Tia Sharp Murder House Demolished

Tia Sharp Murder House Demolished

The house where tragic schoolgirl Tia Sharp was murdered by Stuart Hazell has been demolished.

The council-owned property in New Addington, south London, was said by her family to be a 'house of horrors' and a constant reminder of her death.

Tia, 11, had been staying at the property, which was rented by her grandmother, Christine Bicknell, when she was killed by Hazell, 37, last year.

Hazell – the live-in boyfriend of Christine Bicknell - then carried on living at 20, The Lindens for a week with Tia's body in the loft.

The house was boarded up after Tia's remains were found last August.

Croydon Council took the decision to bulldoze the house along with the two other terraced properties which it was joined on to.

Tia's paternal grandmother, Angie Niles, told the Mirror: "Every day it has been left standing it has been a constant and awful reminder about what went on there."

A neighbour said construction workers were left distressed carrying out the demolition.

"Some of the workmen told me they were made sick by the loft, because they knew what had happened there," said resident Elizabeth Lee, 79.

Local councillor Simon Hall said knocking the property down was in the best interests of the local community.

"I don't feel it's right to expect anyone to live in the house or to have it potentially as a place which attracts undue attention over the months or years to come," he said. "It could really affect people in the area if it was a constant source of attention and would stop them from getting on with their lives."

The council will be building new family homes on the site.

Hazell was sentenced to life imprisonment in May. He changed his plea to guilty five day's into the murder trial, after previously claiming Tia had died after falling down the stairs and breaking her neck.

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