not gone to meet a stranger.
She will be found safe and well is my wish. No reason to run away? How can they be so sure? She is an adolescent who could well be in a state about something which has upset her but which is not wrong, overreacting due to her age, she could be traumatised by something very wrong and have run away for that reason.
I do not have a good feeling about this , I fear she has come to harm but I hope this is not the case.

The community have been wonderful printing posters. I see the family are wearing t shirts with her photo on it, there has been a candle- lit vigil , not a remembrance a family member [uncle I think] said, a path lighting the way to the grandmother's house.

Given the police procedures I am sure grandmother's partner was the first taken it for questioning. Last person to see her.

Jean wrote:She went out minus her mobile phone and there have been no CCTV sightings since she was reported to have left her grandmother's house where the only other person in was granny's 37-year-old partner.

I am trying hard not to jump to any conclusions!

!!!

Day 5 and the family are fearing the worst for 12 year old Tia.

Year 5 and the McCann family believe 3 year old Madeleine is still alive and they want more money.

The evidence that Tia Sharp 'left to catch a bus' comes from the grandmother's partner. The police have not yet said that there is any CCTV or other corroboration of this

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...'Relations said Tia told Mr Hazell she was catching the bus into Croydon and left the house alone at about midday. She has not been seen since.
However, Mr Hazell told his sister, Sarah Parratt, and his father, Keith Hazell, that he had walked with her to the tram station but was unsure whether she boarded a tram.' unquote

They've got the T shirts! The Fund can't be far off...

Send in the dogs ...

ETA a 37-year-old GRANDdad?

contradictions and interesting points
[uncle] Mr Sharp added: "Tia's a 12-year-old normal girl. She has never run away, she's got no reason to run away.

"She's a playful child, [? more how I would describe a 5 yr old, just my opinion] she's not an adult ... but she's very clued-up in travelling [/b [ not according to grandmother below she isn't] and local areas and people she knows."

Earlier, Tia's grandmother Christine Sharp told Sky News: "I was at work but Tia was in the house with her granddad.

"He said she was going to catch the bus to go shopping in Croydon.[b] It's a journey she's done before, but not on her own.

"I don't know how she was going to pay for the bus because she lost her bus pass ages ago. She also left her mobile phone charging in the house."
very interesting that a 12 yr old would leave her mobile behind. The bus pass not a problem if she had money to pay for her fare. Elsewhere she was said to have left with £10. Considering she had to pay for her fare and buy shoes, did not leave her much cash to spend. Hope she did not hitch a lift to save money.

eta this from Brunt : Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said: "It's that complete lack of evidence of Tia after she supposedly left the house that's fuelling police concerns.
note supposedly.....

Châtelaine wrote:Send in the dogs ...

ETA a 37-year-old GRANDdad?

not her blood relative, called granddad as he is grandmother's partner. Having said that there is a 32 yr old grandmother I have read about, had her daughter aged 16, who gave birth at same age.

The account from the family does not add up and the wording of the reports suggest police do not credit the going to the shops on the bus story.
Family can only state what told to them by Hazell.
No evidence of her after she is said to have left the family home
Hazell says he was in the house when Tia said she was leaving for a bus and maybe also a tram for a complicated journey to Croydon.
Tia was 12 and had never done this journey alone.
The police acc to Brunt are keen to talk to Hazell about this last conversation.

I smell a rat, a calculated hoax or God forbid something worse.

Tony Bennett wrote:Just one query though, how does he know she was 'going to the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon' if he was 'unable to hear her...'?[/color]

That's exactly what I logged on to say!

kinell wrote:

Tony Bennett wrote:Just one query though, how does he know she was 'going to the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon' if he was 'unable to hear her...'?[/color]

That's exactly what I logged on to say!

It doesn't really add up does it?

It adds up I hope to the family being asked by police to do an appeal for her safe return at a press conference, where they can be closely observed by detectives.

EJW wrote:

kinell wrote:

Tony Bennett wrote:Just one query though, how does he know she was 'going to the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon' if he was 'unable to hear her...'?[/color]

That's exactly what I logged on to say!

It doesn't really add up does it?

No, it doesn't seem to, but then these are stories from the press. I think we have to be careful of speculation to early, as happened in the Joana Yeates case, where we had 2 people being talked about and speculated about on this forum and others. It turned out to be someone completely under the radar. I think we just have to wait for more concrete details from the police.

candyfloss wrote:

EJW wrote:

kinell wrote:

Tony Bennett wrote:Just one query though, how does he know she was 'going to the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon' if he was 'unable to hear her...'?[/color]

That's exactly what I logged on to say!

It doesn't really add up does it?

No, it doesn't seem to, but then these are stories from the press. I think we have to be careful of speculation to early, as happened in the Joana Yeates case, where we had 2 people being talked about and speculated about on this forum and others. It turned out to be someone completely under the radar. I think we just have to wait for more concrete details from the police.

Sorry candyfloss, you are quite right [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Agree, Candyfloss. What we have heard so far is what the media have from the police which is not much [ as it should be] . Also the media have a story as a priority, not the investigation and we can't be sure what is being reported is reliable. I agree with the criminologist on Sky earlier, though, based on what I have read and heard so far, that the answer lies within the community.

It is this kind of reporting which fuels speculation . From the Telegraph, today ;

She disappeared around midday on Friday when she left her grandmother's home in New Addington, south London, to go out and buy some shoes.

Jane Harry, a neighbour of Tia's grandmother Christine Sharp, said: "Last time that I saw her was on Friday afternoon at about midday when she was leaving her grandma's and walking up the street here.

"She was wearing a white top and leopard print leggings. But she had nothing on her, nothing in her hands,but she seemed happy, happy at that time."

Tia was last seen by her grandmother's boyfriend, who she treated as a grandfather, when she left the two storey terraced home in The Lindens on Friday with no Oyster Card or mobile phone and around £10 in cash.

so who saw her last? Acc to this piece, it was both the neighbour and the partner of Tia's grandmother !

According to the Evening Standard, Tia's stepfather is unsure that her Grandmother's partner was the last person to see Tia, so perhaps it was actually the neighbour who saw her last. There is also mention of an independant witness that saw Tia leave the house alone. The contradictory reports in the press don't really help.



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kinell wrote:

Tony Bennett wrote:Just one query though, how does he know she was 'going to the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon' if he was 'unable to hear her...'?[/color]

That's exactly what I logged on to say!

Having read the reports so far, from various sources, my feeling is that the police already have an 'arguido' in their sights. I'm being gender-specific.

[size=9][size=12]



]quote="tigger"][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

...'Relations said Tia told Mr Hazell she was catching the bus into Croydon and left the house alone at about midday. She has not been seen since.
However, Mr Hazell told his sister, Sarah Parratt, and his father, Keith Hazell, that he had walked with her to the tram station but was unsure whether she boarded a tram.' unquote

They've got the T shirts! The Fund can't be far off... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] [/quote]

Wasn't Mr Hazell also doing the hoovering so he didn't hear what Tia said when she went out. How could he be doing the hoovering and walk her to the tram station at the same time, or have I missed something.

Tia also only had £10 on her apparently, where I live the bus fare for 2 or 3 stops is about £2.50, so that's £5.00 just for the bus fare which doesn't leave much change to buy flipflops.

As Tia went out at midday Friday and the family had printed T-shirts on on the news this morning (or they could have been wearing them yesterday, I didn't notice), how come they got them printed so quickly. If they ordered them on-line on Friday night, seeing that they had the weekend in the middle (do T-shirt printing companies work on Sunday) that only leaves say Saturday and part of Monday to get them printed and delivered to the family by this morning.

I hope the police haven't overlooked all these discrepancies.

I read somewhere that the T shorts were homemade.

if true, it would explain the speed of production.

I also think there may be services where you can take along a picture and the shop puts it on a Tshirt and you collect in a couple of hours. Putting a picture on a T shirt isn't rocket science with the equipment available today.

pauline wrote:I read somewhere that the T shorts were homemade.

if true, it would explain the speed of production.

I also think there may be services where you can take along a picture and the shop puts it on a Tshirt and you collect in a couple of hours. Putting a picture on a T shirt isn't rocket science with the equipment available today.

Very true they can be done quickly. On the news flash that I saw of the candle lit vigil there were a number of people wearing them, now who funded these, if few, printed tee shirts?

Who needs 'missing people charity' for this? The police is doing their job as only they know how.
This is a genuinely missing person, not a girl who's run away from home - otherwise she'd surely have at least her bus pass with her.

I agree that the t-shirt can be done in minutes in various outlets. But a candle vigil is pretty tacky - she's not declared dead after all. All this second hand emotion is extremely distasteful especially when done in public. Burning candles at home, in church fine. Getting your picture taken wearing the t-shirt, holding a candle and posing for the papers is beyond tacky.

Incidentally I read somewhere that her 'granddad' is 37? Not substantiated I hasten to add.