GUILTY UK - Tia Sharp, 12, New Addington, London, 3 Aug 2012 #1

[badhorsie]

Welcome Madelaine :welcome:

 

[soozieqtips]

Has gran contradicted earlier statement to police by now revealing she never saw Tia on Thursday or Friday? If she has why are family apparently not upset by this behaviour- it makes it sound as if she has been misleading police until now

Hi there Madalaine. I don't think Gran has contradicted her statement; I think it's more likely inaccurate reporting, of which there seems to be a lot of in this case.

No one is clearing up any of the vague things- who said they saw her on Friday and how reliable is that account? Did SH really say he walked her to tram station or could his family have misinterpreted him saying he met her at the tram station on Thursday (just wondering this)? Did gran see her at all? What is Tia supposed to have done on Thursday evening and with whom? Did she speak to her mum on the phone on Thursday evening? Are we deliberately not being given a clear outline?

No one knows for sure who saw her on Friday. The mum said an 'independent' witness had seen Tia leaving the house around midday on Friday (alone) which contradicts Hazell's story that he walked her to the tram stop. Nothing's been mentioned as far as I know about whether Tia called her mum on Thursday night, but I assume if she had, we'd have heard something by now. At the moment, if you exclude the witness who claims to have seen Tia leave the house 'relaxed and happy' on the Friday - then the only person who saw her from Thursday afternoon onwards was Hazell. No news about that evening at all yet, although one of the relatives said Hazell would make a statement later.

What I find strange is how the police seem so confident they're going to find her 'alive and well' after almost a week with no sighting of her.... and yet they're checking bins.

 

[slug]

http://www.itv.com/news/2012-08-09/...s-grandmothers-partner-begs-her-to-come-home/

Tia's Step granddad has recored interview with ITV

 

[TheTruthWillOut]

Another thing that hasn't been mentioned by the police or family is whether or not Tia made or received any calls from her friends or family.

I'd find it hard to believe Tia wasn't in contact with anyone between the 16:15 Thursday co-op sighting and 12:00 noon Friday.

But I definitely think the police are keeping a lot of info from the public and family ATM, adding to all the confusion.

 

[Apostate]

There is something about this case that makes me think it's a repeat of the Shannon Matthews "kidnapping"

 

[Madelaine]

Thanks for providing that link to the SH interview. It is much longer than the snippet on ITV. He says the reporting has been inaccurate of his past and that his dad had misinterpreted what he said to him. I don't know what to think having seen it. Some odd things emerge and the crying was tearless but he made good eye contact and the slight confusions in his account sounded natural enough to me. My gut reactions are letting me down today! I just don't know what to think but I really hope Tia is ok somewhere and is found soon.

 

[TykeyTrouble]

I've just watched the interview with SH the "step-grandad" on itv: http://www.itv.com/news/2012-08-09/...s-grandmothers-partner-begs-her-to-come-home/

Honestly, I don't know what to say. None of that interview felt right. There was an incredibly long rambling list of all the domestic chores he was doing when Tia was talking to him which prevented him for remembering anything she said. First he did some hoovering in the lounge, then he did some washing up, then he went back to the hoovering and even had a break in between but so engulfed in these activities was he that he was completely unable to comprehend what a 12 year old girl was saying to him.

His emotions were all over the place as was his story. It was a good thing Tia's Uncle was sat next to him helping him to keep his story straight. If anybody can work out the timeline for their alleged searches at the funfair and at Natalie's I would love to know. At one point he talks about the half past one bus??????

Did this interview make sense to anyone else? Am I overly harsh and cynical in suspecting the whole family are involved in some Shannon Matthews type caper?

I still remain bamboozled as to why the Mum won't do any publicity for her missing daughter.

 

[Madelaine]

What are the options :
Tia ran away - seems to be thought of as very unlikely
Tia is hiding in someone else's house - again seems to be considered unlikely
She had an accident somewhere on the way to the shopping centre and is undiscovered yet- seems very unlikely as does not appear on any CCTV after leaving the house
She never left the house- something happened to her in the house- police have statement from someone who says they saw her leaving the house alone at 12 o'clock which seems to rule out this scenario, BUT, could they be mistaken?
Something happened to her very quickly after leaving the house before she reached any CCTV cameras- This is possible.
It is a Shannon Mathews type situation with someone in the family colluding in hiding her- my question here would be WHY?

Anyone have any other suggestions for possibilities?

 

[Thomas Andrews]

The 'one thirty' reference would relate to the number of the service bus, not the actual time, I should think, as he also refers to the route of the 'one thirty'.

 

[Crazy Mama]

Having watched the interview I feel that SH was waffling a bit, and was purposely maintaining eye contact.
I do not have a good vibe about him at all.....he is a scared man, not worried.

Did anyone check out the fun fair. I think that he meant the 130 bus.

 

[Paulette]

http://www.itv.com/news/2012-08-09/...s-grandmothers-partner-begs-her-to-come-home/

Tia's Step granddad has recored interview with ITV

I believe him. He did a good job of retelling the mornings activities.

If she walked out the door at midday and there is no CCTV capture of her - she met her abductor immediately. We've had cases in the US of children secreted in houses right across the street from their own house, whilst LE is searching close by.

The area doesn't look like it gets much through traffic - mostly local. All the houses should be searched - does LE do that in England?

 

[soozieqtips]

I just finished watching the clip too. Thanks for the link. Well, I don't really know what to think, except that I thought Hazell spent far too long going over the most minute details about the housework he was doing in order to explain why he hadn't heard a word Tia said. He also said she helped out with odd jobs like the front and back garden for pocket money - but if the back garden looks anything like the front, then it's been a helluva long time since anything was done to it at all.

I didn't get the feeling he was being shifty, mainly because he didn't look down at his feet while he was talking and he was quite open - but he also rambled a lot, maybe he was nervous?

No doubt the police will be taking a good look at the statement to check body language etc. Why did he talk about following the 1.30 bus? He said they spent an hour looking for Tia at the fair, so that would have made it gone 8pm. One other thing I noticed was that he said twice, that he wasn't the last person to see Tia. If it's true, I can see why he'd want to make that clear - and if it was a lie, I can see why he'd want to pretend he wasn't the last person to see her.

All in all, I don't feel any the wiser. He's had almost a week to come up with something, so it's not surprising he included a lot of detail. The only time I thought he faltered for a second was when he was asked what they had for dinner - and he said pizza and chips, like he was repeating what Gran had made the next day because he hadn't thought of an answer in advance. I don't know.

He kept saying she was a little angel. But I don't know any 12-year-old angels! They're mostly like minxes just like I was at their age!!

 

[Madelaine]

I thought he meant the 130 number bus, not the 1.30 time bus.

I did think the list of chores was a bit too much explanation but he clearly feels he is being asked to explain every detail, which to be fair, he is.

The confusion over what order they did things in when she didn't come back struck me as quite natural- remembering detail under pressure.

The bits I thought were odd were the initial part when he was describing the Friday morning and his eye contact was non- existant but it improved dramatically after that. Also, just his manner when he was talking directly to Tia made me uncomfortable- the joke about wanting his 10 quid back - and the comment about looking for her in a field which he quickly backtracked on.

I think the uncle trusts SH absolutely.

 

[slug]

Not getting the really bad vibes like i did from Ian huntley's interview, which was super creepy to lots of people.
I'm really not sure what to make of him, he did waffle about housework but maybe hes trying to remember more of what she said but he was to preoccupied in just getting on I can honestly say i've probally forgotten stuff my kids have said but it's never been vital to remember them because thank goodness i've never had them go missing.

 

[TykeyTrouble]

What I find particularly hard to swallow is the length of time Tia is attempting to talk to her Uncle. He describes this phenomenal raft of domestic activities that occurs as he moves from room to room. After thoroughly tidying, hoovering and washing up downstairs he continues upstairs. In the video at 1.29 he describes Tia going upstairs when he is tidying in the bedroom "and she is still mumbling away".

I am convinced that at some point he has genuinely tidied the house which is why he can talk about it convincingly -the rest of it seems well dodgy.

Although I could be wrong. She may have been genuinely abducted - hopefully not though.

 

[Paulette]

I've just watched the interview with SH the "step-grandad" on itv: http://www.itv.com/news/2012-08-09/...s-grandmothers-partner-begs-her-to-come-home/

Honestly, I don't know what to say. None of that interview felt right. There was an incredibly long rambling list of all the domestic chores he was doing when Tia was talking to him which prevented him for remembering anything she said. First he did some hoovering in the lounge, then he did some washing up, then he went back to the hoovering and even had a break in between but so engulfed in these activities was he that he was completely unable to comprehend what a 12 year old girl was saying to him.

His emotions were all over the place as was his story. It was a good thing Tia's Uncle was sat next to him helping him to keep his story straight. If anybody can work out the timeline for their alleged searches at the funfair and at Natalie's I would love to know. At one point he talks about the half past one bus??????

Did this interview make sense to anyone else? Am I overly harsh and cynical in suspecting the whole family are involved in some Shannon Matthews type caper?

I still remain bamboozled as to why the Mum won't do any publicity for her missing daughter.

Take a good long look at the man. He appears to have had a rough life and probably didn't have the educational advantages that some of us had.

Imagine yourself in the same situation - drugs and theft arrests on your rap sheet - how would you react to being hauled in by LE to tell your story?

I've seen many cases here where the family members are unjustly accused because their telling of the story is too emotional, not emotional enough, etc.

 

[badhorsie]

Am I overly harsh and cynical in suspecting the whole family are involved in some Shannon Matthews type caper?

I still remain bamboozled as to why the Mum won't do any publicity for her missing daughter.

But what would they gain from something like this?

I agree about mum not making an appeal but maybe she is too upset

 

[soozieqtips]

I did agree with Hazell that constantly bringing up his 'previous' had nothing at all to do with what was happening right now. If he'd been a convicted child abuser, that would have been very different. But he was a drug dealer who did his time. The media don't need to keep referring to him as 'convicted drug dealer' in every sentence.

 

[wfgodot]

Tia Sharp police: Shannon Matthews comparison 'deeply unhelpful' (Guardian)
Scotland Yard detectives investigating the disappearance of Tia Sharp, 12, are angered by media speculation

 

[Lottie]

I've watched the interview and I take back anythng I thought that was negative about this man. I actually think he's a genuine bloke. Admittedly he started off looking down, but I think that was nerves. As he relaxed a little, he made eye contact and I don't think he was shifty.

I can understand what he meant about not listening properly, I do the same with my son! When I'm doing things I'm not always listening to what he says properly...when I'm typing I miss things too. I could see SHs frustration at realising that if he'd only just listened he might have had some idea where Tia might be.

I know his recount was a little scatty, but he was telling it as he remembered it, there was a lot of detail and he corrected himself, and went over it. If he was telling lies, there would not have been so much detail. I didn't get a creepy vibe at all from him.

I did say he didn't look the hoovering type, but I take that back too. He described it just as you would do it and he even said he'd washed her clothes for her. OK so the front garden is a little overgrown, but it's been mown this year, probably only a month ago which isn't long ago. My grass can get that bad in a month!

I believe him and he comes across as being a nice guy - probably made a few mistakes in his life, regrets them and seems to genuinely care for the family. I'll eat my hat if he's anything to do with it now. I really hope I'm right because if I'm not I'm a very bad judge of character and haven't learnt anything from my mistakes in my life (!!)

The fair is interesting.....I wonder if it's significant. Girls often get a bit taken with fairs - let's face it, girls used to run away with the mop fairs not so many years ago lol
I wonder where the fair is now...