Tia Sharp Murder Police Disciplined After Search Blunder Left Her Body Undiscovered For A Week

Tia Sharp Murder Police Disciplined After Search Blunder

Two police officers involved in the search for murdered Tia Sharp's body have been disciplined.

A sergeant and a constable received "words of advice" after failing to find the 12-year-old's body in the New Addington property. The constable has been taken off search duties.

She was eventually discovered wrapped in a sheet in a loft of the house, a week after she was reported missing.

Tia Sharpe was found in the loft of a house belonging to her grandmother

It was the fourth search of the house, which belongs to the teenager's grandmother, Christine Sharp, 46.

A police spokesman said: "The internal review into the searches at The Lindens during the Tia Sharp enquiry has been completed.

"A number of organisational learning points were identified which will be taken forward with the aim of helping to reduce any similar errors occurring in the future.

"Two officers, a PC and a sergeant have received words of advice. A PC has been removed from search duties."

Stuart Hazell, the partner of Tia's grandmother, has been charged with her murder.

He is set to appear at the Old Bailey for a plea and case management hearing in January next year.

In August Met Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe apologised to Tia's mother Natalie Sharp, for the delay in finding her daughter's body.

He said: "If we thought it was an individual human error then that would explain it, but we're carrying out a review because we're not happy that explains it.

"We're trying not to have a knee-jerk reaction, we need some time to understand what happened and what failed to happen.

"We want to learn lessons from this particular case. We have apologised and I repeat that apology today to Tia's mum and family for not having found Tia's body sooner."

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