Man appears in court charged with murdering schoolgirl

He appeared via video-link from Belmarsh prison in south east London, wearing an orange T-shirt and sitting next to a prison officer. No application for bail was made.

Hazell was remanded in custody and will appear for a plea and case management hearing at the same court on November 19.

Tia’s body was found at her grandmother Christine Sharp’s home in New Addington last Friday, a week after she was reported missing.

Hazell is the partner of Ms Sharp, 46, who was arrested on suspicion of murder but bailed on Sunday pending further inquiries. Her next-door neighbour, Paul Meehan, 39, was bailed on suspicion of assisting an offender.

Police only discovered Tia’s body after several visits to the terraced property, and have apologised to her mother, Natalie Sharp, for the delay.

Her body has yet to be formally identified, but Tia is named as the victim in the charge against Hazell.

A post-mortem examination which was paused on Saturday night is scheduled to resume tomorrow afternoon. No cause of death has yet been identified.

It was announced yesterday that a serious case review has been launched into Tia’s death.

Merton Council, which has responsibility for Mitcham, south London, where Tia lived with her mother, said it was “standard procedure” to carry out a review.

Chief executive Ged Curran said: “Our thoughts and condolences go out to all those who knew Tia.

“The local safeguarding children board will now commission a serious case review, the standard procedure in a tragic case such as this. The review will be assisted by the police, health services and local authorities.”

Serious case reviews are carried out when a child has died to look at the role played by local agencies in the life of that child and their family.

A provisional trial date for Hazell was set for January 21 next year.